# OEM Style Fog Lights Not Working



## mitchell35758 (Oct 21, 2005)

Any ideas what to check? 
I haven't yet checked the fog light bulbs.
I have checked the fuse, it was good.
The switch has power
the lines coming from the relay to the switch is connected
the wires to the fog lights are all connected 
the relay has visibily no damage and all wires connected
wire is still securely connected to the battery
Wires look good, nothing ripped, melted, etc. 

any ideas?
I will be checking the bulbs, but it is odd when they both go at the same time
I know there was a thread were a guy had both headlights go at the same time, but these bulbs are less than two months old.


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## avenger (Oct 7, 2005)

you have the lowbeams on when you're turning the fogs on right?


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## mitchell35758 (Oct 21, 2005)

avenger said:


> you have the lowbeams on when you're turning the fogs on right?


Naw, these are aftermarket OEM style fog lights that I installed myself. Using JerryP58 wiring idea, I ran them through the parking lights so that I wouldn't have to have the low beams on. 


I just checked the light bulbs, they look good to go. However, when attempting to turn them on again, I noticed that there was no clicking sound from the relay. Shouldn't you be able to hear the relay is some aftermarket componnents regardless of it the part associated with it is not working? I am starting to think that the relay is bad. I'm going to try to test it with a meter, not sure how, but I will try to dig up some info on how to use a ohm meter(think thats what it is called).


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## jerryp58 (Jan 6, 2005)

mitchell35758 said:


> Naw, these are aftermarket OEM style fog lights that I installed myself. Using JerryP58 wiring idea, I ran them through the parking lights so that I wouldn't have to have the low beams on.
> 
> 
> I just checked the light bulbs, they look good to go. However, when attempting to turn them on again, I noticed that there was no clicking sound from the relay. Shouldn't you be able to hear the relay is some aftermarket componnents regardless of it the part associated with it is not working? I am starting to think that the relay is bad. I'm going to try to test it with a meter, not sure how, but I will try to dig up some info on how to use a ohm meter(think thats what it is called).


If I have the engine off, I can hear my relay click on & off. Did you check the fuse for the power line from the battery to the relay? Do you have a pin-type continuity tester? They're pretty inexpensive; maybe < $3. Anyway, you could use that to check the main power to the relay and the switch to the relay. If you have both of those, but nothing on the other side of the relay then yeah, it sounds like your relay went bad.

Contiuity tester...


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## mitchell35758 (Oct 21, 2005)

jerryp58 said:


> If I have the engine off, I can hear my relay click on & off. Did you check the fuse for the power line from the battery to the relay? Do you have a pin-type continuity tester? They're pretty inexpensive; maybe < $3. Anyway, you could use that to check the main power to the relay and the switch to the relay. If you have both of those, but nothing on the other side of the relay then yeah, it sounds like your relay went bad.
> 
> Contiuity tester...



Sorry, I have a multimeter, not a ohm meter. Shows my ignorance towards these things. My dad bought me one for christmas and I have yet to learn about it and how to use it...lol Will the that work? The fuse is still good. 

I'm thinking that the relay has got to be the problem. I am assuming that the relay is still going to do its thing regardless of if the lights were blown, and it isn't clicking at all. 

Can I check the relay with a multimeter while the relay is off the vehicle? Again, I'm very ignorant when it comes to multimeter.

Thanks Jerry


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## inyourface1650 (Oct 6, 2005)

the easiest way to check the relay is to see if you have voltage on the far side of the relay when the siwtch is on, or off. If your relay is good, when you flip the switch, you will have 12 volts downstream of the relay. If you flip the siwtch off, you should have no voltage. 

Relays usually do click, generally quite odd if they dont. Usually they start a nice little stutter before they go completely bad though. Did you notice your fogs doing anything odd in the past week?


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## mitchell35758 (Oct 21, 2005)

inyourface1650 said:


> the easiest way to check the relay is to see if you have voltage on the far side of the relay when the siwtch is on, or off. If your relay is good, when you flip the switch, you will have 12 volts downstream of the relay. If you flip the siwtch off, you should have no voltage.
> 
> Relays usually do click, generally quite odd if they dont. Usually they start a nice little stutter before they go completely bad though. Did you notice your fogs doing anything odd in the past week?


I haven't noticed them acting up. I haven't even noticed them not working until yesterday. Not sure, but I think they have been working great until yesterday. However, i did run the truck through a car wash and wonder if water could have gotten up in the relay and fried it????? Dunno 

Unless I did it wrong, I did not get any reading from the multimeter. I then pulled the plug and put some wires in the connector running to the fog lights and the ground connector running to the battery negative side. The lights lit up as they should have. As stated in the first post, everything appears normal except for the fact that they just aren't kicking on. After doing the above, I am confident that it is the relay. Any more suggestions from anyone? I know the relays are relatively cheap for the aftermarket fog lights, but would rather fix the problem on the first attempt, so any more suggestions before I buy a new relay would be appreciated. 





Sorry about the rating of this thread, just fooling around with it and now I can't get it unrated. Sorry

thanks everyone

edit: Can't really tell if the relay has a burnt smell to it because of a bad cold I have right now. I think it does slightly, but no confident about that observation



one more note: 
Using the continuity tester of the multimeter, I get a reading for the ground and switch side, but for no other combinations, again, I don't know much about this, so their might be a reason for that or it might mean it is a bad relay.


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## jerryp58 (Jan 6, 2005)

mitchell35758 said:


> Can I check the relay with a multimeter while the relay is off the vehicle? Again, I'm very ignorant when it comes to multimeter.


I've never looked up how you check a relay with no power going to it. It may have an ohm spec, it may just require you to push 12v through it (a Google will probably get you that info really quick). With a good multi-meter, you should be able to do both. I like the pin type continuity tester because it's so easy and quick; just ground the alligator clip and push the pin through the wire you're testing; it'll tell you if you have current going through the line so you can check for power to the switch, power from the switch, power from the battery, and power on the light side of the relay.

Found this testing procedure, don't know how good or bad it is... http://www.installdr.com/TechDocs/999403.pdf


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## MrFancypants (Nov 18, 2005)

Just apply 12V across the coil. It should make an audible "click".


- Greg -


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## mitchell35758 (Oct 21, 2005)

Jerry, 
Thanks for the link. I'll check it out as I am still curious about my methods of checking the relay. Appreciate the patience as I have said above, I am don't know much about this stuff. I'm going to just replace the relay, but will play around with this old for fun, just to try to learn how to use the multimeter. Probably crack the old relay open just to see what they are about. 

Yeah, that simple conitnuity tester looks like what I need. The one my dad bought me for christmas has all kinds of crap on it I don't even understand. I'll have to pull the manual out.

Greg, 
It isn't making any noise as it use to. I'm sure its the problem. Quick trip to autozone should fix everything. 

Thanks guys


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## mitchell35758 (Oct 21, 2005)

Hey jerry, is the relay on our fog lights really 40 amps? Mine says 12V/40A, but the foglights that I have owned in the past all had the same H3 bulbs, and used 30 amp relays.


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## inyourface1650 (Oct 6, 2005)

Its a 40amper then. Nothing wrong with that. I'd much rather have something running with a "comfortable" load then right at the edge.......they last longer that way.


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## jerryp58 (Jan 6, 2005)

mitchell35758 said:


> Hey jerry, is the relay on our fog lights really 40 amps? Mine says 12V/40A, but the foglights that I have owned in the past all had the same H3 bulbs, and used 30 amp relays.


I'll take a look tomorrow, but the fuse between it and the battery is either 20 or 30 Amp so at least it should blow before the relay.


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## mitchell35758 (Oct 21, 2005)

Inyourface, 
Should a 30 amp relay be fine to run. As I posted above, all the other aftermarket fog lights that I have bought from places like Autozone either came with a relay or didn't, and the ones that did came with 30 amp relays. As far as I know, they are identical to this OEM styled kit from ebay based off the guage of the wires and the bulbs themsevles. I would like to have a 40 amp relay, but as I am just begining my search, haven't been able to find any just yet. 

Jerry, 
Thanks for taking a look for me. I'm going to check again, but I think the fuse I have is a 15 amp. Really hoping to find a good replacement so that I could keep the connector, but it looks like if I have to go with a 30 amp relay, I'll have to chop the wires from the connector . Oh well, maybe if I do, I'll save the connector just in case I do find the correct relay later.

Thanks guys


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## mitchell35758 (Oct 21, 2005)

*Problem Solved*

Ok, first, let me say again, I don't know how to read or use a multimeter that well. So if I say something that isn't right, thats why.

After replacing the relay with a 30 amp relay and it still not working, I did so more testing. With the new relay I was able to test the terminals vs. the relay that came with the fog lights. I finally saw that I was only gettting (read the fist line at the top) .06 volts into the relay. This was seen by placing the two pieces of the multimeter on the ground side of the relay and the main power source in of the relay. Confused, I put the two multimeter "?probes?" on the battery's pos and neg sides and saw somewhere around 12-13 volts. I then put one "?probe?" on the pos side of the battery and then the other one on my ground for the foglights. Again, .06 volts. Thats when I realized that the orginal relay was still good and my grounding spot was bad. I don't understand why it all the sudden became a bad ground. It worked fine for several months. 

Solution, put the orginal connector back on the wires, Move the gound, and plug the orginal connector back into the orginal relay. 

Problem solved and I feel like a complete idiot for not having done a better job inspecting for possible causes of the lights to not be working. Oh well...learn from mistakes. 

Sorry to have wasted anyones time. Thanks guys for the input I recieved.


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## jerryp58 (Jan 6, 2005)

mitchell35758 said:


> Ok, first, let me say again, I don't know how to read or use a multimeter that well. So if I say something that isn't right, thats why.
> 
> After replacing the relay with a 30 amp relay and it still not working, I did so more testing. With the new relay I was able to test the terminals vs. the relay that came with the fog lights. I finally saw that I was only gettting (read the fist line at the top) .06 volts into the relay. This was seen by placing the two pieces of the multimeter on the ground side of the relay and the main power source in of the relay. Confused, I put the two multimeter "?probes?" on the battery's pos and neg sides and saw somewhere around 12-13 volts. I then put one "?probe?" on the pos side of the battery and then the other one on my ground for the foglights. Again, .06 volts. Thats when I realized that the orginal relay was still good and my grounding spot was bad. I don't understand why it all the sudden became a bad ground. It worked fine for several months.
> 
> ...


Nice job tracking down the problem. Are your grounds on a painted surface? Sometimes just a little moisture or corrosion is all it takes to screw up continuity.

Sorry I haven't gotten you the numbers off of my relay yet; I've got the flu


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## mitchell35758 (Oct 21, 2005)

jerryp58 said:


> Nice job tracking down the problem. Are your grounds on a painted surface? Sometimes just a little moisture or corrosion is all it takes to screw up continuity.
> 
> Sorry I haven't gotten you the numbers off of my relay yet; I've got the flu


Thanks. THey are on a painted surface, in existing bolts holes that are probably used for something on the XE models. You are more than likely right in my situation as I had just run the truck through a car wash the day of or day after the lights quit working(can't even remember what day now)

No problem on the numbers, I'm sure they are the same. 
Hope you're feeling better. 
Take care


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## jerryp58 (Jan 6, 2005)

mitchell35758 said:


> Hey jerry, is the relay on our fog lights really 40 amps? Mine says 12V/40A, but the foglights that I have owned in the past all had the same H3 bulbs, and used 30 amp relays.


70* today. I finally felt good enough to step outside for a bit. Coughing like mad now  

12V/40A relay. The in-line fuse is 15A. Guess they have the fuse set to blow long before the relay would; probably a good thing.

Do you know how many Watts these lights are? I would guess 35W, but I'm not sure.

Oh, As much as I hated to do it, before I used the existing holes for my grounds, I scratched off the paint. I hated the idea of creating an entry point for corrosion, but figured I wouldn't get a good ground otherwise.


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## mitchell35758 (Oct 21, 2005)

jerryp58 said:


> 70* today. I finally felt good enough to step outside for a bit. Coughing like mad now
> 
> 12V/40A relay. The in-line fuse is 15A. Guess they have the fuse set to blow long before the relay would; probably a good thing.
> 
> ...


Makes sense about the grounding of the lights.
All the numbers are the same as mine. The fog light bulbs are the H3 bulbs, 99% confident they are 55 watts. I had to replace one of my bulbs after the install, sent me a bad bulb, oh well. Yeah, I'm pretty confident though that they are 55Ws as (not sure though) the H3's are automatically 55Ws. Either way if H3 can have different wattages, my replacement bulb burns the same brightness as the orginal, and again I am almost certain the package said 55Ws.


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## mitchell35758 (Oct 21, 2005)

jerryp58 said:


> 70* today. I finally felt good enough to step outside for a bit. Coughing like mad now
> 
> 12V/40A relay. The in-line fuse is 15A. Guess they have the fuse set to blow long before the relay would; probably a good thing.
> 
> ...


Hey Jerry
New problem tonight. Only this time I was smart about tracking it down. 

This wasn't the problem, but was discovered during the process of elimination. The fuse was slightly melted. With the exception of it being half melted, it was in good shape. I was wondering if you checked yours lately? Curious to see if you have this happening to you too. Any suggestions about a half melted fuse and still works???

I think I'm going to get a new fuse put in there ASAP.


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## Mylt1 (May 10, 2006)

is the fuse near a heat source? also the fuse on the + wire from the batt. should be rated for the wire. the size of the wire limits the ammount of amps that can travel through it. thats why you never put a larger fuse in if you start blowing them. if you start blowing fuses you need to track down the problem or bad things can happen. yuo dont want a fire and that is usualy what happens.


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## mitchell35758 (Oct 21, 2005)

Mylt1 said:


> is the fuse near a heat source? also the fuse on the + wire from the batt. should be rated for the wire. the size of the wire limits the ammount of amps that can travel through it. thats why you never put a larger fuse in if you start blowing them. if you start blowing fuses you need to track down the problem or bad things can happen. yuo dont want a fire and that is usualy what happens.


No, its just hanging out inside the fender, one of the larger circular holes right near the headlights. 15A is what came with it and its whats going to stay with it. I've had switches melt before, on a previous vehicle, but not the fuse. My short history with this stuff just makes me laugh at the melted fuse.:lame: 

Thanks for the input


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