Rewiring the Fog Lights

Rewiring the Fog Lights
Paradise Garage

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One of the more annoying quirks about Fords is that the fog lights are integrally controlled with the headlights. You cannot run fog lights with parking lights -- a feature useful, say in the fog!! It's also useful at the dragstrip, where it's much cooler to run fog lights than headlights.

Okay, so it's cosmetic. It's still important.

But fear not! It is easy to make Fords conform with the rest of the universe. We'll show you how, with our oft-visiting 1995 Ford Mustang GT as a testbed.

First and foremost, disconnect your battery. You run the risk of hitting a hot wire or frying the computer.

Take the bin out of the center console. This is accomplished by pulling out the two little rubber thingys by the cupholder and removing the screws beneath. Gently pry out the assembly with a flathead screwdriver.

Remove the fog light switch on the center console by pushing up from underneath.

Here's a look at the rat's nest of wiring caused by splicing into the convertible harness.

Find the convertible wire harness. You've got one even if you don't have a convertible. It's located inside the console, across from the handbrake, attached to the inside driver's side wall.

Pull the convertible harness through the fog light switch hole.

From the top of the convertible harness, push out the purple/orange wire.

Clip the connector off the wire. NOTE: if you actually have a convertible, splice into the wire, don't cut it off!

Cut the red/black wire on the fog light switch.

Cap or tape off the end of the red/black wire going to the car.

Connect the red/black wire from the fog light switch to the purple/orange wire from the convertible harness. You can either connect them directly, or you can run a wire between them. It's better to run a wire, so that you can put the convertible harness back where it belongs.

You're done! Put everything back together. This is one of the rare occasions where it really is the reverse of disassembly.

It's great! Now you can turn on your fog lights by themselves, with parking lights, or with headlights -- low or high beam! Yet, you can't accidentally leave them on; they're switched to the ACC power. We wired in a fan relay switch at the same time, and they work great together. Read about Installing a Fan Relay.