Northern Virginia Roll Call

little bit of a technical problem because it has me stumped

so last night i realized my passenger side fog light(baja squadrons) was out but my drivers side still had light, today i unhooked the light and hooked it up to the drivers side to see if it was just the led itself that was bad and now i have no power to each side, any ideas what this could be? i feel like if it was a fuse then both lights would of went out?

i do have the anytime foglight mod done if that would effect this at all

 

So now you don’t have power to either side?

 

yes now both sides dont work

 

The first thing I’d do is check the fuse. Then I’d reverse your anytime mod and see if that changes it. Do you have a multimeter? That’s your best friend in a situation like this.

 

my buddy does and hes gonna stop by later if i cant figure it out

 

That’ll help a lot. But yeah, just trouble shoot each portion of the system to try and isolate the problem. That’s all you really can do.

-fuse (could look fine but actually be bad)
-relay
-lights themselves
-switch

 

-wiring harness

One part is seeing if a section of your wiring is frayed.

 

True. If all those other things are eliminated then it would have to be the wiring somewhere.

 

New to the

My ‘04 is i the same boat. Frame is covered until the end of this year. I don’t have any holes but loads i of rust an corrosion, especially on the cross members and rear of the frame. What dealer did you take it to? Did you have “perforation” of the frame of just loads of corrosion? I’ve done a lot of research on this, the replacement includes frame, lower control arms, leaf springs and break lines (and related hardware.)

 

If you read through that thread above I posted, you'll see that we had to buy a used frame in California (that looked brand new btw) and do the swap ourselves. Mine was NOT covered because the previous owners never got the free frame treatment back in 2011.

If I were you I'd be taking it from dealer to dealer to see if one of them will flag it for replacement for you. The place the first gens tend to get it the worst is on the inside of the frame, front mount point of the rear leaf springs. You can test it yourself with a decent hammer - just get under the frame and pound the crap out of it. Here's the sweet spot (bed off, but you can see it if you crawl under):

 

Keep in mind that if you DID have that treatment, it will often cover up those rusted out sections like I have in the picture above. That's why the hammer test is super important - it breaks free all that crap so you can see the actual damage. A frame that's under a truck should be able to withstand a LOT of hammering so no need to be gentle.

 

What dealer did you go to? Did you have “perforation” or corrosion? I’m in the same situation. I already took it in once and they passed it...but noted corrosion on crossmembers. Sheehy in Fred’burg

 

Do what @EatSleepTacos said. Even though your friend has a meter, any DIY person should have a decent one in their toolbox. I'm not talking those free ones from harbor freight. My meter is the first tool I reach for in electrical problems.

@RUSSELLTACO did your lights work fine before with the anytime fog light mod installed? Make sure grounds are good. Meter, meter, meter.

He can skip a lot of steps in the troubleshooting with a meter. The wires themselves will be tested fine if he has volts at the end of the circuit. Also everything from source to light will be good if he has volts at the end. I'm sure you see my point.

Start at one end of the circuit with one lead staying on a known good source, either positive or negative (ground). Then move ONLY ONE METER LEAD until the voltage goes away. If the entire run of one lead tests fine and has voltage, go back to the beginning and do the same thing with the other lead. Once you have one spot with no bolts, THAT point or it could be the point before it with voltage (if theres other things in the circuit like a relay), is the issue.

Also, for things like a switch... when you probe it with the meter, you wanna turn the switch on and off to make sure it opens and closes. Same with a relay if there is one.

 

Belive me, I’ve been hammering away on this thing. I’ve had chunks come off...just no holes... dealer already checked it once in Feb, said it passed but noted the corrosion.

 

foglight mod was running great for about a year this is my first issue,

So the fuse in the main engine bay was blown, switched that out and disconnected the anytime mod and still nothing, i also hooked the oem fog lights back up because i know those worked 100% when i took my bumper off and im still getting nothing. Im going to check and make sure there isnt a fuse on the interior for it, but i dont think there is one. I had power to driver side fog last night at like midnight now nothing.

 

Best bet is to follow my point by point troubleshooting tip. Trust your meter. It'll lead you it every time. Make sure you do it like I said though. DC requires both a positive AND negative for a load to work properly

 

Try swapping in another relay. There should be one right next to it that’s the same kind.

He doesn’t have a meter on hand yet unfortunately.

 

Damn carpenter bees. They're eating up the back patio at my place. Going to kill these suckers.

https://store.doyourownpestcontrol.com/kill-carpenter-bee-kit

 

I know, he needs one badly. I told him in the post a few up there to get one. A meter is essential. What hes doing now can work but it's a "let's throw wet spaghetti at the wall and see what sticks" method. It also doesn't help him to understand and learn.

 

That IS how you test to see if the spaghetti is cooked. At least that's how I test it.