Darn Fog Lights!!!!!

I’m having a hard time finding if there is a relay for the fog lights. Both of my stock fog lights have stopped working. I checked the bulbs and replaced the 15amp fuse. There is no power going to the bulbs. There are relays in the fuse box and a set of five near the air breather. Could it be one of these? The manual they give you is useless!!!

2001 Eddie Baur Explorer

 

[fixxxer]

Yes, your fog lights have a relay
http://www.autozone.com/addVehicleI...pping/repairGuide.htm?pageId=0900c152801dddc5

 

[Bill Kemp]

Check the "sticky" posts at the top of the Lighting page for Fog Lamp Mod &/or Stock Fog Lamp Relay.
Hope it helps....

 

[Thomas_1]

So can a bad relay make the fog lights not work? I have a small volt meter, how do you check them?
Bill, the "sticky" post helped a lot, thanks.

 

[Sandy]

Yup, also, bad grounds, blown fuse, bad connections on the power and relay.

Turn on the Fogs, take a Multimeter or 12 volt probe and see if you have power at the lights.
If yes, then the problem could be either bad bulb, bad ground r connections at the lights.
If no power then trace the wire back to the next connection, maybe the relay, see if there is power at the relay. There are two types of power that could be at the Relay, one is power from the battery and the other is the power from the Dash switch.
If no power at the relay then you will need to determine which wires do what and trace them to their source and see if there is power.

Take your time and mark the wires.

Another thought... here I go again, if you find that the wiring is a mess or you can't figure it out, consider using the Dash Switch to actuate a new relay and run new wires.

ltr,

 

[Thomas_1]

Thanks everybody. I found a post by "aldive" called Fog Lamp Mod 2001 (1999-2001?) Explorer. It showed the relay diagram and which one it was. I replaced the relay and now I have fog lights again. I can't believe that there was no mention of this relay in the owners manual.

 

[storlied]

Would the little fog light button green light still come on if the fuse or relay was bad?

I have my aux lights wired up to my fog light switch (with a relay of course) after jumping another truck.. they won't turn on... it's -50 outside... so any quick things to look at??

 

[Bill Kemp]

it's -50 outside... so any quick things to look at??

Lotta good football on this weekend.


Oh, you mean your fogs. Fuses & light bulbs first.

 

[storlied]

interior fuse is good to go, from what I saw under the hood.. my lil glass fuses look good.. even took them out and connected the wires.. no lights. It's just too cold for this.

I'm going to take out the hella relay and put in a wire to connect the constant to the lights and see if they come on... if that's the case.. I guess I'm going to go with a bigger relay.

Or am I going about this all wrong? Would doing this test point me to the factory fog relay if it was bad?.. I'm tired and this is confusing me.. lol..

I HOPE it's just a relay...... actually.. I'd be happier if it was just a fuse..... I haven't been able to really get a good look at things.. I can't be outside for more than 5 minutes without my hands going completely numb and hurting... god.. I hate this town.. I wish I had a camera.. you should see how bad the fog is right now.

 

[Thomas_1]

storlied, no the fog light green button will not light up if the relay under the hood is bad. That’s what was throwing me off. I thought it was an electrical problem in the circuit.
I just got back from driving through Ohio, Indiana, West Virginia and Illinois. The fog was so bad that you could not see 10 feet in front of you at times. I was a little disappointed with the factory fog lights. I’m going to add more lights later when the weather warms up. This guy here has some nice set ups on his 2001 http://stlouismtb.tripod.com/yellowfogs.html

 

[storlied]

I don't have stock fogs anymore, I just have my aux lights triggered by the stock fog button. So I guess the stock system is good, something else is a miss then with my system.

 

[storlied]

I don't get it... light comes on the fog light button.. but my lights don't work.. replaced the relay... nothing.. if i take a wire n connect the relay output one to the battery line.. they light up.. so no problems after the relay... i have the fog lights rigged to be able to come on with my parking lights... what should I be looking at here? there's no power coming from the stock fog lamp wire... fuse is good, and apparently the relay is if the button light comes on.. im lost..

 

[Sandy]

storlied,

Talk to me a second about your cause ?

You wired up a new set of lights ?

YOu used the OEM Relay that was for the original Fog Lights to do what; actuate another relay or turn on the new aux lights ?

When you turn on your Fog Light Switch, does the relay or relays click ?

Talk to me Dude ?

The Light in the Switch indicates the switch has been turned on only nothing more. It does not indicate that the relay is working, listen for a clicking sound coming from the relay that will let you know the relay is actuating.
If the relay is working it should be clicking and there should be power coming from pin 87 on the relay. If not then there should be no power from pin 87 which could indicate a bad relay or a bad ground or just that there is no power going to the relay; so many things that could go wrong...

For the indicator to indicate the Lights are on you will need to do the following :
If you want to know if the lights are on you will need to run an additional relay that is actuated by the output or ground of the lights. When the switch is turned on and the power goes to the light and then to ground it will actuate the relay, it will light the Dash Indicator letting you know the light has power.
This type of indicator can let you know when you have blow a bulb or just that the light is out.

 

[Bill Kemp]

You did the mod that allows the fogs to be on any time the parking lights are on?
You have used the stock fog lamps wire to trigger the relay for the aux lamps?
1. Check the connections to the parking lights wire and the connection from the stock fog light wire to the relay for the aux lights. Those are about the only places that I can think of that would cause you to have no power at the end of the stock fog lamp wire.

 

[storlied]

Found out the problems, all the places I used.. (well, not all.. but parts that.. oh idk..) I'm too "tired" for this..lol.. anyways... where it was metal to metal for the wires to connect... like I used a scotchlock to splice the power from the fog light switch to the relay trigger... there wasn't a good connection anymore... and then at the fuse point for the fog light's main power.. the ends of the wires touching the fuse were all messed up.. so I cut them off and put it back together... good to go..

In other words, I pretty much had to cut off the ends of a couple wires and re-make the connections with a fresh piece of the wire.

I guess this cold had it's toll on the wires, plus when jumping the other truck might have done something.. could have been coincidence .. idk...

anyways... this is how my wiring is..

(and yes Bill, I have the parking light mod done)
Wire coming from one of the stock fog light connectors going to the trigger pin of the relay.. (the two 55w fogs are also spliced into the trigger wire... and the rest of the system is the stock hella wiring harness.. I made no other modifications..

So it's pretty much as if I had my old fog lights, except with a relay inline of the fog lights to turn on the hellas..

 

[Bill Kemp]

So get one of these for your fuse box. If I understand you right that your putting bare wires in the fuse box. If you use a scotch lok drown it with dielectric grease and tape it up better than you think you should.

Glad you found the problem.

 

[storlied]

Nah, I didn't touch the fuse box as far as wiring goes. When it warms up, I'm going to do a complete overhaul of my wiring.

 

[Sandy]

Found out the problems, all the places I used.. (well, not all.. but parts that.. oh idk..) I'm too "tired" for this..lol.. anyways... where it was metal to metal for the wires to connect... like I used a scotchlock to splice the power from the fog light switch to the relay trigger... there wasn't a good connection anymore... and then at the fuse point for the fog light's main power.. the ends of the wires touching the fuse were all messed up.. so I cut them off and put it back together... good to go..

In other words, I pretty much had to cut off the ends of a couple wires and re-make the connections with a fresh piece of the wire.

I guess this cold had it's toll on the wires, plus when jumping the other truck might have done something.. could have been coincidence .. idk...

anyways... this is how my wiring is..

There is nothing like a soldered connection... the splices you are using are like asking for trouble. "Do It right the First Time", man take the time to replace the scotchlock splices with a good stripped, wrapped and soldered connection, then some tape and/or liquid solder.
The scotchlocks are good for a quick fix on the trail to get home, that is about all.
Yes I know they work but how long and for what terrain.

Luck you will need it with the crimp splices...

 

[storlied]

Don't I need some fancy equipment to solder things?

 

[EddieB97]

my 97 should have the same setup just different lights... on my fog lights they went out and there are 2 different fuses to the fog lights... one in the fuse box under the hood, the other in the dash fuse panel did you replace both fuses or just one?