xAxAxAxA

Hi guys,

I have a friend with an 09 2nd gen xB. She purchased some fog lights for it and me and her BF installed them the other day (with HIDs). All was going well until we went to wire it to the switch in the car. We used the stock fog light wiring, but we do not have the OEM switch to go with it (it costs $60).

After several tests and trials (and 10 blown fuses) I have given up and leave this at the mercy of someone who has experienced and conquered this task. I have searched the vast internet for answers, but found vague useless information.

For those that have fog lights, the plug that goes into the switch has 4 wires. The aftermarket switch that came with the fog has 3. The wires coming from the fog are 2 green (one has a gold dot), 1 white, 1 gray. If anyone could tell me positively what each cord does that would be extremely helpful. The switch I have has a red, black and blue cord (I'm assuming the red is positive, black negative, and blue toggles with the switch).

Any words of advice or links/pointers on where to go would be appreciated!

Thanks and have a good day!

DJ_Moonbass

by pass that entire harness.. its got relays and who knows what else because its wired to turn off with the high beams. instead. ground the fogs at the closest point possible. then put an add a fuse circuit into your fuse box underneath the steering wheel and get a toggle switch or something and wire it into one of the spare switch plugs by the traction control button on your lower left hand side. youll have to then run the power wire from the fuse box to the switch and through the fire wall. if you look up from the bottom of drivers side foot well youll see a gromet there with a huge wiring harness. follow that. i just fed my wire with a coat hanger. then run your line out of site and away from any moving or hot parts to your fog lights. use a good size wire like 12 guage.

another option is to use a relay and keep all the power coming straight from the battery. so you would ground your fogs at the closest point. run the positive input into the relay then also connect it to the battery and then from the relay feed the wire lead(s) through the firewall and connect the switch to your desired location. i dont remember of the top of my head how to wire a relay but basically the relay serves as a gate to open or close the circuit by using a switch located else where. so the fogs are getting alot more power and it doesnt have to travel as far. like through the switch in your dash and out through the firewall all the way to your front bumper.

xAxAxAxA

We're using an HID kit that uses the stock harness... I have a feeling he won't want to cut the stock harness, but I'll ask because I understand what your saying.

LAGECKO

Not questioning your friend's installation skills, so please don't be insulted (you or him). But if you keep blowing fuses, you probably have a short somewhere. HIDs should only draw 35 watts (standard) or 55 watts (hi-power). The OEM foglights and wiring are rated at 55 watts, so you should not be blowing any fuses. As DJ Moonbass mentioned, it might be easiest to bybass the stock foglight wiring altogether because of the relays, hi-beam cutoff, etc. But if you don't want to do this, and your switch wired correctly, installing the HIDs would happen just at the bulb end, which is only 2 wires. I helped a friend of mine put HIDs in his foglights, and it was very easy - just like installing HID headlights. But he had the OEM foglights to begin with, so we knew the wiring was already correct. I would use a multi-tester to check your switch connections to the stock harness vs. the output at the bulb end (before the HID ballast) - I suspect that is where your problem is. Good luck!

xAxAxAxA

It's not the HIDs causing the fuse to short, it's me trying to figure which wire to connect to which at the switch, but as said before, it does seem better to just bypass the stock harness because of the hi-beam cutoff. I do hate that... Thanks for the input.

On another note, I could get the fog light light to come on on the dash (sorry for the double words lol), but I don't think the way I'm trying to wire it will work without the original OEM switch... plus the hi-beam cutoff is annoying and we want to be able to control the fog lights to be on/off whenever we want (not just when the parking lights or headlights are on, but obviously only when the car is on). I think I can manage with the insight you guys gave me though, I'll have to think of a plan before I go tearing up and cutting wires lol

Thanks again!

LAGECKO

Yeah, I didn't think it was the HIDs that was causing your fuses to blow. If you want to bypass all of Scion's OEM foglight features (on with parking lights, hi-beam cutoff, etc.), it would be MUCH better to run your own wires to the foglights. Not as easy as using the stock wiring. But on the other hand, it would be simple to diagnose any problems...

ScionFred

iTrader: (1)

Buy the oem switch and all problems solved... well, except that the China-clone fog lights are 1/10 the quality of the oem fogs. I paid $35 for the switch from some online Toyota parts source and it was worth every penny. I'm now on my second set of craptastic China-clone fog lights but the yota switch will outlast 10 of them.

BTW, my fogs stay on with the high beams but I can't have them on without the headlights. Not ideal but I can live with it vs re-wiring the entire circuit.

LAGECKO

Gotta agree with you, ScionFred! I bought some Scion-clone foglights off ebay for $100 - they broke before I even got them fully installed (bulbs would not fully seat within the reflectors). Fortunately I was able to return them, and then got the OEM set for $200. Totally worth the extra 100 bucks, just for the OEM switch and not having to re-wire. Light quality was much better too, due to the better reflectors and housings. But HIDs might still look pretty good even if they are mounted in cheapo knockoffs...

VENisME

I also went with the knock offs and DDM hids and Toyota switch. Total it costed me about $185. Still working fine. Long and short of it is like scionfred said buy the stock switch.

xAxAxAxA

He wants to have the fogs turn on whenever he wants... I have a wiring harness from a 09 Corolla that had the same fog setup (I just needed the housings). We are just going to use that. It's more work, but its all OEM grade stuff so it has all the connections. Learned a lot from this whole process though lol. Definitely will help when I'm trying to do this for my 06 xA which Scion doesn't sell fog light kits for anymore... Thanks for all the input guys!

doutrnz

I know that this topic has been brought up before but they are old posts. Does anyone have a step by step with pics (without broken links) or a youtube video that is easiler to follow? Saying do this to the relay and that but not telling/showing where it is is frustrating.

I just got my Tc Jan 1st and looking forward to this mod, but everyone has so many different ways to approch it and Im not a wiring savy person. If I'm shown what to do, then I can do it.

I hope to hear from someone soon,

Thanks,

doutrnz

LophatXB

Here is my D5 concept yellow fog lights. I bypassed the factory harness, because I had my left over PIAA wiring harness and switch. I had an issue finding the right place to tap into my aftermarket headlights. After a few minutes I was able to make them work. And they turn on with the parking lights and stay on with the high beams as well. Since I rarely use my high beams at all I haven't gone and changed those to HID yet either. Also the PIAA switch is a three wire switch, so later this week I am going to see if I can make the switch that came with the D5 lights work as a replacement for the PIAA switch.