Fog Light Question

C_Breeze

**not a rant**


Anyway , I just notice my cars front fog lights dont seem to be working ... any idea what could be wrong? thnks

crosstownk

For openers, check the bulbs and the fuse. If the problem still persists then you'll need a proper diagnosis with a multimeter.

lightening

Same happened me. It turned out to be bulbs.

C_Breeze

oh sorry, should have mentioned Bulbs are fine (i only checked one but makes no difference) and fuse is fine too. Thats all the trouble shooting i have done.

Anybody any advice how/ Where to get this sorted? ..with "mutlimeter" ... dont think i have one or know how to use one

Marcus.Aurelius

I won't help unless you swear to me that you only use your fog lamps in fog. No stupid fog lamps in the daytime or evening. God, its so pig-ignorant.

Rant over, you may have a snap in the power lead to you lamps. A multimeter would be very useful. If you know any electricians, you could borrow one (borrowing an electrician might also be good!).

tuxy

While this topic is up. Are some of the new fog lights more blinding then the old.
Lots of 06-07 cars blinding me as I drive around but older cars with idiot drivers don't seem to blind me as much.

Kali

Check all the fuses... I've noticed in a few older cars that one blown fuse can have knock-on effects on others.

lafors

maoleary wrote:

I won't help unless you swear to me that you only use your fog lamps in fog. No stupid fog lamps in the daytime or evening. God, its so pig-ignorant.

But it makes their punto look "Cooler"

Marcus.Aurelius

lafors wrote:

But it makes their punto look "Cooler"

My God......you're right.....how could I have been so blind!!!!:eek:

lafors

maoleary wrote:

My God......you're right.....how could I have been so blind!!!!:eek:

Because they had their fog lights on

crosstownk

You say you have checked a bulb - it may appear to be ok, but have you verified that it is actually working? I've seen many bulbs that looked ok that were still blown. (no black spots, no apparrent break in the filament).

C_Breeze

crosstownk wrote:

You say you have checked a bulb - it may appear to be ok, but have you verified that it is actually working? I've seen many bulbs that looked ok that were still blown. (no black spots, no apparrent break in the filament).

hmmm , i'll try replace it with another bulb just to be 100% ! Thanks for the advise.


on a sidenote.. how does this "multometer" work? .... do i just jab the fog light with it??!! lol

... i may be able to get my hands on one!




- and no i dont use them to look cool , Ive had the car nearly 2 months and only noticed now

OldmanMondeo

tuxy wrote:

While this topic is up. Are some of the new fog lights more blinding then the old.
Lots of 06-07 cars blinding me as I drive around but older cars with idiot drivers don't seem to blind me as much.

Hella are currently selling front fog lights and calling them " Daytime Running Lights", so thats what I use now, my day time running lights....:D

Marcus.Aurelius

lafors wrote:

Because they had their fog lights on

Sir, you have done me a great service. I was blind, but now I see.

Really though, are people even aware they're blinding everyone with these stupid things?

lafors

maoleary wrote:

Sir, you have done me a great service. I was blind, but now I see.

Really though, are people even aware they're blinding everyone with these stupid things?

I dunno, it never bothers me, I don't think there bad, defo not as bad as suv/jeeps with their normal lights on, they are really annoying.

OP a multimeter can check voltage, current, and resistance. Used to fault find mainly. Here's the wiki page...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multimeter

Darven

for a second there i thought people didnt realise bulbs tend to need to be replaced, anyhow.

i think people who drive with fogs or spots or parks etc on can be a lot more useful than people with nothing. given some of the horrendous rain we have got when you get people coming out of the mist a few feet in front of you with not so much as the luck of a break light to show them up, give me people driving with lights on anyday! helps when driving into sun as well and you cant see oncoming traffic i think.

JoeySully

My fog lights went working an my promera. After changing both bulbs and checking every fuse in the car it tured out to be the wires on the stalk had come apart - a bot of solder sorted it out.

sesswhat

Someone has to ask the obvious question. Are your dipped headlights on when you check?

Del2005

Also are you sure they are fog lights? What type of car is it? Some makes have driving lights that only come on when the full beams are on.

C_Breeze

sesswhat wrote:

Someone has to ask the obvious question. Are your dipped headlights on when you check?

yes dipped lights are on when i checked! im not stupid u know! :P

no theyre not "driving lights" either

colm_mcm

dipped headlight's don't usually have to be on for front fogs to work, just sidelights

C_Breeze

colm_mcm wrote:

dipped headlight's don't usually have to be on for front fogs to work, just sidelights

true dat


took the bulb out and connected it directly to the battery ..works fine so blown bulbs is definitely outta the question ..damn

do you think an electrician would be able to help?

mondeoman

C_Breeze wrote:

true dat


took the bulb out and connected it directly to the battery ..works fine so blown bulbs is definitely outta the question ..damn

do you think an electrician would be able to help?

What type of car is it??

C_Breeze

Its a Mazda MX-3!

unkel

On topic please folks or there will be severe bannings. We don't do fog light rants (anymore). See the charter

tuxy

unkel wrote:

On topic please folks or there will be severe bannings. We don't do fog light rants (anymore). See the charter

But if we don't rant about it the rage builds up! It's not healthy.

Vikings

C_Breeze wrote:

- and no i dont use them to look cool , Ive had the car nearly 2 months and only noticed now

Well if you have gone 2 months without using them then you probably will never use them, so you won't need to go to the bother of spending time and money getting them fixed, right?

They are useless things anyway, the majority of cars manage fine without them so there should be no need for them at all!

rebel.ranter

Did you check to see if the relay was OK?

JHMEG

Mustangs wrote:

Well if you have gone 2 months without using them then you probably will never use them, so you won't need to go to the bother of spending time and money getting them fixed, right?

They are useless things anyway, the majority of cars manage fine without them so there should be no need for them at all!

That the UK import you're selling, and hence the reason you'd like to get them working? (did you manage to sell that Civic VTI-S?).
http://www.adverts.ie/showproduct.php?product=26141&cat=2

If not the fuse, it'll be either the switch or the relay. The latter will most likely be under the dash, near the fuseboard, but it could be under the bonnet either.

C_Breeze

JHMEG wrote:

That the UK import you're selling, and hence the reason you'd like to get them working? (did you manage to sell that Civic VTI-S?).
http://www.adverts.ie/showproduct.php?product=26141&cat=2

If not the fuse, it'll be either the switch or the relay. The latter will most likely be under the dash, near the fuseboard, but it could be under the bonnet either.

[I'm tempted to bring up the irony that you don't know what a multimeter is, but yet have fitted after-market very high voltage HIDs to cars, but I won't]

Yeah thats the one, well no not really ... i just like to have everything on my cars working as they should - while i own them anyway (bit of a perfectionist)

Civic still for sale but its tough to shift on a UK reg ..so will prob sell it when its vrt'd (dont mind tho becuase its a bit of blast anyway)

I'll check the switch next to see if thats the problem.

[how's that ironic, ive never needed a mutlimeter to fit Hid's and they're not excatly the hardest thing in the world to fit , its one step more than a regular light bulb! - why are u so hung up on that?]

sesswhat

colm_mcm wrote:

dipped headlight's don't usually have to be on for front fogs to work, just sidelights

Nevertheless, if they are working, they will work with the dipped headlights on so why not cover all possible scenarios?

No offence to OP by the way. You may check everything before posting here but the same can't be said for everyone.

Any success anyway?

JHMEG

C_Breeze wrote:

[how's that ironic, ive never needed a mutlimeter to fit Hid's and they're not excatly the hardest thing in the world to fit , its one step more than a regular light bulb! - why are u so hung up on that?]

Unlike regular bulbs HIDs are potentially very dangerous with the high voltages invloved to get them started up. Nice to check everything out with a multimeter before giving them the ok.

daedalus2097

DRLs are fine and totally separate to fogs - a lot of newer cars seem to have these, essentially side lights mounted where fogs would normally go, and I'd have to say they're great, especially in shaded areas when the sun's out and that. Now, the multimeter can be used to check the voltages at any part of the circuit, so basically what you'd do is check the bulb holder for 12V - if present then it's a bulb not fitting correctly or something like that. Then you check the next step back (the relay) and see if it's getting 12V. If it's getting 12V but the bulb holder isn't, it's either the relay or the cable from the relay to the bulb. So on until you've found where the 12V chain finishes, and that's where your fault is.

daedalus2097

Incidentally, a multimeter is a nice way of checking bulbs too - switched to resistance (the Greek capital letter Omega or ) it can measure the resistance ofthe filament - a working bulb will be fairly close to 0, a blown bulb will be infinite. A cheap multimeter can be had for peanuts these days and is always a handy thing to have around cars, even just for checking bulbs, batteries, switches etc.

crosstownk

daedalus2097 wrote:

Incidentally, a multimeter is a nice way of checking bulbs too - switched to resistance (the Greek capital letter Omega or ) it can measure the resistance ofthe filament - a working bulb will be fairly close to 0, a blown bulb will be infinite.

That'll do the job - but a simpler way (especially for those not too familiar with electrics) is to just do a continuity check with a multimeter. Meter beeps = bulb OK; meter stays silent = bulb fooked. Also a simple way of checking wiring continuity too.

Alun

Not all multimeters have a continuity check .. mine doesn't.

crosstownk

Alun wrote:

Not all multimeters have a continuity check .. mine doesn't.

Fair point, Alun. I've been using the same multimeter for years and had forgotten that not all have it as a standard feature.

C_Breeze

sesswhat wrote:

Nevertheless, if they are working, they will work with the dipped headlights on so why not cover all possible scenarios?

No offence to OP by the way. You may check everything before posting here but the same can't be said for everyone.

Any success anyway?

No still no success. I chechked the bulbs , fuses and also checked the switch and it seems fine. Its really bugging me now. Need to get somebody to have a proper look at it with a multimeter thingy-ma-jig

C_Breeze

Hey, this is really bugging me now. I need to have it looked at .

Can anybody recommend an auto electrican around dublin or a garage that would be able to take a look????

JHMEG

How did you check the switch? Is it on a stalk or on the dash?

My money would be on the switch or on the relay, assuming there are no wires pulled out etc.

C_Breeze

JHMEG wrote:

How did you check the switch? Is it on a stalk or on the dash?

My money would be on the switch or on the relay, assuming there are no wires pulled out etc.

the switch is on the centre console so not on a stalk , i pulled it out and the wire seemed to be connected properly! hmmm dunno am baffled

JHMEG

C_Breeze wrote:

the switch is on the centre console so not on a stalk , i pulled it out and the wire seemed to be connected properly! hmmm dunno am baffled

Doesn't mean the switch is working!