Foglight Switch Issue

[storm_detonation]

Hi Guys

A while ago the bulb in my foglight switch went so it was not lighting up at night when the park lights/headlights were on. Being the way I am this annoyed me to the point where I decided to replace it.

I took the vent assembly out that it is attached to, disconnected the plugs for the foglight switch and the mirror controls, unscrewed the two screws holding in the switch and then took the switch apart. I then took the old bulb off and carefully soldered an LED along with a resistor on the positive connection onto the contacts of the switch and then put it back together and then reversed the removal process to reinstall it. I then tested it and the foglights were working like normal.

The other night I was playing around and noticed the foglights weren't working, or so it seemed. What is actually happening is that the foglight switch turns on the park lights now... If no other lights are on and you activate the switch the park lights come on, if the park lights are already on it does nothing but either way it also still lights up all of the dash switches.

WTF has happened?

 

[VOLK]

Foglight switch alone turns both fogs and park lamps on in mine. Stock switch, unmodified. I assume this is the default behaviour.

 

[trotty]

Mine is the same as volks. Fogs come on with parkers from that switch. But can turn just parkers on from stalk.

 

[CANDEE]

I would just replace the switch with a new one, just my 2c.

Also there is a mod that you can do that allows you to leave the spots turned on and be controlled by the stalk..

 

[Gt_Galant]

I have a 7th Gen galant and its like VOLK and Trotty's car, if i turn on my fog lights the park lamps turn on as well, pretty sure that's normal.

 

[storm_detonation]

Ok here's how it stands now and also something I just remembered.

The day before I noticed this issue I noticed my battery was low and then when I went to run the car it started but all of the settings had been reset to default on my stereo...

The foglights don't come on at all now, if I press the foglight switch the park lights come on and the dash lights up but there is no foglight symbol showing up on the instrument cluster like it used to. Also before I could switch the foglights on independently of the other lights, the park lights didn't come on unless I used the stalk. When the foglight switch is on now if I open the door there is no warning chime letting me know that lights have been left on like there was before.

Have I seriously stuffed something here with my tinkering?

 

[sideburns]

Check all your fuses under the dash you could of just blown a fuse for the fog Light power is more than likely something simple

Do you know if the switch worked before you bought it?

 

[storm_detonation]

Ok cool, will check the fuses tomorrow when I get a chance.

Yeah the switch worked before I bought it and it has worked without an issue over the last nearly two and a half years.

 

[vr4cobra]

do ur dash lights come on when u turn the parkers on? If not check one of the light fuses in engine bay mine did the same thing but didn't notice dash lights till night thanks to my hi-vis dash ended up being 1 of them

 

[Lasiorhinus]

I'm just about to replace my foglight switch, since my last one fell off the other day.

What's the easiest way to get the old switch out? I don't have the wrist dexterity of a gibbon, so it's difficult reaching up above the fuse box.

 

[storm_detonation]

Ok guys, got a bit of an update on my issue. I took the switch out and when I put the white plastic bit with the copper contacts in it on where it would be when the switch is all together and move it down the foglights work and the indicator comes on on the instrument cluster! So nothing electrical is stuffed, all the fuses are ok too, it just seems to be the physical range of motion that the white bit has that is restricted. This even seems to be the case after having taking the LED and resister off so there is just the two contacts there... I'm guessing it might be time to buy a whole new unit...

 

[pretzil]

Not quite related to this issue, but saves starting a new thread.

Has anyone been able to wire the switch so that only the fog lights come on but not the parkers?

I stuffed around with the wiring tonight, used a multimeter to test out every wire coming out of the switch, even snipped a few wires, but I can't for the life of me understand how it all works...

Thanks.

 

[Lasiorhinus]

Remove the bulbs from your parkers.

 

[craig]

Has anyone been able to wire the switch so that only the fog lights come on but not the parkers?

It has been a while since I looked at the fog light wiring, but I thought the park lights were powered from the front fog light relay and not the switch.

 

[pretzil]

Ah, yeah that's how it is looking ay, kinda stuffs up my plans, I wanted to re purpose the fog light switch to control the thermo fans...
I guess I will just have to let the parkers come on at the same time.