Adding Spot-Lights to a Sorento without drilling a firewall hole

[kia07]

This information relates to my 07 KIA EX 3.8L 4X4 Automatic SORENTO. It is probably applicable to other Sorento models, but, there is no guarantee of this.

After much frustration and thought, I have finally managed to install a set of Spot Lights without drilling any holes to route a cable from the engine compartment to the in-dash mounted control-switch!

This info may be of use to others wanting to do the same thing.

1. Remove both headlight assemblies (3x 10mm screws each).
2. Get an old metal coat-hanger and straighten it out.
3. Look under dash and locate bonnet(hood) release.
4. Follow cable to firewall grommet.
5. Insert coat-hanger wire through the grommet until it can be seen poking through the cavity of the nearest mudguard(fender).
6. Tape a 2-wire insulated cable to the wire.
7. Go back under the dash and carefully pull the cable through the firewall, with enough slack to connect to the switch.
8. Remove the other headlight assembly.
9. Carefully route the cable across the front of the car and up to the rear fuse-box near the side of the mudguard/fender.
10. Mount a 30A(or higher-rating) Relay to the inside wall just clear of the rear fuse box.
11. Connect one end of the relay coil to the nearest earth(ground) point.
12. Connect one wire of the twin-lead cable to the other end of the relay coil. Make a note of the colour of the insulation. For this instruction lets assume the colour is BLUE, and the other colour is BROWN (not used here).
13. Mount the spotlights.
14. Connect an earth wire to the negative-lead of each spotlight.
15. Connect a wire from the 'hot'-lead of each spotlight to a switched-contact on the relay.
16. Remove the cover from the rear fuse box. You will see a BLUE coloured FUSE. Beside that are 2 male-spade-lugs with nothing attached to them.
17. Route a wire, with an in-line 30-A fuse/holder, from the other relay switched-contact into the fuse box and put a female-spade crimp-lug on the end of the wire.
18. Plug the wire onto either of the vacant male spade-lugs. This is a constant 12vdc pickup point.
19. Replace the fusebox cover.
20. Locate the twin-lead cable at a point near either headlight plug.
21. Carefully open the protective corregated cover leading to the headlight plug. Locate the YELLOW WIRE.
22. On the twin-lead cable, cut the wire that is NOT connected to the RELAY (that's why I said to note the colour). Double check which wire it is before cutting! For this instruction, it is BROWN (do not cut the BLUE wire!).
23. Using a double-crimp splice, connect the end of the brown-wire that goes to the dash (could be any colour...brown used for the example)to the YELLOW wire of the headlight cable.
Note: The remainder of the brown wire going to the relay is not used.
24. Replace the headlights (don't forget to put the plugs on the headlights first)
25. Install the switch any way that you wish. I bought an illuminated green-led rocker-switch with a round mounting-hole and fitted it to the blank panel next to the dash light dimmer.
26. Connect the twin-lead cable to the switch contacts.
Note: if using an illuminated switch, you must connect the wire from the relay coil (blue in this case) to the [+] lug, and the wire from the headlight (brown is this case) to the [L] lug...plus an earth(ground) wire to the nearest point.
THAT'S IT!

THE MAIN POINT OF THIS POSTING IS TO SHOW YOU A WAY TO ROUTE A CABLE FROM THE ENGINE COMPARTMENT TO THE INSTRUMENT PANEL WITHOUT CUTTING ANY HOLES IN YOUR SORENTO.

I hope this information is useful for those wanting to install their own spot-lights...but, please do not ask me about installing them in any other model.

DISCLAIMER: This information is provided as a GUIDE ONLY...your installation may be different...no responsibility is taken for any mishap that may occur to any vehicle and/or anyone attempting to install their own spotlights using all or any portion of this information.