Rear Fog Light Help

Post by **T2Andy** » 25 Sep 2006, 15:00

OK, I have done the search and looked at the Wiki, need to get some sort of rear fog light for the MOT, as LHD and as far as I can see it hasn't got one.

There is a Rocker switch in the dash on the right hand side and it looks as though it has a built in warning light, but it has NO wires connected to it. What does the rear fog light switch look like, as this switch may be for the heated rear screen which is also disconnected.

Not checked at the rear yet to see if there is an actual bulb in the LH side.

Assuming the loom should have the wiring, what colour wires am I looking for front and back?

If there is wiring at the back on the left could I just hang a light under the bumper and run wires across from the left hand side.

Any other suggestions appreciated.

Thanks

Andy

Post by **bradcab** » 25 Sep 2006, 15:39

Just done mine!

Don't know what the law is on Imports (lefties) havin one.

Here goes.

Bulb holder is on the right hand tail light asmb, on the very left. If that makes sense. 12v 21w bulb.

Behing the rocker switch mine had a block connection with all the wires conected to it.

I split mine to clean the muck out as the contacts were bunged up with grease and dirt.

The fuse for mine is 10amp and is 1 of 2 above the main box above the relays.

Mine worked with the lights on full and the switch all the way over.

Hope this helps.

Post by **busbuddy** » 25 Sep 2006, 18:56

No idea why the germans don't fit rear fogs

but on all the ones I looked at they only fitted the switch if you have front fogs/driving lamps on lhd otherwise you would have a blanking plate.
This means the switch has power to it so I just bought an aftermarket fog lamp, ran a wire front to back and mot sorted.
If ya still struggling by thursday come to the RDK meet at the welland and I'll have a look.

Post by **Dubstar** » 25 Sep 2006, 21:21

I had a similar problem with my rear foglights, except I didn't have a switch, so I had to buy one and a warning light/led type thing to tell me when they are on. I put the wire to the back, and was gonna wire in an aftermarket, hang below the bumper type light, when I thought I'd have a look inside the rear lights first. And sure enough, there is a space for a fog light bulb to go, but without the spring bit that connects to the centre of the bulb and also holds it in place. So I drilled a hole in the centre of the housing behind where the bulb should be, just big enough for the wire to go through. To spring load the bulb I used the spring and connector out of an inline fuse holder, the sort you get on car stereos and the like. I had to cut the spring down until it allowed the bulb to go down enough to be turned and released and sit in place like the rest of the bulbs. I did both sides this way, and it saved me having to hang an external light there or buying UK backlights with the bulb spring loader and wiring there. Hope this helps

Post by **T2Andy** » 26 Sep 2006, 12:32

busbuddy wrote:No idea why the germans don't fit rear fogs but on all the ones I looked at they only fitted the switch if you have front fogs/driving lamps on lhd otherwise you would have a blanking plate.
This means the switch has power to it so I just bought an aftermarket fog lamp, ran a wire front to back and mot sorted.
If ya still struggling by thursday come to the RDK meet at the welland and I'll have a look.

Off to Burnley on Thursday evening so can't get to Welland Lodge. If I remember right, there is the hazard warning switch at the top, the other one with nothing connected in the middle and a blanking plate at the bottom, so sounds as though the switch I have is probably for the Heated Rear Screen as I do not have front fog lamps.

So looks as though aftermarket lamp and switch is going to be the easiest and quickest option. Suppose Carmaster or Halfwits will have what I need.

Post by **T2Andy** » 26 Sep 2006, 12:34

Dubstar wrote:I had a similar problem with my rear foglights, except I didn't have a switch, so I had to buy one and a warning light/led type thing to tell me when they are on. I put the wire to the back, and was gonna wire in an aftermarket, hang below the bumper type light, when I thought I'd have a look inside the rear lights first. And sure enough, there is a space for a fog light bulb to go, but without the spring bit that connects to the centre of the bulb and also holds it in place. So I drilled a hole in the centre of the housing behind where the bulb should be, just big enough for the wire to go through. To spring load the bulb I used the spring and connector out of an inline fuse holder, the sort you get on car stereos and the like. I had to cut the spring down until it allowed the bulb to go down enough to be turned and released and sit in place like the rest of the bulbs. I did both sides this way, and it saved me having to hang an external light there or buying UK backlights with the bulb spring loader and wiring there. Hope this helps

Yeah probably could do something like that long term, but me MOT is in 2 weeks time and we are away this weekend so I aint got much time, think quick bolt on one then maybe look at your suggestion for the future.

Post by **Mash** » 26 Sep 2006, 12:35

We had a rear fog light on the LHS when we got the van from germany, we bought a RHD tail light for the RHS and wired it in for the first Mot and that was it.

Must have been lucky there

Must depend on what van you have

Ash

Post by **"WEAZLECHIN"** » 28 Sep 2006, 20:53

got mine from berlin, with a fog lamp. the german tuv is more strict than our mot, and would not pass without a rear fog, someone must have been messing. take the both lights out, disconnect the left fog wires and run two extension wires over to where the rhd bulb should be.. . . . snot ard

Post by **Simon Baxter** » 28 Sep 2006, 21:19

I dunno the ins and outs but some German ones come with, and some without.
For ones with it's just a case of running a wire from the left to the right and filling in the blank space in the multiplug behind the right hand light.
For ones without, most of the wiring is there, the wire is in the loom from front to rear and it resides in the black junction box in the engine bay, the wire is Grey with a white trace.
The wiring is also free at the fusebox end, and it's just a case of joining up the spare terminals and fitting a switch.

Really not rocket science.
To give an indication of how easy it is, I charge one hours labout to make it work.

Post by **busbuddy** » 29 Sep 2006, 18:28

"WEAZLECHIN" wrote: the german tuv is more strict than our mot, and would not pass without a rear fog

Every person I spoke to when I was getting advice on buying from germany said it won't come with a rear fog light and mines a 1988 karmann cheetah, got all receipts, service history and all tuvs, it's never had a rear fog light, the entire metal assembly in the rear light units do not have any provision for a fog light

it went through a tuv a week before I bought it.
Can't believe that karmann got type approval if rear fog lamp was law so it must have been 'you can fit one if you want' until it became law, seems weird we made it law in 1980 and germany were a decade behind

Post by **T2Andy** » 02 Oct 2006, 09:55

Update on this.

No prevision in existing rear light cluster as no bulb holders either side. So I have bolted on a £7.99 lamp from Halfwits, got a switch mounted and earth wires done ready just got to do the live wiring, so will have a look for Simons front to back wire first before running my own.

Also had a problem that the Horn only worked with the steering wheel in certain positions, had a look at the earth wire and cleaned that up but still the same, hopefully the MOT man will test it with the wheels straight as thats where it works, only bonus from this was that as I had the cowl off I popped out the little white plastic clip and I now have intermittent wipers

Post by **Dubstar** » 02 Oct 2006, 11:18

Strange. Both my rear lights had the bulb holder in the backplate and a hole in the lens for the bulb to go in. The only thing missing was the wire to the bulb position and the spring to hold the bulb in place, hence I put the wire in directly behind the bulb, and spring loaded it myself. Did both sides too, and then wired up one of those aftermarket switches that lights up. I did it all through a relay which I put in the the fuse box where the foglight relay should be. Had to pinch the one off my leisure battery cicuit, but seeing as the batterys dead, I'll get another when I get a new battery.