My fog lights have a mind of it's own???

Spyro

New Member
5+ Year Member
Well, I bought my fog lights and installed them some time in November. They worked fine for a while, but then the driver side bulb supposedly went out on me... So I changed it, but 2 weeks later my passenger side fog light went out, so I changed that too. Then the passenger side went out again, then I decided to just leave them off since it looked horrible riding around with one fog on... Recently I decided to use them again anyway and THEY BOTH WORKED??? The next day I turned them on and surely enough only one was on again, this continues over and over again (I always make sure I turn them off before I turn off the car). The way I have them wired is directly to the battery allowing me to use the fogs without turning on the regular headlights, all I have to do is have the key on. I'm still getting annoyed by the fogs working when they want, does anyone know how to fix this??? Or any suggestions? I would still like to have the fogs work without the headlights. Thanks in advance
 

knightxrider1

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do you have them grounded to different spots? that could be one reason. but you need to hook it up to a relay and a switch. that way u can have control over them and not wire them directly to your battery. it could burn out the bulbs that way.
 


civicfan111

Fujiwara's Tofu Shop
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^^ check ur grounding, i had my passenger ground go bad when i hit a bump but if you fooled around w/ it the ground worked. it was really annoying, so i moved where i had it grounded.
 

Spyro

New Member
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do you have them grounded to different spots? that could be one reason. but you need to hook it up to a relay and a switch. that way u can have control over them and not wire them directly to your battery. it could burn out the bulbs that way.
yeah that could be it, i didn't really wire it, my friend did, but he told me it was a direct connection, so i can turn it on and off with the switch, the relay and switch is hooked up, but the grounds are in different places.... Negative is on the top by where you put the stand for the hood, the positive ground is under the car and there's that last wire that runs to the battery i think
 


Spyro

New Member
5+ Year Member
^^ check ur grounding, i had my passenger ground go bad when i hit a bump but if you fooled around w/ it the ground worked. it was really annoying, so i moved where i had it grounded.
i always think it's the ground, but i have to find it and fiddle with it, i think it's the one under the car giving me problems
 

knightxrider1

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there is no negative or positive grounds. the best ground? youre going to have to find that one out by trial and error. i ended up grounding my fog lights to where my ac grounds onto the frame.
 

Spyro

New Member
5+ Year Member
there is no negative or positive grounds. the best ground? youre going to have to find that one out by trial and error. i ended up grounding my fog lights to where my ac grounds onto the frame.
I took a look at where the grounds are... the black cable is where i said it was, the "skinny" red one and the yellow with black one are grounded under the car, on the frame of the car under the radiator, while the power (thicker red one) is on the positive in the battery
 

deevibez17

1999 Civic Hx
5+ Year Member
there is no negative or positive grounds. the best ground? youre going to have to find that one out by trial and error. i ended up grounding my fog lights to where my ac grounds onto the frame.
i did this..and my passenger side went out too n the grounds are good
tomorrow im guna see if the bulb is bad, but i didnt think fog light bulbs go bad so easily
 

Spyro

New Member
5+ Year Member
This is what I took some pics of...
Black Ground

Relay

Direct connection to battery

Fog lights worked when i got back, but not when i left (i drove my car)
 

civicSIcoupe

All Day, Every Day
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pop open your relay, and double check its not corroded, could be a source of the problem if water got in there
 

knightxrider1

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that set up looks right. your probably not getting a good ground. make sure you ground the bulbs together.take it off that hood place you got and try using the same spot for the vc ground or the ac ground.

if both lights go out its not the bulb. its the ground. if one goes out and u grounded them separately that is,-switch bulbs and see if your "bad" bulb will work on the "good" bulb side.

to that relay, your wires should be on the four PIN. GROUND,POWER directly from the battery, your SWITCH wire coming from the one installed in the cabin where you got power from the fuse? and POWER TO THE FOGS. its really simple.

even if your relay clicks. it can still NOT work correctly. The coil might be bad and not make a good enough connection. You can check this by taking off the relay cover and pressing the contact with your hand. it should work if you manually press it. if it doesnt, and assuming everything is wired correctly, its a bad ground.
 

Spyro

New Member
5+ Year Member
Well, today I had time to install the new fog lights I ordered a while ago, to replace the ones I had before because one was cracked and the other fogged up a bit, I didn't change any wiring at all, just connect the new ones, and they both work perfectly now. Which means that when I changed the bulb for the one on the passenger side, I probably didn't have the bulb connected right, thanks for all your help guys. (I never moved any grounds)
 

MotorFiend

MotorFiend.com
Well, today I had time to install the new fog lights I ordered a while ago, to replace the ones I had before because one was cracked and the other fogged up a bit, I didn't change any wiring at all, just connect the new ones, and they both work perfectly now. Which means that when I changed the bulb for the one on the passenger side, I probably didn't have the bulb connected right, thanks for all your help guys. (I never moved any grounds)
So in the end it was just bad bulbs?
 

Spyro

New Member
5+ Year Member
So in the end it was just bad bulbs?
Not really, the bulb was fine, but i just wasn't put in right, I think the sealant interfered with it... LOL, I needed the new fog lights though, I never realized how bad the fog was on the inside of the cracked one... All in all, I'm just really happy everything works now. I'll show some pics in a lil bit. :woot:
 


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