Wiring GT fog lights on LX

[Nicoleb3x3]

I appolgize if I've duplicated this question.

I have a LX which I've converted to GT body. I have the GT bumper and GT fog lights mounted.

Now; the next step is to wire up these little guys to work!

Because my car is an LX, Does anyone know how I can wire these fog lights?

1.) I don't mind using a separate switch for now (Later I can go through the hassle of adding the GT/foglight/headlight switch.) For now; I don't mind buying a generic switch and mount it.

2.) I have a plug from the fog lights, how do I get the plug that goes into it? -junk yard? What are my other options?

3.) Can I by-pass the factory wiring harness and wire the fog lights to the battery and through the fuse box?

4.) I've read how even the stock wiring for the GTs have issues with overheating on high watt bulbs...how does this affect my situation?

I have the black beauty fog lights if this matters.

appeciate the input.

Nicole

 

[5.0Droptop]

the lx has the plugs there in the stock harness. You will need a switch from a gt and the plug is there behind the dummy switch.

 

[Nicoleb3x3]

How do I find the plugs? (sorry I'm clueless...but good at figuring things out with a little help..

 

[5.0Droptop]

if i recall correctly the plugs are kind of oval in shape. there are 2 i think one is on the driver side and one on passinger side. they hang near the other light plugs by the head lamps. I did the same conversion to my lx vert. its a gt now. I wanted the lights to come on when i turned the parking lights on so i tapped into the parking light circuit and power my driving lights that way. using a relay is the safe way.

 

[jrichker]

See
http://www.autozone.com/servlet/UiB..._us/0900823d/80/19/59/5a/0900823d8019595a.jsp

and

http://www.corral.net/tech/maintenance/foglights.html for wiring help

 

[Mustang5L5]

You might as well buy the GT headlight switch now. They are $20-25 from many Mustang aftermarket parts catalogs. I think 5.0 restoration has them.

The switch plugs right in and the wiring is behind the old LX switch.

Now in the engine bay, the two fog light leads are hanging down under the headlights somewhere.

Get the foglights running stock and then you can modify them so they will not overheat the switch and you can turn them on without the headlights.

btw, very nice project you have. Planning on anything under the hood? like a 2.3L Turbo motor??

 

[Nicoleb3x3]

thanks for the info.

the switch is easy; yeah I'll go get the switch next weekend.

Using the factory switch means finding the leads in the engine compartment.

So; I need find the plugs or leads coming out in the engine bay. I looked at a wiring diagram from Haynes repair manual. And, took a look under the hood.

Behind the headlight area, I see where the larger group of wires split into the three plugs (each side) for the parking lamps, headlights, and blinkers. It also leads a small wire to the horn. But; no fourth plug poping out.

Before I cut away the wire conduit, what am I looking for; will I have a plug- or just the tan/organge wire?

BTW; I'm going to a 5.0 upgrade. -next year I'm upgrading the suspension; breaks, and rearend, then the following year new computer, tranny, driveshaft and motor...among the other little stuff.

It's a long project; but I'm in no real big rush. -little at a time...

 

[Mustang5L5]

Using the factory switch means finding the leads in the engine compartment.

So; I need find the plugs or leads coming out in the engine bay. I looked at a wiring diagram from Haynes repair manual. And, took a look under the hood.

Behind the headlight area, I see where the larger group of wires split into the three plugs (each side) for the parking lamps, headlights, and blinkers. It also leads a small wire to the horn. But; no fourth plug poping out.

Before I cut away the wire conduit, what am I looking for; will I have a plug- or just the tan/organge wire?

Ok, well since i don't have my LX at my house, i'll have to go about this strictly by memory so bare with me.

On the drivers side, look behind the headlight where the thick wiring harness splits off. One fog light plug should be coming out of this spiders webs of wires. There will be 1 2-wire plug that will be for the low coolant switch. The other 2-wire plug with an oval connector most likely will be hanging down, it will have an oval connector on it and 2-prongs. That's a fog light lead.

On the other side, it would be in the same area. Look behind the headlight for where the main harness splits apart. On this side, the only loose harness will be the fog light lead.

On my LX, i found both leads dangling down. I got on my back and looked up the rear bumper in the area of the headlights and found both my foglight leads just dangling there.

I put a GT headlight switch in and then turned it on and found out i did get the necessary 12+ volts at the fog light leads. However, i don't have a clean way to mount foglights so i've not done anything with them.

Maybe one day i'll use the leads to rig up a pair of BB guns or Paintball guns in the front bumper to deal with those pesky imports that love to flyby and cut me off.

 

[Nicoleb3x3]

ok, thanks for the confirmation! it shounds like mine are taped up, once I get in there and split it open I'll probably find them. I'll probably do that tomorrow just to make sure I can find them.

BTW; I found the mouting brackets off a old GT in the salvage yard. they were really easy to remove because this GT had no front bumper. They did bolt right up to the off-white inner bumper (not sure what it's called). It took two bolts and locking washers per side. -the brackets were also connected by another support piece between them -it may help support the bottom lip of the GT bumper, but for weight reasons I only used the brackets themselves which weighed several lbs per pc.

Once I got these brackets, the factory style fog lamps bolted right in! -nice and neat.

 

[Mustang5L5]

Sounds like you have this under control and know what you are doing.

Once you get the fog lights up and running factory OEM style, this is what you want to do

http://www.corral.net/tech/maintenance/foglights.html

it will cure the wiring problem and overheating of the switch and allow you to turn on the fog lights without the headlights being on for that nice "don't mess with me!" look.

PS: I did the same thing with the 94-98 V6 emblems on my old 1990 2.3L as well. What i did is use a pair of needle nose pliers to break away the tabs sticking out peice by peice until i got it flat enough so that the 3M tape would hold it to the fender without the tabs hitting. I think i mounted mine about 1-2" up from the belt molding. Too high will not look good in my opionion.

 

[Nicoleb3x3]

Ok, I know it's been a while; but I definately do not see the leads/ plugs in the engine bay.

I checked and followed from where the headlight, parking light, and blnikers split off; followed it a back and still; no fog light plugs. How far back will it split off the main harness?

Is it possible I just don't have them? It seems a LX does from everyone's input; but, has anyone confirmed on a 2.3 LX -maybe the 2.3 harness is different? or; did something change in 93 or a few years before?

I spent a good amount of time under there; from the floor and overhead -still nothing.

this is what I see: (three stars being plugs for headlight, blinker, and parking light:

|
|
|
/ | \
/ | \
* * *

I even checked a 2.3 lx in the junk yard, it was much easier to look at; and still, I see the same thing.

Appreciate any more help you can give me. (I'm really not as helpless as I seem, this mini-project just has me stumped)

nicole

 

[Mustang5L5]

this is what I see: (three stars being plugs for headlight, blinker, and parking light:

|
|
|
/ | \
/ | \
* * *

I even checked a 2.3 lx in the junk yard, it was much easier to look at; and still, I see the same thing.

If i remember correctly, there was a 4th harness on my headlight wiring that went down to the fog lights. So instead of 3 wires going to the main wiring bundle, i would have 4 of them and the leads would drop down.

I think i remember reading that the wiring harness was changed in 1990, but not 100% sure.

Does the wiring exist behind the switch? If so, i would think it would end up somewhere.

 

[Nicoleb3x3]

I plan on taking the time soon to see if the plug is behind the dummy switch; but I was hoping to save the time, if someone out there new for sure or not.

 

[Mustang5L5]

I plan on taking the time soon to see if the plug is behind the dummy switch; but I was hoping to save the time, if someone out there new for sure or not.

Well, like i said before, my '88 LX was wired for fogs already. We'll have to let someone with a '93 answer that one out.

All you need is a flathead screwdriver to pop out the headlight switch. You'll see two tabs on the left side behind the pushtabs for the switch. Push them in at the same time and the switch pops out

 

[Nicoleb3x3]

ok, yes; I found the harness plug actually plugged into the back of the dummy (plus the headlight plug) so; I do have it....

so; the wires must come out somewhere.... I searched again for an hour; my conclusionn is the wires exist in the harness but do not split out into the foglight plug. which is a pain because the only way to find it is to cut away part of the harness to get the leads.....which will be blue w/ black stripe and tan(or orange) w/ white stripe.

Rather than do that; I think I'll go find a GT in the junk yard; grab the fog light plugs (cut them from the harness) and grap the switch along with the plug (I already have that plugs into that) and cut it from that harness as well.

Then; I'll wire it all together myself. Inlcuding an independent fuse and power connection and ground. (I'll also review the overheating solution again because I'm basically doing something like that.)

wow; never though dam fog lights would be such a pain in the ass. But; I think I have a good plan.

I'll let you all know how it turns out. (if the weather is decent I'll go to the salvage yard and probably Radio Shack this weekend)

 

[Jquintel]

Well, like i said before, my '88 LX was wired for fogs already. We'll have to let someone with a '93 answer that one out.

All you need is a flathead screwdriver to pop out the headlight switch. You'll see two tabs on the left side behind the pushtabs for the switch. Push them in at the same time and the switch pops out

I Dont think so...
I had the 4banger up on the rack, and i was looking for a split off of the headlight wiring and i couldnt find a plug that wasnt being used... after that i took a peek at the rust-stang and found the plug and went back to the 4banger to look for a similar wire, and couldnt find it

 

[Nicoleb3x3]

YEAH! I'M NOT CRAZY AFTER ALL!

The definately changed something between 90-93. (probably just dis-continued the use of the plug in the bay.)

 

[Mustang5L5]

ok, yes; I found the harness plug actually plugged into the back of the dummy (plus the headlight plug) so; I do have it....

so; the wires must come out somewhere.... I searched again for an hour; my conclusionn is the wires exist in the harness but do not split out into the foglight plug. which is a pain because the only way to find it is to cut away part of the harness to get the leads.....which will be blue w/ black stripe and tan(or orange) w/ white stripe.

Rather than do that; I think I'll go find a GT in the junk yard; grab the fog light plugs (cut them from the harness) and grap the switch along with the plug (I already have that plugs into that) and cut it from that harness as well.

Then; I'll wire it all together myself. Inlcuding an independent fuse and power connection and ground. (I'll also review the overheating solution again because I'm basically doing something like that.)

wow; never though dam fog lights would be such a pain in the ass. But; I think I have a good plan.

I'll let you all know how it turns out. (if the weather is decent I'll go to the salvage yard and probably Radio Shack this weekend)

Try this first. Take out the headlight switch and check the wire colors for the fog lights. According to the wiring diagrams for my '88, it would be a Light Blue/ Black wire and a Tan/Orange wire.

If that checks out correctly, the wire you want in the engine compartment is the Tan/Orange wire. That wire powers both foglights. (the other wire just gets grounded)

Now my wiring diagrams show the entire front headlight harness changes over at a connector known as C209. This is probably where you lose the foglight leads on the newer cars.

The connector is located right under the starter solenoid and should be black in color and contain 8 wire on the side coming from the pass compartment. It will be lying ont he bottom frame rail headed towards the front of the car. There is another connector there, but it only has 4 wires in it. I'm willing to bet the fog light wire is ommitted on the outgoing side of the harness to the headlights. Count the wires going in and coming out and look for the tan/orange wire.

If it does end here, all you need to do is clip out the tan/orange wire (after testing it with a 12 volt meter if you want to be safe) and splicing it to a wire and running this wire to both fog light positive leads. The other lead simply gets grounded.

You can tell i'm trying real hard to solve this for you!! These wiring diagrams books come in real handy for stuff like this.


IF THAT DOESN'T WORK

What you can do is just use the stock leads coming off the switch to power a relay.

Do you have a 12v tester? There are two wires on the foglight switch. One comes from the headlight switch when you flip it to parking lights and the other goes out to the fog lights.

Plug in the headlight switch and turn on the lights and test to see which wire on the fog light switch lead has 12v.

When you find that wire, it means the power goes into the switch on that wire and goes out on the other wire. Cut that other wire and run a new wire to the front of the car to power a relay.

Radiop SHack sells 30AMP automotive relays. It should be enough for two fog lights.


You use the foglight switch to activate the relay and your main power for the fogs runs through the relay and not the headlight switch.

 

[Nicoleb3x3]

Ok, I could not get my hands on the GT multifunction switch this weekend(spent three hours driving around to various salvage yards- the morons say there's a GT, and NOPE; only LXs!); so I'm using a subsitute switch in the meantime.

I've got everything wired, BUT the fog lights aren't comming on...go figure- never can be easy.

My upper circuit (switch circuit) is working and it is sending power to the relay. When I turn the switch to "on" I can hear a "click" from the relay....is this normal? Does a relay "click"?

I'm not sure if it matters, but the ground for the relay is bolted together with the foglight grounds(and yes to the frame), but; that shouldn't be an problem; right?

I don't have a voltmeter, I cannot test the connections and power coming out at the lights themselves; but I do know the relay is getting power from the upper circuit- because it "clicks" when I turn it on and off.

I'm very close to caving in and paying someone to do this for me...but that will suck since I've already spent so much time and effort so far.

-sigh-

 

[Mustang5L5]

I've got everything wired, BUT the fog lights aren't comming on...go figure- never can be easy.

My upper circuit (switch circuit) is working and it is sending power to the relay. When I turn the switch to "on" I can hear a "click" from the relay....is this normal? Does a relay "click"?

I'm not sure if it matters, but the ground for the relay is bolted together with the foglight grounds(and yes to the frame), but; that shouldn't be an problem; right?

Yes, relays click when they ae powered up and close the contacts.

But you failed to mention if you had a power wire coming off the battery to the relay and then out to the fog lights. That's why powers the fog lights. The switch just closes the contacts which is the click you are hearing.

The grounds being together is fine, just make sure they make good solid contact.

Did you test the fog lights? Run a long wire from the batt to the power lead of the fog light and see if it comes on.

I just caught a mistake in my instructions for wiring the relay.

87 goes to the positive wire (s) on your fog lights.
30 goes to the positive terminal of your battery via a fuse.
85 goes the your switch and then to your Ignition circuit.
86 goes to ground.


Sorry if that might have thrown you off