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Aston Martin Illuminated Door handles

Aston Martin illuminated Doorhandles

Posted on March 8, 2022November 23, 2022 by Paul

Aston Martin illuminated Doorhandles, although all DB9s, DBS and Vantages have the 2 clear slots in the door handle, only 2007MY and later cars have the LEDs to illuminate when you unlock the doors. I retrofitted LEDs to my 2006MY DB9.

There is no wiring ready on pre 2207 MY cars but the door modules have the connections needed to enable the door handle lights to illuminate when the doors are unlocked and switch off after a preset time or when the door is opened.

DB9 exterior door handle
DB9 exterior door handle
db9 door handle led on
db9 door handle led on

Door card removal

Aston Martin DB9 Door Card
Aston Martin DB9 Door Card

The door card on the DB9 (and Vantage, DBS etc.) is very easy to remove, almost no hidden screws, just 2 5mm Allen bolts (yellow) and 7 screws (red).

Aston Martin Door bar
Aston Martin Door bar

Remove the 2 5MM allen key bolts, one at each end of the door handle

DB9 door bar removal
DB9 door bar removal

Gently pull the door handle away from the door

Aston Martin Interior Door handle removal
Aston Martin Interior Door handle removal

Disconnect the door handle by undoing the 2 2mm hex bolts and disconnecting the cable

Aston Martin door end cap
Aston Martin door end cap

Remove the door end cap with a plastic trim removal tool, its only held in place with Velcro

DB9 door end cap bracket
DB9 door end cap bracket

remove the screw that hold the bracket on and secures the door card to the door, all the screws are T25

Aston Martin door card speaker grille screw
Aston Martin door card speaker grille screw

The front top edge of the door card is held in place by a screw under the speaker grille

DB9 door air vent fixing
DB9 door air vent fixing

There is another screw inside the air duct at the front of the door (as can be seen mine has been damaged in the past and needs fixing)

Aston martin door card bottom screws
Aston martin door card bottom screws

Finally there are 4 screws along the bottom of the door card

door card removal tool
door card removal tool

gently pry the door card away from the door using a plastic trim removal tool, there are two electrical connectors that need removing, the switch pack and the puddle light. Ensure the window is raised fully before moving the connectors.

Wiring for Aston Martin illuminated Door handles

Aston Martin Door Module
Aston Martin Door Module

All VH Aston Martins have door modules that control various aspects of the doors, such as locking, windows, mirrors etc. Even the earliest such as this 2005 module have facility for illuminated door handles even though they are not wired up. We will be using connector C0336 which is the grey connector on the right hand side of the picture above.

DB9 door handle illumination wiring diagram
DB9 door handle illumination wiring diagram

As can be seen from the wiring diagram we will use pins 12 and 14, pin 14 is already in use so we will splice in to the black cable from pin 14, but pin 12 is empty so we need to add a new pin to the connector, because we will be disconnecting the connector from the door module we will need to force the windows to recalibrate after finishing this modification (open the window fully and hold the switch down for 10 seconds , then close the window fully and hold for 10 seconds, if its not recalibrated then auto up/down won’t work and nor will the dropping and raining slightly of the window when the door is opened/closed)

Aston Martin Door Module Connector CO336
Aston Martin Door Module Connector C0336

Pins 12 and 14 marked

DB9 Door module wiring
DB9 Door module wiring

Connector C0336 with the red front removed, as can be seen, pin 12 is empty (and pin 14 is corroded and needs cleaning)

Aston Martin Connector pin insert
Connector pin insert

A female pin attached to a wire for inserting into position 12 on the connector C0336, I used pins out of a multi connector set

door module connector pin
door module connector pin being inserted.
DB9 door handle modified connector
DB9 door handle modified connector

Connector C0336 with pin 12 added and an extra wire spliced (soldered and with heatshrink) in to pin 14 for the illuminated door handle power.

Modifying the Door Handle

db9 door handle rear view
db9 door handle rear view

The door handle can be removed by removing the 3*10mm nuts holding it in place

Aston Martin Door handle with LEDs installed
LEDs fitted into the rear of the door handle

I chose to fit 2 5mm White LEDs as 2 LEDs seemed to illuminate the slots more evenly, I just drilled 2 5mm holes in the back of the door handle casing, fitted the LEDs and to ensure they didn’t vibrate loose, I covered them in a thin layer of epoxy glue.

The LEDs should illuminate when the doors are unlocked using the fob and stay illuminated for 30 seconds or until the door is opened.

  • Interior Door handle illumination
  • Replacement Door Handle LEDs
  • Custom Glass Switches
  • Rear window Control
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6 thoughts on “Aston Martin illuminated Doorhandles”

  1. Peter Avis says:
    May 17, 2022 at 6:48 am

    Brilliant write up. Thank you.

    Reply
    1. Paul says:
      May 24, 2022 at 3:36 pm

      Thanks

      Reply
  2. Giles Ashdown says:
    January 31, 2024 at 9:17 am

    Great write up with clear easy to follow instructions. Well done and thank you

    Reply
    1. Paul says:
      February 1, 2024 at 6:59 am

      Thank you

      Reply
  3. Chris says:
    March 17, 2024 at 2:09 pm

    Hi Paul, can you remember what size green connector pins are as the ones I have are way too big for the plug?

    Reply
    1. Paul says:
      March 17, 2024 at 4:05 pm

      Sorry, I know they were small but I can’t remember what size

      Reply

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