Rear fog light not working

[syncropatrick]

Mine ain't working. Swapped bulb, checked fuse under dash, telltale on dash switch comes on when engine is running and full beam enabled. Dash switch connections are clean and firm. What else is there to check - cabling? Which of the 6 pins on the plug into the offside rear light cluster is fog and which is earth? Can the switches go screwy?
Patrick.

[kevtherev]

Mine ain't working. Swapped bulb, checked fuse under dash, telltale on dash switch comes on when engine is running and full beam enabled. Dash switch connections are clean and firm. What else is there to check - cabling? Which of the 6 pins on the plug into the offside rear light cluster is fog and which is earth? Can the switches go screwy?
Patrick.

should come on without full beam
is it a three position switch?

multimeter next
check for continuity (earths)
and power at the bulb holder

wire colour grey/white

[AngeloEvs]

Needs foglight relay to be fitted and functioning even if you don't have front fogs fitted. Also check connection behind fusebox which is via an in line connector (yellow/grey IIRC but need to check that on my schematic) so check it hasn't been pulled out (which often happens if you move the fuse panel forward).

[syncropatrick]

Needs foglight relay to be fitted and functioning even if you don't have front fogs fitted.

Mine is missing. Anyone got one to sell they can post to Bristol this week? (also posted in wanted section).
Patrick.

[Aidan]

it's just a 53 pretty standard relay goes in socket 7 should be able to find one at any scrappers
141 951 253 B now obsolete from VW but proabably superseeded by something else, got one here but unknown condition

[syncropatrick]

it's just a 53 pretty standard relay goes in socket 7 should be able to find one at any scrappers
141 951 253 B now obsolete from VW but proabably superseeded by something else, got one here but unknown condition

Sorted now - got one from ebay.

BTW, my Haynes (pub 1998) has a typo as it says the relay for fog light in socket 7 is a 15 relay, while location 6 is a 53 relay for dual tone horn.

I'm a bit confused that my van passed the MOT last year without a fog light, but needs one this year. Any thoughts?

Thanks all,
Patrick.

[Aidan]

was it a CJ's freindly local garage mot ?

[AngeloEvs]

Same here, passed every MOT since I had the van but this year they spotted no rear fog light. Relay missing (never had that one fitted)! Yep, Haynes have the locations incorrect and the other bible doesn't even show one as fitted.......

[syncropatrick]

Fog switch is three way and telltale comes on in positions 2 & 3 when side lights or better are on.

Fitted 53 relay. No joy. Could it be duff - I can't hear a click sound when enabling?
Swapped fog switch for a spare.
Checked connections behind fusebox and got lost! I have a yellow/grey wire which comes from the fog switch, this goes into the fusebox in bottom RH corner behind the fuses. There is also a yellow/grey wire coming out of the fusebox behind relay 8ish with an inline connector on it which isn't connected to anything else. Both these wires have compatible yellow inline connectors. I couldn't see a grey/white wire, but the light is so poor at the moment and my eyesight isn't the best for close-up work.

Haynes doesn't have enough details and Bentley doesn't show fog lamp wiring at all. grr!

It is possible my loom has been mangled by previous owners. My leccy mirrors not worky, neither does the rear heated screen, nor does the rear wash/wipe. The power to the fuel injectors was non-existant and there is an after-market choke-type switch on the dash with wires running rearwards.

Van is booked into Brickwerks next Monday so Simon could do it, but if I can do so before then I save some money and gain a small victory.

[Simon Baxter]

Is it a left hooker?
If so I bet it's not wired up.
MOT testers let vans through MOT with bulbs blown - fact.
If someone has put the switch in and made the tell tale work tester will have though "it's only a bulb" and let it go, because that's what they do.
One the right hand rear light, is there a wire missing from one of the terminals in the multiplug? if so that's the problem, when a fog lamp is fitted there should be no spare terminals.
Wire is grey with a white trace I seem to remember, but could be wrong.
As for the relay, I'm fairly sure they work without a relay, it doesn't work as a normal relay, more of a load reduction relay I seem to remember, but again it's a long time since I've looked in any depth and I could be thinking of a T4 or something.

[slowshifter]

The foglight caused a fail on my MOT. After checking all fuses and changing the bulb holder and switch, I gave up and my local VW garage fixed it by checking the connection in the black junction box in the engine bay. This is located on the L/H side of the bulkead forward of the coil. Hope this helps.

[AngeloEvs]

Ufortunately I don't have access to my Haynes till next Mondaybut the inline yellow connector behind the fuse box should have a wire (grey/white or yellow/white - not sure of colour code but will check) connected to it and the relay fitted. I seem to remember that the wiring is odd and looking at the Haynes wiring diagram shows that the relay has to be in place but for the life of me cannot remember the circuit details. I suspect that the wire that goes to the yellow female connector could be fitted directly to the fuse box and thus bypass the relay. I will give you an update on the wiring of the foglight next monday if that helps. Bently is no use as it doesn't show foglight or the relay in the schematic. All I can add is that I popped a relay in the bottom left position and connected the striped wire to the yellow connector and that solved the problem.

[Simon Baxter]

Just looked.
Seems you do need the relay, thats what allows the system not to work unless you have your lights on.
It could be wired better in fairness, when I put front fogs on my westy i wired it differently, in the normal way you would use a relay.
The relay becomes live when you switch the lights on by the look of it, that then supplies the switch with a feed for you to select front or front and rear (if fronts are fitted otherwise the switch is to go to the second position to get the rears to work.)

The grey/white wire from the fog switch enters the fuse box at B2.
Lops through fusebox and leaves at...
E10, which again is Grey/White.

If you have a live out of the switch, but not out of the fuse box, try fuse 27, which is clipped to the top of the fuse box, again, can be recognised by the grey/white wire.

[syncropatrick]

Kerching!

Turned out fuse 27 was missing as well as relay 53. Rest of stuff - switch, telltale, wiring (for left hooker) and fuse 6 was fine.

Thanks all - saved some cash (sorry Simon!) and won my small victory.