Just wanted to let you guys know, I installed a WW 98+ SS spoiler on my 96Z using a resistor instead of a relay (and yes the spoiler fit is horrid--I'm working on that). As far as I know, everyone has used a relay to avoid the infamous ABS inop and ASR inop lights. If you don't like the click from a relay, all you have to do is connect a 10 ohm resistor in series with the brake light. This allows the ABS to have some feedback, but there is still enough voltage for the LED's to work in the brake light. I've had the resistor in for about 200 miles now and have received no lights. Hope you guys find this useful!

BTW, I've been grinding the bottom of the spoiler to get it to fit flush with the car (mainly along the two front edges and sides). Has anyone gotten their WW SS spoiler to fit right?

 

I think you mean parallel. As in you just have it across the positive and negative, right?? Putting it in series would reduce the intensity of the light cluster.

10 ohm also sounds a little low. If I were you, I'd put the resistor in open air and hold your foot on the brake for a few minutes. Then go feel it. As long as it isn't hot, it will work; I have a feeling it is pretty darn hot. Reason I say this is we used to put resistors across power supplies when I went to DeVry and they would get pretty hot then finally smoke.

If you could, do that and repost if all seems well.

Another solution is to just remove the moving parts in the relay; I did this and there is no more noise....

Ryan

 

I'm not sure as to which brand my spoiler is (bought it used). But I had to sand the hatch and the bottom of the spoiler to get it to fit a little better. I'm pretty happy with it now though!

I should try the resistor or relay method. I don't get the ABS INOP light that much, but when I do it's kind of annoying!

Brian

 

I've got a friend that did the same convertion. All he did was cut the factory harness and put the wires together and hadn't had any problems with it.

 

Ryan

Hey thanks for the reply. Read what I have written and let me know what you think b/c I did it based on theory and a little experience. I decided to put the resistor in series because I knew the voltage to the LED's would be fairly high and the best voltage for an LED is around 5V. Also, if in parallel, the current would theoretically be split between the resistor and LEDs, but I wasn't sure how much resistance an LED makes and I knew that the current would take the path of least resistance. That in addition to an LED working like a diode made me wonder if the resistor would get any current. Even with the voltage drop across it, I can say the LED's are still very bright in the spoiler and thinking back on how bright an SS spoiler's LEDs usually are, I would say they are the same brightness. However, I don't know for sure because I won't have an SS to compare to for at least a week. About the heat, I didn't think the resistor would get too hot b/c the maximum voltage it could be receiving is 12V, so I didn't think it would get too hot. Also, the resistor will only dissipate power when braking so it won't have a constant current flowing to it. From a little experience wiring a few circuits, I've never really had a resistor get super hot like you are saying, however, I usually work with lower voltages, so I will definately check the resistor to make sure it is not getting to hot. I will post back and let you know what I've found.

I didn't know you could remove the moving parts of a relay and it still work--I haven't had a chance to work with relays in school yet.

Thanks again Ryan and I will check into everything you mentioned.

Daniel

 

could someone please explain to me the simplest way to do it... ever since I installed my 98 SS spoiler I have the parking brake light always on and my cruise control doesnt work anymore either... so I would like to figue out how to fix this because I have been told it is directly related to the 98 SS spoiler. Thanks

 

Shouldn't make your parking light come on. Your ABS INOP light will illuminate. However, if your 3rd brake light is either not hooked up at all or if you haven't done the relay or resistor mod, your cruise may not work.

It's odd that the resistor in series fixed the problem. The reason the ABS light usually comes on is because the electricity wants to flow both directions and the LED's (Light Emitting Diodes) only allow the flow in one direction. The ABS system, for some odd reason, needs a backfeed through the 3rd brake light. Kinda sucks. Your light burns out an you have no ABS.....

Ryan

 

Ryan

Hey, I checked on the resistor to see if it is getting to hot. I had a friend push the brake pedal in while I held onto the resisitor. It never did get too hot (he held it down about a minute), but I wasn't sure how long it took for those resistors you were referring to start burning up.

Daniel

 

The only thing I noticed is when I hit my hazzards my ABS inop light comes on. I turn off the car and it is fine. Is this what you are talking about (or something similar)?

Scott

 

On my '96 I just wired them together with NO lights or errors what-so-ever. On 96/97 series cars (OBDII) supposedly they are OK with the resistance in the brake light circuit. I tried out 1/2 dozen different realys before I found a really quiet one I was going to install it...... until I found out I didn't need it. I would wire yours (93-95) in Parallel one wire to each side of the coil and then onto the brake light connections to each terminal as well. Underneath the rear panel I really don't think it will make that much noise. I was going to go the resistor route myself until I heard about the "cooked resistor" theory.

 

Jetman

Yes, I would have gone the route of no resistor first, but I knew better than to do that for my car b/c me and several other people spent two months trying to figure out how to wire my export taillights. The problem with following all the other how to's for the taillight conversion was that you could simply cut the light blue wire and all would be fine--and it is, but only for 93-95 year cars b/c they have a seperate yellow wire running to the third brake light. The 96 model year, however, has only one wire, light blue, that connects all components. Thus when I cut it and ran the new wire for the brake lights, everything functioned but my third brake light. The lack of resistance to the third brake light caused my ABS inop and ASR inop lights to come on and of course, they were disabled as well. As soon as the third brake light was hooked back up and operational, both lights went out. This made me realize that when I changed to a 98+ SS spoiler with LEDs (which allow no backfeed because they are diodes) I would have to add a resistor into my circuit.

Daniel

 

Sorry to bring this post up from the dead, but I'm going to be removing my 96 SS Spoiler in favor of the newer style one.

Is there any wiring neccesary, or is it as simple as remove and replace.

 

Jason

From my own experience, you are going to need to add a resistor in series with the new wiring to provide feedback to the ABS. If you don't, you will get an ABS inop light and your ABS will stop functioning. I used a 10 ohm and it worked well b/c I never got a ABS inop light.

Daniel

 

Im very illiterate to the wiring world without detailed instructions... could you explain how to do this as if I were a 10 year old ..how to get the parts, what to ask for and how to install it. Thanks

 

you may or may not get that problem. My friend put a 98+ wing on his 97 SS and spliced right up and no abs inop light