The last thread had a very misleading title that I felt was keeping people from opening it. I have revised the title in order to fit problem a bit better. If they could be merged, or the other one deleted, that'd be great.


Well, about a month ago I realized my fog lights were burned out on the same day. Being cheap bulbs that were installed on the same day, I thought it may be plausible the were both just burnt out ($3.49 Sylvania's from Autozone).

Anyway, this morning I installed some new cheap bulbs, and as soon as I got them in and turned them on to test, I hear them pop, and no light. Turns out, the fuse is popping the instant I turn the fogs on.

I have done the mod where you wire them to the tail lights so that they can be on without the headlights, but I did that in January, and the problem is just now arising. I undid the mod, and it did the same thing. Any ideas?

I miss my fog lights

I am not an electrical guru by any means, but as I read this it seems like the Fog light circuit is VERY basic. With only about 5 different wires to trace. Is this correct? Any ideas on where the problem is likely occuring?

Any help is GREATLY appreciated.

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What's the wattage for the new bulbs? They should be 35W. If they're 55W or something, that may be your problem.

They're 55w, which is what the fogs say on the outside of the housing...? These are the same bulbs I have used since I bought the thing!

Throw another fuse in and remove both bulbs, if it pops again than you have a short in your wiring, if not, then it's the bulbs.

I bet you have a wire crossed within the fog light housing. Or, when installing the bulbs created a short. Just one bulb can obviously blow the fuse and both lights wont work.

A few things I'd do:
1) Double check to make sure there are no wires crossed (As in your + crossing with a ground, or any metal at all)

2) When no bulbs are in, test ohm reading by placing one probe on the positive part of the connection, and one on the ground. If there's any reading besides 1 (infinite), then you've got a crossed wire.

3) Another quick test is to turn the fogs on without bulbs, and see if the fuse still blows. If it does, then its once again a crossed wire. If it doesn't then 1 of the bulbs are causing the short.

4) Make sure all your aux wiring you did yourself did not fray up against any sharp edges, as that could cause a short as well.

5) Lastly, make sure that the fuse is rated to handle your brake line amp and fog light amps... Convert your multimeter to an ammeter and test the draw by placing the probes where the fuse would be. Be careful to make sure your ammeter has a big enough fuse to handle this (30A).

0o weird, mine say 35.

Time for 100W :P

YES.

Anyway, you guys are awesome. Last night was my anniversary so I had no time to fiddle with it, but this morning I figured it out!

First I unplugged the lights, popped in a new fuse, and turned the lights on, no fuse popping.

SO I undid the assembly for the lights, took the bulbs out, moved the wire for the ground on the inside a little further out of the way and ensured when closing that my power wire was not touching any of the grounding mechanism.

After that I put everything back together and plugged 1 light in at a time, turning them on in between, so that if the fuse popped I would know which light was the one giving me grief.

Anyway, neither of them caused the fuse to pop after that so I hooked them both up, bolted them on, switched them on, and BAM foglights.

Thanks for your help guys!

Stupid ground lol... I had a dumb ground issue where the fog light switch made my gas gauge go up. I thought I was just getting killer mileage.

And yes, I did get 100W bulbs already :P You should, too.

100W left

That is 100 vs 35? Wow.

100 vs 55

lol yeah, I screwed up earlier. I think I got confused with my C230.

my hella fogs do not work on my 97. I can flip the switch and the light on there wont even come on. Im not seeing a fog light fuse anywhere in the engine bay box or the driver kick panel. Can someone explain to me where it is? thanks

Are your hella fogs wired in to the factory switch? If they aren't they probably have an inline fuse somewhere, like near the battery. The factory fog lamp fuse would be in the engine bay fuse block, if you had factory fog lamps.

found it, but not blown. i think it has something to do with my HID's.