Fog Light Mod - On with or w/o parking lights - simple

[DipStick]

I came up with an almost simple way of letting you have your fog lights come on whenever you want - even with the parking lights off. I say 'almost simple' because you only have to run one wire - I found all of the others inside of the fuse box (except the main power wire of course).

First, I can't take full credit for this. I didn't reinvent the wheel; only made it roll smoother. Thanks to all of those before who did some of the research, including, but certainly not limited to Baseballfanz, JustIntoxicated, Pi3yearGrad, gshadow325, just to name a few. In fact, I will be using cut and paste for some of this.

Keep in mind that my Titan is a 2006 SE 4x4 with the tow package. I say this because inside fuse box is key, and yours could be different. It holds all of the wires necessary for this mod. You only have to run one wire to the headlight stalk inside the cab.

Here’s a list of things you will need:
14 or 12 ga power wire
18 ga wire (to fit through factory harness) DO NOT USE ANYTHING LARGER THAN THIS – IT WON’T GO THROUGH THE HEADLIGHT STALK
30 amp relay
Zip Ties
Solder & Iron & Shrunkwrap
Electrical tape
Inline Fuse (I used the sealed / weather resistant) spade type
Philips / Flathead Screwdriver and sockets
Misc Crimp connectors (for attaching to relay, grounds etc) I used the insulated blade kind from Lowes for the relay)

I began by running wire from the inside of the cab on the driver’s side into the engine compartment. I used 18 ga wire – this is the largest wire you can use – otherwise it won’t allow you to reclose the stalk with the wires coming out of it. When I ran the wire, I left the spool in the cab so I could use as much as I wanted. I used the small plug to the upper left of the main wire bundle. It’s by itself, and I just fished it through as illustrated below (mine is the blue wire).

{{ See Pic1.jpg }}

I ran it over the engine and used zipties to secure it to the other bundle. I ran it over to the fuse box. Take the cover off while you’re there.

To give the lights power, I used a connector on a heavy duty blade fuse holder with a 20 amp fuse soldered to 12 ga power wire and ran it to the fuse box.

{{ See Pic2.jpg }}

As illustrated in later photos, you can lift a “gate” to allow the wires to go through to the inside of the fuse box.

Now it’s time to cut the wires for your fog lights. You’ll hook them up to the relay, and when it’s energized, it will pass the 12vdc from the battery to the fog lights using the existing wires. As seen below, it will help to remove this plug from the fuse box – just press the tab and pull it out (again, this is for a ’06 SE 4x4, could be different from yours). There are two wires used for the fog lights – both are white with a red stripe – one for the left and one for the right. Cut both wires. I put caps over the naked wires on the plug. Strip both wires and twist them together.

{{ See Pic3.jpg }}

Now you have a decision to make. When do you want your lights to come on? You know you can turn them off anytime you want by using the switch on the headlight stalk. When do you want them to be able to come on? Your choices include:
a. Come on anytime that the parking lights are on. This will allow them to be on whenever your parking lights are on – when the key is off, when the headlights are on low or high, or with just the parking lights on. If they are on with the key off, then you’ll get the same audible alarm as if you left your lights on.
b. Come on anytime the switch is on. I don’t personally recommend this because you can leave them on during the day while you’re not in the vehicle. You won’t get any kind of audible warning that they are left on.
c. Anytime the ignition is on. This was my choice. This is similar to b. above, but when you turn the truck off, the lights go off.

Now that you’ve made the decision, cut the appropriate wire according to the picture below, and splice another wire into it so that you basically tap into that wire. I chose to use blade connectors on all of my wires in the fuse box so that they will slide right onto my relay.

{{ see pic4.jpg }}

Once you have all of the blade connectors on all of the wires, slide them on to the relay as indicated below:

{{ see diagram.jpg and pic5.jpg (next post) }}

Continued Below...

[DipStick]

My final picture of my fuse box looked like this:

{{ See Pic6.jpg }}

Put the cover back on the fuse box. I put the fuse back in the fuse slot in the box.

Now for inside the cab. I will mostly cut/paste from JustIntoxicated’s instructions from here. It is the same...

1) Remove lower Dash (2 screws and pop the clips out by kind of pulling upward) (this will make the mod easier). You may have to unplug some connectors if you have a rear power window, adjustable pedals, and/or the backup sounders.

2) Remove plastic around steering wheel (3 screws and some clips)

3) Remove Bulb Stalk (white clip on top and bottom and it unplugs like a nintendo game)

4) remove black casing from bulb stack (it is attached in 3 places by tabs, be careful it's expensive)

5) Cut wires as shown below and follow the diagram.

When you run the wire to the stalk, you will solder one side (doesn’t matter which) to the wire going to the fuse box. Solder the other to another wire. The other end needs a connector and needs to be grounded as shown.

{{ See pic7.jpg and pic8.jpg }}

Button her up and put everything back together. If you used smaller than 18ga wire, this should be easier. I wouldn’t use anything smaller than 22ga. It doesn’t take much power at all to throw the relay, but you do want some type of durability.

Note: When you put the plastic back over the steering column, be careful - it's a tight fit and I tended to pinch the wires.

[baseballfanz]

Very nice write up, using factory wire instead of running new wire is ingenous(sp?). Good work.

[DipStick]

Here's some pix of the truck and some other useful pictures.

[phugoid]

wow........
good thing i didnt do the stalk mod.
great write up, but it sure looks like alot of work.
anywaz, i did the JUMPER mod recently and it works fine.
thanks for the post tho, shows how ingenious we Titan owners are, hehe.

[RB's Titan]

Nice post indeed! We need to do a name change cuz dipstick don't fit this write up. Great work.

[P's Titan]

maybe a mod can sticy this, you can PM one or one just may see this post and apply on his own.

Real good write up and pictorial. Good Job!

[loufish]

I haven't seen a factory wiring diagram, does the stalk switch ground the fog light to complete the circut?
I'm about to mount a fog light stalk to run driving lights(thru a relay of course) and would like them to run with parking lights.

[37L1]

This thread will be moved to the "How To" forum and stickied.

[Carbeaux]

Thanks 37L1!!!!

[baseballfanz]

Originally Posted by loufish

I haven't seen a factory wiring diagram, does the stalk switch ground the fog light to complete the circut?
I'm about to mount a fog light stalk to run driving lights(thru a relay of course) and would like them to run with parking lights.

The switch on the stalk goes to the BCM (it's connected to a circuit board inside the stalk itself).

[DipStick]

Originally Posted by loufish

I haven't seen a factory wiring diagram, does the stalk switch ground the fog light to complete the circut?
I'm about to mount a fog light stalk to run driving lights(thru a relay of course) and would like them to run with parking lights.

In this mod, the stalk switch just closes the circuit to throw the relay, which, in turn, completes the circuit to turn on the lights. No real current passes through the relay - I'd guess at less than a quarter-amp. I didn't even fuse my relay, only the power to the lights.

However, I'm currently trying to work up a way to use ONLY truck parts (except the wire from the stalk). I'm trying to find which wire is the ground for the stock fog light relay. If I can find that ground wire, we can just use the stalk switch to complete that circuit.

My problem is that I can't find a service manual for a 2006. I've found one for a 2005, but not a 2006, and I'm paranoid about "experimenting" with my truck when I don't have the right guide.

[loufish]

Why can't I run a 30 amp Bosch relay, using the the factory wires that go out to the fog lights to control that relay and run a couple of 130 watt off-road lights?

I don't want to run more wires thru the firewall, and like using the factory switch for a clean look.

What is the BCM's logic right now? Fog lights only come on with low beams?

[DipStick]

Originally Posted by loufish

Why can't I run a 30 amp Bosch relay, using the the factory wires that go out to the fog lights to control that relay and run a couple of 130 watt off-road lights?

I don't want to run more wires thru the firewall, and like using the factory switch for a clean look.

What is the BCM's logic right now? Fog lights only come on with low beams?

Right, the BCM will only allow the fog lights to come on when the low beams are on. This is why the wires to the switch are cut and one end is grounded and the other end is ran through the firewall and to the relay.

[TX-TITAN]

I found a way so that we do not need to rewire the stalk, please see my post in the how to area:

Fog Light Mod - No need to rewire stalk