How Do I Rewire Foglights ?

[Windowlicker]

I have a 98 Explorer XLT and I will be swaping out the bumper with a new one for a 99-01 Explorer. I'm switching to the 99-01 foglights as well. I noticed that the foglight bulbs are rather different. The 95-98 explorers use a 993 type bulb which has 2 wires going to the plug and the 99-01 explorers have an H1 type bulb which only has 1 wire running to the plug. What can I do make the swap? I've found one article on this which involved cutting the coupling of one bulb and transplanting it on to the new one. This seems haggard to me and I'm not sure if I have the tools to pull it off and have it look clean. Any suggestion? This seems like a simple cut and splice or rewiring job, but I don't know a whole lot about wiring harnesses.

 

[yavapaires]

I have a 98 Explorer XLT and I will be swaping out the bumper with a new one for a 99-01 Explorer. I'm switching to the 99-01 foglights as well. I noticed that the foglight bulbs are rather different. The 95-98 explorers use a 993 type bulb which has 2 wires going to the plug and the 99-01 explorers have an H1 type bulb which only has 1 wire running to the plug. What can I do make the swap? I've found one article on this which involved cutting the coupling of one bulb and transplanting it on to the new one. This seems haggard to me and I'm not sure if I have the tools to pull it off and have it look clean. Any suggestion? This seems like a simple cut and splice or rewiring job, but I don't know a whole lot about wiring harnesses.

Most likely the reason for only one wire, is the socket is grounded through the body (mounting). You gots to have a power and a ground wire for the lights to work. Not having a newer vehicle, mines a 96, I an NOT familiar how they are wired.

 

[FORD SUV GUY]

I have a 98 Explorer XLT and I will be swaping out the bumper with a new one for a 99-01 Explorer. I'm switching to the 99-01 foglights as well. I noticed that the foglight bulbs are rather different. The 95-98 explorers use a 993 type bulb which has 2 wires going to the plug and the 99-01 explorers have an H1 type bulb which only has 1 wire running to the plug. What can I do make the swap? I've found one article on this which involved cutting the coupling of one bulb and transplanting it on to the new one. This seems haggard to me and I'm not sure if I have the tools to pull it off and have it look clean. Any suggestion? This seems like a simple cut and splice or rewiring job, but I don't know a whole lot about wiring harnesses.

My 2000 "XLT" has two wires coming from the connector at the fog lamp housing...

 

[Windowlicker]

I was able to get a better pitcure of a 99-01 fog light. It looks like there are two wires, just wrapped in a loom. Only difference I see now is that my explorer had a single harness (the two wires) that runs straight to the bulb in the housing and the 99-01 has one harness (about 4 inches long) that goes from the bulb and then plugs in to the main harness. So now that there's two wires for both types, you think I can just splice the new harness/plug with my stock one?

 

[BurnTheLight88]

I have a pretty decent amount of vehicle electrical experience, and in my opinion, yes. I don't know much about the H1 bulbs though, so read up on them and make sure there isn't a big difference in power demand. If there is you may have to add a relay.

 

[nrschaaf]

The smaller 993,893, 899 bulbs for the early second gen Explorers draw 37.5 watts each, typicaly. The H1 bulb draws 55 so you drawing almost 3 more amps of current at 12.0 volts. On my '97 I recently wired the Fog adn Reverse lights to work with domelight supervision and was led to beleive that the switch on the dashboard handles the full current of this circuit without the use of a relay, by the Ford service manual. I would agree with burnthelight88 and definatly install a relay to handle the extra load. It doesnt sound like much, but the prospect tracking down a damaged wire in your vehicles harness and the possibility of a fire make this very much worth the effort. Try and put the relay as close to the lights as possible to avoid undue damage within the trucks harness.