Fog light mod

cant seem to find anything on it

 

http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/technical-chat/4838-cheap-free-mods.html#post45430

Here ya go,
Did it, works great!

 

thanks dudeeeeeeeee

 

That way will work, but you should put an inline fuse.

http://www.toyotanation.com/forum/showthread.php?t=79485

 

The fog lights are already fused. (#2 engine compartment) As per your link; a relay is a switch, it is either open or closed (short). Although there isn't much of a point of doing this, it wont hurt anything. Have at it, if you like.

 

Did it, Love it. Changed the bulbs to Luminics bright blue.

 

this may be a dumb question but this is the first mod I've considered trying involving the electronics... I tried pulling the fog relay out to take a look at it and it wasn't budging...did you have to pull pretty hard? Also is there any risk of messing up anything serious?

I also have a set of PIAA fog lights on my bull bar...would I be able to turn these on anytime too?

 

The point is if that relay ever shorts out. Rather be preventive then have a major issue later. Do it your way if you want!

 

Get a flat head screw driver to get under if you need too and pry up gently. As long as you take your time you will be ok!

 

Parts/Tools that you will need:
- Ratchet
- 10mm Socket
- 12mm Socket
- Optional: Long Extension
- Flat Head Screwdriver
- Pliers
- Wire Strippers
- (1) Male Butt Connector
- (1) Female Splice Connector
- Optional: Extra Wire (I didn’t use any personally)


STEP #1

Remove battery… To do this, you’ll need to remove the single 10mm nut that’s closest to the front of the truck. The two battery terminals (both positive (+) wire and ground wire (-) require a 10mm socket as well to remove. WARNING: DO NOT TOUCH THE POSITIVE (+) AND NEGATIVE (-) CABLES TOGETHER…THEY WILL SHOCK YOU BELIEVE IT OR NOT). Once you’ve removed the bracket nut, and have the the positive and negative battery cables moved a side, remove the battery bracket and pull the battery out. You honestly don’t need to remove the battery though it will made the job easier when it comes to reaching certain bolts, moving around the fuse block, etc..





STEP #2

Remove the fuse panel cover so you can see all your individual fuses. There is a clip on the firewall (right) side of the black cover that you’ll need to pry back to get the cover off.



STEP #3

Remove the (3) 10mm nuts that hold the actual fuse panel in place.



STEP #4

Unplug the three plugs at the top of the box… there are (2) plugs that are about a inch long or so, and a smaller 6 pin pug that’s roughly a half inch wide… Note where this plug is. There is a SOLID LIGHT GREEN wire on this plug that we’ll be concentrating later on..



STEP #5

Once the three plugs are removed, you’ll want to release a piece on the top of the box that the those three plugs come through… to do this, there are two tabs, one on each side that you’ll have to pull outward… once you have both tabs pulled outward you’ll be able to slide that section of the box upward to move it out of the way….



STEP #6

Remove the 12mm nut located on the top left side of the box. Once this is removed, you should be able to slide the 3 plugs completely out of the way.



STEP #7

Now the harder part…. Be patient with this one because this is by far the hardest, most frustrating part of the entire modification. Now that all plugs are unplugged and moved away from the fuse panel, you’ll have to use your flat head screw driver and wedge the tabs located around the entire fuse panel. While wedging the tabs, you’ll want to wiggle/slide the entire fuse panel upward. The fun part is, the fuse panel won’t slide easily so you’ll have to use your favorite curse words several times until you have the panel released..



STEP #8

Once you have the panel slid up where you can see all the wires underneath (you’ll have to jimmy the entire panel around using a decent amount of force), you’ll want to find a thin SOLID RED WIRE WITH BLACK STRIPE that leads to where the upper right pin location from the actual blue fog light relay. This particular wire is located sorta near the right edge of the panel and runs upward near the location of the 3 larger plugs we removed in step #4.



STEP #9

Once you’ve found the correct RED WIRE WITH BLACK STRIPE you’ll want to find roughly the middle of the wire and cut it in half… You’ll cap off the side of the wire that leads to the top portion of the fuse box and the other half we’ll be using to slice into a light green wire but we’ll come back to that in a second.



STEP #10

Find the SOLID GREEN WIRE… to do this you might want to scroll back up to step #4 and see where the Plug/Pin location is so you’ll have a reference point. Looking under the fuse panel, the SOLID LIGHT GREEN wire will be located pretty much in the middle of the upper portion of the entire panel… By noting Step #4 and where the plug/pins should be, you’ll be able to find this wire fairly easily.



STEP #11

Once you’ve found the LIGHT GREEN WIRE and you have the RED WITH BLACK SPRIPED wire cut in half, you’ll want to follow the green down to roughly its half way spot where you’ll be adding a female butt connector to… Make sure if you’re not using any extra wire, that your red wire will be able to reach where you’re putting your female connector on the green wire.



STEP #12

Now put your Male butt connector on the end of the red/black wire that leads to where the fog light relay will be plugged into.



STEP #13

Once you have both your connectors attached, plug the red wire into the green wire… Now your wiring job is complete and you’ll be ready to start putting everything back in its original condition.

STEP #14

Tuck your all your wires back in and you can start sliding your fuse panel back into its box. Once you have your fuse panel snapped back into its box, I personally plugged in everything (remember to attach the cable to the 12mm nut location from step #6), attached the cables to the battery and started the truck just to make sure everything worked correctly…

STEP #15

Once you’ve double checked that everything is working properly, the fog lights indeed are turning on and off, you can remove your battery again and start reversing these steps until all your bolts are tightened down, your battery is back in its correct location with all the cables attached and plugged in properly… Now you’re done with this mod, your fuse panel still looks untouched and your fog lights can now remain on as long as the ignition hey is turned on and the fog light butting is engaged.

OPTION #1: FINAL PRODUCT/LOOK

 

^ That method looks clean, but I didn't want to splice or piggy back anything on the stock wires. I can simply bend back the relay and it goes back to stock w/o worrying about hacked wires etc.

 

Addendum to what is above. I chose to do it this way, it took me 15-20mins tops and worked well. This is option 2 of the instructions posted earlier. The relay was a little stubborn but finally submitted.

NOW TO OPTION #2 (Same as #1, only the from above):


Parts/Tools that you will need:

- Wire Strippers
- (1) Male Butt Connector
- (1) Female Butt Connector
- (1) Female Splice Connector
- Approximately 1 Foot of wire (pretty much any gauge wire will work, doesn’t have to be anything crazy thick… 16-20 gauge is just fine)
- Small drill bit and power/cordless drill

STEPS #1-5

Basically what you’re doing here is removing the light blue fog light relay which is located in the center/right side of the fuse panel under the 1”x1” light gray relay. Once you’ve found the correct light blue relay, remove it and bend over the TOP RIGHT PIN of the replay. Add a female butt connector to the end of your spare wire and plug it into the pin that you’ve bent over from your relay… Plug your relay back into its location. Now, run your wire up towards the top of the fuse panel. You’ll notice you’ll have to go through a thin wall of black plastic to gain access into the location of the three plugs. Drill your small hole so you can continue to run your wire to the 6-pin small white plug that we’re aiming for. Once you’ve got your wire up near the 6-pin plug, locate the SOLID GREEN WIRE which is the top left corner of the actual plug. Use your female splice connector/male butt connector to splice your additional wire into the SOLID GREEN WIRE. Now you’re finished with the fog light modification. Place your fuse panels cover back on and enjoy your new free mod.

OPTION #2: FINAL PRODUCT/LOOK



Original image taken from Indigo Taco05 from Toyota Nation.

 

Does anyone know if the new red wire inserted with the mod is carrying current from the green wire to the relay? Or is the case that it's the voltage sensor part of the relay. I ask because nobody has really ever specified which gauge wire to use in any of the posts that I have read.

Thanks,

-Coke

 

Don't know about current flow directions, but I used 14ga. wire. I did read somewhere that 14ga was enough to handle power for the lights.

 

There is nothing wrong with adding the fuse bro. I am just saying it is redundant. The relay will not short out in the term you are talking about. It is a switch, if the relay goes bad, it wouldn't switch, meaning the lights wouldn't turn on or wouldn't turn off. No worries

 

Not trying to get in a pissing match, yes it is highly unlikely for that relay to short or go out but I have seen them go out first hand and bigger issues came from it. That fuse just gives me a piece of mind!

 

Had a lot of fun doing this one! I love it, and always wanted to be able to do this! Can't believe it's this easy...if only the continuous 12V pwr was as easy...


Here are my pix, for what they're worth:

Could be prettier, I know, but I've had very little sleep this week picking out tires for two trucks and of course being addicted to this place!


I went with a Zacto knife as a 'drill bit' to run the wire through the wall for this one, my work drill was too big to fit in here...was tempted to just cut a notch out, but its much more secure this way...For the green wire I used a 2 piece wire splicer instead of cutting and hard splicing, another idea I borrowed from here...​

Love it! Thanks a bunch!