Headlight harness mod screwed up my off-road lights

[Rushthezeppelin]

So a bit ago a replaced the "stock" hella fog lights with some pod off-road LEDs. Worked fine off the existing wiring as recently as last Friday. Just tonight I decided to do the higher powered headlight with the relay harness that can run the 100/80 hella bulbs. Worked great, super happy until I go to test the with the off-road lights. Now for some reason the off-road lights don't come on at all and, even more strange, the switch for them now turns on my brights. Dash light didn't come on though for my brights when using that switch. I'm at a loss as to how this could possibly work other than I know the way the hella fog lights were wired had them turning off when you turned on your brights. Anyone have a clue what's going on here and how to fix it?

 

[19963.4lsr5]

Do you have the factory fog harness?


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[Rushthezeppelin]

Do you have the factory fog harness?


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"Factory", it's my understanding that they were an option installed at the port and that Toyota didn't put them in at the factory. But yes that is the light setup that I spliced my pods on to.

 

[Speedy]

Without looking at a bunch of wiring diagrams I'm gonna spit ball here. Is your add on relay harness ground switched or standard? These Toyotas sometimes use ground switched for accessories like lights and your harness could be the reverse. The problem is somewhere with that relay harness if I were a betting man.

Mine's an 02 and came pre-wired for fog lights from the factory but they weren't installed. I bought the lights and the factory stalk that included the ring for the fogs and plugged it all up and they worked. However when I turned on my brights the fogs shut off so I re-wired the fogs to stay on through the under hood fuse box. I mention this as it's all integrated on mine at least.

 

[3bears]

I beleive that is how toyota wired things. so when high beams came on the fogs would shut off. reason is in heavy fog....or snow...high beams would make too much glare.....so if your driving conditions are ok with high beams...then you dont need the fogs....thus they shut off saving power and bulb life. Toyota is not the only one to do this.

so b4 you did the heavy harness with the brighter bulbs.....did your fogs stay on when on high beam.

if so then I guess it is in the new harness.

will be watching how this plays out because I just ordered the harnesss and bulbs...and I have fogs

 

[19963.4lsr5]

"Factory", it's my understanding that they were an option installed at the port and that Toyota didn't put them in at the factory. But yes that is the light setup that I spliced my pods on to.

Did you fix the wiring on the relay? Most of those harnesses from Hella (96-98) were wired incorrectly and left the relay on all the time.

I have a thread somewhere about it. On the bad harnesses the two red wires need swapped. Then the fogs will be truly separated from your factory lighting system.

The bad harnesses had the battery power wire on the relay coil energizing it all the time…….and the smaller red wire from the switch which was the low beams on wire would feed the lights.

Edit: I did the harness also and you will need to take the low beam wire and run it to the switch on the dash and remove the wire that currently comes off the wiring under the dash.

The wiring on the relay base still needs fixed if your relay klicks unplugging it from the base beside the battery with the lights off.

 

[phattyduck]

Does the high beam indicator on your dash still work with the new harness? Another 'trick' with the Toyota lights is that the high beam indicator bulb runs through the low-beam filament. You often need load resistors to get aftermarket harnesses to work correctly. This, along with the possibly incorrectly wired relay harness might lead to what you are seeing.

-Charlie

 

[19963.4lsr5]

Does the high beam indicator on your dash still work with the new harness? Another 'trick' with the Toyota lights is that the high beam indicator bulb runs through the low-beam filament. You often need load resistors to get aftermarket harnesses to work correctly. This, along with the possibly incorrectly wired relay harness might lead to what you are seeing.

-Charlie

The Amazon harness I installed causes the high beam indicator to be half as bright as it was before going through the relay coil.


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[gamefreakgc]

Without looking at a bunch of wiring diagrams I'm gonna spit ball here. Is your add on relay harness ground switched or standard? These Toyotas sometimes use ground switched for accessories like lights and your harness could be the reverse. The problem is somewhere with that relay harness if I were a betting man.

Mine's an 02 and came pre-wired for fog lights from the factory but they weren't installed. I bought the lights and the factory stalk that included the ring for the fogs and plugged it all up and they worked. However when I turned on my brights the fogs shut off so I re-wired the fogs to stay on through the under hood fuse box. I mention this as it's all integrated on mine at least.

The headlights are ground switched from the factory. The headlight harness keeps the system intact but instead of the ground activating the lights, the ground instead energizes the relay which powers the lights. It is plugged directly into the stock bulb harness. It does bypass the headlight power lights though which could be the issue. I don't exactly know why that would mess up the fog lights but it sounds like the solution is either have to remove the harness and keep the stock lights or just know that the accessory and fog lights have gone bonkers.

 

[19963.4lsr5]

The headlights are ground switched from the factory. The headlight harness keeps the system intact but instead of the ground activating the lights, the ground instead energizes the relay which powers the lights. It is plugged directly into the stock bulb harness. It does bypass the headlight power lights though which could be the issue. I don't exactly know why that would mess up the fog lights but it sounds like the solution is either have to remove the harness and keep the stock lights or just know that the accessory and fog lights have gone bonkers.

I did the harness also. I had to remove the OEM trigger wire from the fog light switch in the dash and run a wire from the “new harness’s low beam bulb power” to where the old trigger went.

If he has the Hella harness that had the wrong wiring it will make it even more confusing.

I have a picture here somewhere about the two red wires on the relay base that need swapped.

And……he hasn’t reported back on if he pulls the relay and hears a klick or not.

Here is the link to me fixing it thanks to
@%1;

basically if the relay klicks unplugging the relay with the lights/ignition off swap the 30 and 85 wires on the relay base. (The two red wires)

96-98 Hella Fog Light factory wiring and parasitic amp draw from its relay.
96-98 Hella Fog Light factory wiring and parasitic amp draw from its relay. - Toyota 4Runner Forum - Largest 4Runner Forum


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[Rushthezeppelin]

I did the harness also. I had to remove the OEM trigger wire from the fog light switch in the dash and run a wire from the “new harness’s low beam bulb power” to where the old trigger went.

If he has the Hella harness that had the wrong wiring it will make it even more confusing.

I have a picture here somewhere about the two red wires on the relay base that need swapped.

And……he hasn’t reported back on if he pulls the relay and hears a klick or not.

Here is the link to me fixing it thanks to
@%1;

basically if the relay klicks unplugging the relay with the lights/ignition off swap the 30 and 85 wires on the relay base. (The two red wires)

96-98 Hella Fog Light factory wiring and parasitic amp draw from its relay.
96-98 Hella Fog Light factory wiring and parasitic amp draw from its relay. - Toyota 4Runner Forum - Largest 4Runner Forum


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Sorry I was up in Canada and didn't want to do international roaming. Back now. I did check in the past when I installed the pods and do not have the bad wiring on the hella harness. No clocking on the relay when unplugging it with lights off.

 

[19963.4lsr5]

Sorry I was up in Canada and didn't want to do international roaming. Back now. I did check in the past when I installed the pods and do not have the bad wiring on the hella harness. No clocking on the relay when unplugging it with lights off.

You should still use the new low beam power wire from the new harness to power the fog switch instead of the factory wire from the headlight switch. IMO……..


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[Rushthezeppelin]

You should still use the new low beam power wire from the new harness to power the fog switch instead of the factory wire from the headlight switch. IMO……..


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Any illustrations out there of what I need to do or even better just completely uncouple the pods from the headlights? Having a hard time visualizing what you were describing.

 

[19963.4lsr5]

Any illustrations out there of what I need to do or even better just completely uncouple the pods from the headlights? Having a hard time visualizing what you were describing.

If you have it wired correctly they should be uncoupled now

Edit:

This is @%1;picture

This is the Hella harness per se. Where the fuse box ignition or battery power wire is will be the wire to the low beam of the new harness.

If you use the new harness low beam wire i think it should solve your problem.

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[Rushthezeppelin]

If you have it wired correctly they should be uncoupled now

Edit:

This is @%1;picture

This is the Hella harness per se. Where the fuse box ignition or battery power wire is will be the wire to the low beam of the new harness.

If you use the new harness low beam wire i think it should solve your problem.

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Okay I think this helps a bit. Still going to be tricky to trace wires where they are now and switch them over on the hella harness. Any idea where I should be looking for a wire in the fusebox or somewhere else under the hood and where should I move that wire? Basically do you have a diagram of how it is currently wired compared to how I'm wanting it to be wired?

 

[19963.4lsr5]

Okay I think this helps a bit. Still going to be tricky to trace wires where they are now and switch them over on the hella harness. Any idea where I should be looking for a wire in the fusebox or somewhere else under the hood and where should I move that wire? Basically do you have a diagram of how it is currently wired compared to how I'm wanting it to be wired?

Do you want them to be independent or on with the low or high beams?


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[Rushthezeppelin]

Do you want them to be independent or on with the low or high beams?


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I'd like completely independent.

 

[19963.4lsr5]

I'd like completely independent.

Then that drawing is exactly what you need to follow.


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[Rushthezeppelin]

Then that drawing is exactly what you need to follow.


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I would still like to know how it's wired right now without having to dig around my engine bay and dash and trace wires if possible.