[HOW-TO]: Sealed HID In Factory Fog Lights

[MTD]

How To Install HID Kit for 3rd Gen. Stock Fog Lights
Completely Sealed
No Drilling Necessary

So I didn’t want to shell out $100+ for the Hella Micro DE’s so I decided it was time for a write up on how to make a sealed set of HID factory fogs. So I did some research and selected a Xentec baseline kit as the proper candidate for this. I have TRS components in my headlights so I know what quality gets you, so before anyone comments about eBay kits I must say there is a method to my madness. The reason I selected this budget kit was twofold; they are warranted for 2 years and more importantly these cheap kits come with physically shorter bulbs. This allows for enough room to get the back side of the bulb to fit into the housing and create a complete seal. In this write up I will cover everything that you need to do to make sure that your kit doesn't fail and that your fog lights will be water tight.

Overview:
1. Disassemble fog lights and remove halogen bulb
2. Remove connectors from the ends of the HID bulbs to facilitate routing
3. Install HID bulb and reassemble the light
4. Adapt power harness to use the trucks wiring
5. Profit

Material List:
1x Xentec H3 3000k HID Kit (H1 H3 H4 H7 H11 Xenon HID Conversion Kit 9005 9006 9007 9004 9145 D2S 880 PSX24W | eBay)
1x Heat Shrink kit
1x Roll of Solder
3x 3mm Screw Sets (optional if screws aren't rusty)

Tools Needed:
-Screwdriver
-Eye Glasses Screwdriver (or something similar)
-Needle Nose Pliers
-Soldering Iron
-Wire Strippers
-Heat Gun
-10mm Wrench (If you want to remove the fogs from the truck)
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The Process:

Step One - Disassemble fog lights and remove halogen bulbs

Remove the three screws holding the bottom part of the housing

Separate the cap from the fog light

Remove the light bulb without wrecking the bulb holder we will need that later

I don’t have a picture for this, but the ground will be screwed down under the catch for the bulb holder. You need to remove the screw to separate the bottom cap from the fog light, while being careful to not lose the catch. Then replace the catch to its original position.

Next cut the lead wire going to the fog light bottom cap

 

[MTD]

Step Two and Three

Step Two - Remove connectors from the ends of the HID bulbs to facilitate routing

Use the needle nose to remove the small red clip from the female plug

Take the small screwdriver and move the small clip that is holding the towards the outside of the plug and bull the wire out of the connector. It should slide out freely if it doesn’t try repositioning the screwdriver and trying again. Remove the small yellow grommet that is around the wire as well.

The larger male connector is a little more tricky to do, but I found the easiest way is to push the retaining clip in from the bottom. It may mess up the grommet a little, but nothing too bad that it won’t do its job. The picture bellow is also incorrect you have to insert the screwdriver on the opposite side I believe.

Step Three - Install HID bulb and reassemble the light

Insert the bulb into the fog light housing making sure to align the notches in the bulb with the ones in the housing. You may find it useful to bend the bulb holder a little to make it easier to latch down on the bigger bulb.

Pop the grommet out of the bottom cap of the fog light and take a small amount of WD-40 or some diluted dish soap and lube it up. This helps to be able to pass the wires through. Then simply push the wires through until all the slack is taken up.

Run the wires through the bottom cap and pull the grommet through until is securely in place. Test fit the bottom cap on the fog light and take up any extra slack inside the housing. If everything lines up screw the bottom cap back on and revers step two to put the connectors back on. (Note: You can simply push the pins back into the plugs, no need for the screwdriver.)

You’re Almost Done!!!!

 

[MTD]

Step Four

Step Four - Adapt power harness to use the trucks wiring

This step is really optional and it’s up to you on what you want to do and how you want your truck to be wired. I wanted my stock fog light switch to still be able to control them so I wired them directly into it. Normally I would use a really and have the HID’s on a separate circuit, but the wire for the fog lights on the 4Runners is plenty heavy for 35W.

I started off by cutting off the extra wire from my stock fog light plug on the light side, not the car side, and stripping and tinning the wires with the soldering iron. You can ignore the one pin being out of the connector; I was going to do something else and changed my mind.

Proceed to solder the blue wire to the red wire on your HID harness and black to black. I recommend solder and heat shrinks for this because of how exposed to the elements it is.

Now all that needs to be done is to go install everything on the truck. Oh look at that!

 

[MTD]

Step Five

Step Five – Profit

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Gallery and preliminary out-put shots

 

[MTD]

I have a little update coming in a bit with what to do with the wires going into the bulb to help prevent future issues.

 

[MTD]

got some updates here, so the xentec ballasts turned out to be garbage and so is their customer service, imagine that lol. Well long story short the ballasts went to hell so im buying a vvme kit (very very good for an ebay kit) and just going to run the ballasts from that kit with the xentec bulbs. The reason being that im pretty sure the vvme bulbs will not fit into the housings with out wires getting crushed....

will post pictures when im done

 

[A.Wilson013]

got some updates here, so the xentec ballasts turned out to be garbage and so is their customer service, imagine that lol. Well long story short the ballasts went to hell so im buying a vvme kit (very very good for an ebay kit) and just going to run the ballasts from that kit with the xentec bulbs. The reason being that im pretty sure the vvme bulbs will not fit into the housings with out wires getting crushed....

will post pictures when im done

Would be stoked to see ALL of the pictures... None of them are showing up.

 

[BrianSD_42]

this would make more sense with pictures

 

[BlackCat914]

Would be stoked to see ALL of the pictures... None of them are showing up.

I know right? Not even red X's!

 

[MTD]

Would be stoked to see ALL of the pictures... None of them are showing up.

this would make more sense with pictures

It should have pictures throughout already... FML....

I know right? Not even red X's!

Well WTF? They all show up for me.... I put a lot of work into this so y isn't it working?

 

[MTD]

I know right? Not even red X's!

this would make more sense with pictures

All fixed I had it set to private album for some reason.....

Would be stoked to see ALL of the pictures... None of them are showing up.

Thanks guys you should be able to see them now and if you can't I'll have to pm a mod...

 

[A.Wilson013]

I'll be doing this. Hate how my
Factory fogs look with my new retrofit.

Thanks, MTD

 

[A.Wilson013]

Could you take a shot with the fogs and the headlights on a wall? To compare the cutoff.

 

[MTD]

Could you take a shot with the fogs and the headlights on a wall? To compare the cutoff.

I can after I get my new ballast lol I suggest, just buying the cheap/short bulbs separate from good ballasts, and not a entire xentec kit on that note.

Back to the subject of the cutoff though, Ill just say it is no where as neat as a TRS retro but very comparable to the hella micro de.

Ill get a pic of just the one tonight and put it up here though

 

[MTD]

I'll be doing this. Hate how my
Factory fogs look with my new retrofit.

Thanks, MTD

Good and I'm really glad that someone finally spoke up about not having any pics lol I bet it looked like a bunch of crazy ass jiberish with out those pics not what I was going for!

 

[MTD]

Any feedback on this guys? Are the pictures working now?

 

[4x4runner2002]

pics work for me. great execution and idea any output shots?

 

[MTD]

pics work for me. great execution and idea any output shots?

soon, my brother backed into the front of the runner with his tundra last week, so when I get everything realigned with the bumper I'll take some.

 

[4x4runner2002]

soon, my brother backed into the front of the runner with his tundra last week, so when I get everything realigned with the bumper I'll take some.

ah shit that sucks. ok ill check back to check them out. good luck getting it all straight.

 

[LittleCaesar]

MTD it looks real good. I hope you gave your brother a couple of purple nurples unless he is 3x your size.

Pics look good.

Two suggestions as I run 6k HIDs in my fogs but have been too lazy to ever take a shot of them and post it:

1. Move the ballasts into the engine bay to prevent them from getting wet. I think they make longer wire extensions.
2. For the other hole not used on the cap to pass the wires through use it to extend a breather tube into the engine bay to release heat. It will help your bulbs last longer.