does anyone know how to make the fogs run without the headlights on? im sure it involves messing with some wires. if anyone has done this or knows how to please tell me. thanks.

I thought 98s would run fog lights with only parking lights on like my 99 does????

aldive....tap into the power wire and run a separate dedicated power wire and switch.... then it will run normal or alone...a parallel circuit

Or how to keep them on when you flip your brights on. I have seriously been debating whether to just go out and buy aftermarket ones so I have better control over my lights.

Someone posted the instructions a while back that explains how to move the wire from the low-beam relay under the hood to the parking lamp relay. It will then allow the fog-lights to be on whenever the parking lamps are lit, which means whenever the parking lamps, low beams or high beams are on.

Thanks for the tip Robert. I did a search and found the thread. Looks like I know what I will be doing tomorrow.

Here you go guys. :D

http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=31137&highlight=fog

Thanks guys!

Hi Everyone,
I have a 98 Mercury Mountaineer. I cannot run the fogs without having the low beams on. I read the thread (Stock Fogs) before on how to solve the problem, but it seems as if my wires are different colors than listed and I can't seem to get to them except for the small area right behind the light switch. If anyone can help me, I'd appreciate it.

Thanks
J. :)

i found the wires under the stock airbox. i cut open the casing that was holding all of the wires together and found the one i needed. all of the wires come out of a relay box that is about 5 inches long and 1.5 inches wide mounted on the side of the metal plate that the airbox attaches to towards the engine. i cut the fog wire and ran it into my fuse panel so that i could use the fogs totally independent of all other lights. i have them wired into an ignition circuit so that i can just leave them on. kinda like daytime running lights and i can still use the fog lights switch to turn them off. I am very happy that i did this to my truck. it makes all the other explorer owners wonder.

maybe the wiring for the mountaineers is different or if you have a V8 maybe they had to route the wires different. im sure that someone on the board knows the answer. good luck.

You can only run the fogs with the parking lights on '99 and newer.

1995ExplorerXLT

1995explorerXLT: That is true but there is a way to rewire the 95-98 fog lights to work either independently or with the parking lights. It only took me about 25 minutes to do it.

My fogs work with parking lights or low beams on my '99, so I don't know why they wouldn't work with the lo beam on any other '99. Hi beams I understand, cause they don't want you blinding the deer before you hit them.....

The stock fogs, from 95-98, are on with low beams only. From 99-01 they are on with the parking lights and low beams (I'm not sure if they are on with the hi beams, but I dont think they are). Anyway, if you have a 95-98 you can rewire the lights to come on with the parking lights or to be totally independent of all the lights. If you have a 99-01 you can rewire them to be totally independent but I don't know if it is done the same way as the 95-98.

Originally posted by 98FordX24
(I'm not sure if they are on with the hi beams, but I dont think they are

The fogs definately do not work on the hi beams on my 99 at least.

HI Everyone,
I looked under my hood the other day and I can see the wires, but they are some type of enclosed by some plugs (pins maybe?) . I took each one off to see what they would do. One does control the fog lights, but I couldn't do anything with it. If I could find the correct colors of the wires, I could probably do it from the headlight switch, but even the Mercury people don't know how to do it! ( Which still boggles my mind.)

J. :eek:

P.S. And what really makes me mad is that when I hold back the signal switch the fogs will stay on with the high beams, but if I push it forward to leave the high beams on, they cut off!!! Who in the *$^&$ designed that!!!:shoot: :fire:

where did you find that box with the relays in it? under the intake? if so, then you will see all of the wires that are in the box come out together (the bundle of wires is about 1/2" dia.) cut the casing on the bundle and separate the wires. I believe it is the dark blue/light green wire, but i would check the above posts to be sure. you cant get to the wires in the box so just get them when they come out.

Thanks. I'll give that a try. That case is sitting near the air filter box. I guess that's what the older thread was talking about. Maybe the V8's had more room or something. I was just afraid if I cut the box, I wouldn't be able to get them back in, or my lights would stop working.

J.:)

you dont need to cut the box. just cut the tape that holds the bundle of wires coming out of the box. there are about 10-15 wires all bundled together coming out of the box headed toward the front of the truck. carefully cut the tape off so you can see all the wires and then when you are done just tape it back up.