Fog Lights No Longer Work???

[Focus_Sh1ft]

So my fog lights suddenly have stopped working for no reason at all. The ONLY thing I did was pull on the wires that connect to the fog light stalk a little (to get them through the firewall some more). I have checked EVERYTHING. The fuse is fine, the relay isn't the problem (I tried a brand new one), and the fogs light when I manually complete the connection on the relay. The coil is not receiving power, nor is the fog light stalk. After some probing on the relay the only part that receives power is the 12v feed, so this could be the problem. (?) I even cut the molex connector and manually connected all the pins to confirm it wasn't a contact problem. I am freakin baffled lmao... This setup has worked for 6 months. I'm not entirely sure what kit I have (it's similar to the Ebay brand though), but it has a yellow and black wire going to the stalk. I've tapped this spot to get my 12v:



Interestingly, I have that red wire and had it connected to the same spot, but when I was examining my harness recently it seemed that wire wasn't even connected to anything. Like I said, I've rechecked everything as well as the grounding points. Someone helpppppp lol

[big lo]

I ve had that problem, but it was the switch, did your car come with the stock fog set up, if so connect them there. You can also try the parking light to see if the wires are not burnt out, try that and give feed back to see if that resolved the problem, good luck with that, will wait for the out come, holla my dude.

[Focus_Sh1ft]

Originally Posted by big lo

I ve had that problem, but it was the switch, did your car come with the stock fog set up, if so connect them there. You can also try the parking light to see if the wires are not burnt out, try that and give feed back to see if that resolved the problem, good luck with that, will wait for the out come, holla my dude.

Just tested all my wires going from my 12v source directly to fogs. They fired every time. I've ruled out the switch as well because I jumped the two wires that go to the switch multiple times and that solved nothing.

The only thing really left to consider is the relay... but how can the relay suddenly be damaged? To make sure the coil operated properly I connected the 12v right to the coil pinout and, sure enough, the switch in the relay activated.

Oh and to clarify, I've been using the aftermarket relay.

[big lo]

One person, who is a brain, that can help you, try to PM CTScott this very same ? And he can probably help you out with this headache, hope all goes well my dude, holla.

[Focus_Sh1ft]

Yeah I'm hoping he'll swoop in and save the day, as he always does when it comes to electronics. Anybody else have any ideas? Cause I sure as hell dont

[Focus_Sh1ft]

Ok so I rewired my foglight setup as it seemed stupid to pursue the original setup when I knew I could do something else. I bought a simple rocker switch at radioshack. I have the acc wired in for supply and the output directly to the fogs (with the switch grounded and acc wire fused of course). I also tapped the fog light in wire into pin 7 on the D76 connector on the combination meter to fire the fog light indicator. Everything works perfectly.

I'm wondering though... how safe is this without a relay? From my understanding a relay is used as a means for a low voltage switch to control a high voltage current. In the aftermarket harness, I believe both the switch and fogs receive 12v, so what's the point of a relay?

[Altitude]

Mine went out once too. Turned out one of the wires from the relay melted a bit and shorted out.

[CTScott]

Originally Posted by Focus_Sh1ft

Ok so I rewired my foglight setup as it seemed stupid to pursue the original setup when I knew I could do something else. I bought a simple rocker switch at radioshack. I have the acc wired in for supply and the output directly to the fogs (with the switch grounded and acc wire fused of course). I also tapped the fog light in wire into pin 7 on the D76 connector on the combination meter to fire the fog light indicator. Everything works perfectly.

I'm wondering though... how safe is this without a relay? From my understanding a relay is used as a means for a low voltage switch to control a high voltage current. In the aftermarket harness, I believe both the switch and fogs receive 12v, so what's the point of a relay?

The relay isolates the low current control side from the high current bulb side. The stalk isn't designed to switch the current of the lamps, so the relay is there to let the stalk just have to switch the current required by the coil. If you use a rocker switch, as long as it is rated for 15A, then you are OK.

[Focus_Sh1ft]

So they do use different current afterall? It's still kind of interesting how relays are used here, whereas the proper switch eliminates the need for it...

CTScott, any hunches on the initial problem? It remains unsolved. Although unimportant now, I hate not being able to figure things out

[CTScott]

Originally Posted by Focus_Sh1ft

So they do use different current afterall? It's still kind of interesting how relays are used here, whereas the proper switch eliminates the need for it...

CTScott, any hunches on the initial problem? It remains unsolved. Although unimportant now, I hate not being able to figure things out

The same fuse feeds the coil and the contacts, but the current switched to one versus the other is significant.

As for the initial problem, I would suspect a bad ground connection. All of the lighting circuits on the Yaris are switched on the ground leg, so to complete the circuit you have to ground it.