FOG LIGHTS ANYTIME THE SIMPLEST WAY

Yes sir, but 2012 Tacoma and up.

 

I read on this thread that somebody with a 2006 did it...

 

I'm doing it on my 2007 and can't locate the red wire

 

He added the red wire in the pic.

 

Ah. Gotcha. Thanks

 

Jon147, I'm not sure if I made the same modification as you or not. I tapped into the blue/white wire from the 'Air Pump HTR' relay. Is the 'Air Pump HTR' the same thing as the 'EFI'?

Edit: Disregard this, I moved it to the AC relay to play it safe! Now time for LED foglights!

 

I haven't figured out why yet... but see below.

This mod works and does NOT throw an error code.

Anyone figure out why us 2012 - 2015's get an a P0144 code? It's bothering me... I need to know why...

 

I think people are failing to understand the original mod and end up doing some silly things. To be clear:

DO NOT SWAP A WIRE WITH A POPULATED RELAY

The mod the OP posted was to swap wires from an unused relay socket. If you swap with a socket that has a relay in it already you will obviously screw up the circuit for that relay because you now give it the wire from the fog light relay that is only powered when your headlights are turned on.

Specifically you are getting a code because you just effectively made part of your emissions control system only get power when you turn on your headlights! Not good!

If all your relay sockets that have wires in them are in use the best you can do is to TAP one of those wires and bring it over to your fog relay (obviously cutting the fog relay wire).

BE WARNED, the OP originally suggests you may want to swap or tap the wire from the AIR PUMP HTR because at first blush that appears to be an ignition switched 12V. IT IS NOT, it is a separate 12V controlled for the emissions system which stays on longer than the ignition and will randomly turn on for a few minutes in the few hours or so after the ignition is turned off.

Thus the ONLY way the original mod here works PROPERLY is if you have wiring for a seat heater relay but no heated seats. It appears more recent Tacomas are not putting connectors in the unused relay spots and so swapping really doesn't work for later models. You could only tap, but I wouldn't tap the AIR PUMP HTR for the reasons described above. You could tap the A/C inverter instead - assuming that one is populated in your truck.

 

Just did this mod during lunch time on my 2014 no heated seats relay on mine dont need them in South Texas ,lol ,I run a cable ( fuse holder) from the ac socket relay to the fog relay like others have done it , worked like a champ ..

 

Thanks OP for the idea, though on my 2015 TRD OR it turned out no unused relays that had connectors in them But that was OK, the stealth location is excellent and I was able to tap the AC inverter line instead.

Here's what I did:

First, double check all voltages on the pins in question and their behavior with ignition, lights and turning on the AC inverter. Determine indeed the red black wire on the fog light relay is the one I need to cut and tap to the green wire on the AC inverter relay. I did not use the wire from the AIR PUMP HTR for the reasons in my previous post. The green AC wire is far enough away that the little bit of red black wire in the housing would not reach on its own over there. So instead I cut the red black wire further down the harness and pulled that longer bit into the housing so I could tap. I made sure I was about to cut the correct wire in the harness by pulling on the fog light red/black wire and seeing the same wire move further down the harness (there was another very similar wire in there too).

Here is the tap on the green AC wire not yet crimped and the red black wire cut (apologies for crappy phone photos):

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And here is the red/black added to the tap all crimped up. I also wrapped the other end of the red black wire where it was cut against the rest of the wiring harness with electrical tape to prevent any accidental shorts.

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And here is the final result - fogs on all by themselves. Hurray!

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Thanks again OP!

 

I find this post mildly insulting to me, however, since I know that was not your intention, let me clarify my previous post: I originally tapped into (not cut) the 12v supply for the air pump htr relay, using a solid core "test" wire and a small amount of solder (this was not permanent-only to check the mod). The 12v supply I tapped into was constant when I tested it for power, and constant the entire time I rigged up my "test" wire AND the whole time I was trouble shooting the error code. My curiosity has been triggered because I could not determine why I was showing an error code for an o2 sensor. The only explanation for the code would be a short (voltage high, and based on what I had done), but the code was present without the foglights enabled - meaning the tapped wire essentially goes to nothing, so even a low current would not be the cause. ANYWAY... as to your post below...

This is correct. Tap into the 12v for the inverter - good to go. No error codes.

 

Sorry! You are correct not my intention! Thanks for being understanding. I was quoting your post mainly because it was the most recent one to refer to wire swapping on relays in use (even if that isn't what you actually did) and you had asked about the cause of the error code I thought in the case of wire swapping. Thanks for not taking too much offense!

I'm curious too, so can I ask for additional clarification? Are you saying you got the error code with the air pump htr still wired as for factory? And that all you had done was tap the air pump htr relay and run that to the fog light relay? Essentially you did the same thing as the photos in my post but had gone to the air pump htr relay for the 12V rather than the AC inverter relay? If that's the case then I agree I don't understand the error code.

The post you quoted was from someone who swapped the wires - and thus left the air pump htr relay coil with no power source unless they turned on their headlights. For their case the problem is obvious. But it sounds like you did something different than them but I want to be sure I understand the condition in which you were getting the error code. Thanks!

 

I just don't understand electrical at all (unless it is something with a keyboard attached), so this is all very confusing. Relays and terminals and jumpers and tapping and ....

Could someone help with a plain english translation?

I have a 2014 and would be interested in more details from your mod.

 

Correct. puzzling isn't it?

I did not realize this. Ignore me. early morning grumpy-ness

 

I also have a 2014. A relay is a device that completes a circuit (connects a "cut" wire) when 12v is supplied to a coil (uses magnetism created by the coil). ANYWAY... all you need to know is that the fog light relay needs 12 volts whenever the ignition is turned on. to do this... see @DVexile 's post quoted below.

 

Okay, so essentially I need to get 12v power from somewhere (the green wire in his example) to where the red/black wire is plugged into it's slot (the relay, I assume), right? I'm not a big fan of cutting factory wiring, so I'm wondering if I could just unplug the red/black wire and add a new wire+connector (look like spades) in that slot - and then crimp/tap the new wire to the green wire 12v source.

The original red/black wire could be taped over to avoid connection to anything. Would that work?

 

yes to both questions
The connectors are kind of a PITA to get out of their slots... be patient with them.

 

Awesome, thanks!

Do you happen to know what gauge wiring should be used? I was thinking I would just need to add a new spade connector of matching size (length/width), but maybe it has to be a custom one if it locks into the slot somehow? (I'm guessing it locks in if you can't just pull them out with a pair of needle nose.)

 

That is strange. I don't have any sensible explanation for that.

You know, now that we are talking about it I seem to recall others may have seen this behavior in a different execution of the mod. I read a bunch of these fog light threads so I can't remember where I saw it specifically but I think when the 2012s came out the fuse panels got rearranged and that's when people started tapping this emissions 12V source thinking it was the ignition switched 12V (because it sure acts like it). Many reported the problem with the lights turning themselves on in the hour following turning off the truck, but I think I recall some folks talking about the CEL and some codes being thrown. When reading I probably just ignored figuring they accidentally shorted something, but it could be they were seeing the same thing you were.

Hmmm....

No worries! Thanks for sharing what happened in your case - it is puzzling.

 

Yep that would do it! If I had wanted to take more time and ever intended to sell my truck that is what I would try to do.

I suspect it needs to be a custom one as there are some plastic latching tabs that hold it in place. No idea on the part number though.