Rear fog light mod

[exsailor]

I was wondering if it would be possible/feasible to modify the rear lights on the GT hatch.
What I would like to do is have the 2 rear lights either side of the license plate come on at stoplight brightness when I turn on my fog lights. This way I would have fogs front and rear.
Perhaps our guru SPB has some thoughts on this? :D

[southpawboston]

the only difficult part about that would be running a wire from the dash to the back of the car, up the D-pillar and out the roof where the factory conduit comes out, then down the hatch (haha, a pun). then the rest is pretty easy. the bulbs are already there and are dual-filament bulbs with the bright filament (stoplight brightness) unused. just needs to have a wire run to it. this is a one-wire mod, if you can believe it.

[slow 2K2GT]

why would you do this? Is it to get pulled over, because im sure it will work.

[southpawboston]

it depends on the lens. if the lens is designed as a fog lamp lens (a focused beam of red light to be seen through fog, aimed slightly down) as opposed to a brake lamp lens (broad, diffuse beam of red light, not particularly aimed) then it should be okay. i see german cars on US highways all the time with rear fog lights on.

i'm not certain, but i think the GT's "spare" lighta have fog light lenses. i hooked mine up as extra brake lights, and one day i was driving behind my wife at night and noticed they put out a pretty focused beam.

[exsailor]

Thanks SPB - I will have to think about it :D

slow_2k2gt - I only use my fog lights in dense fog (which is nearly all summer here on the Bay of Fundy LOL) and the bright lights would also be diffused by the fog. :rolleyes:

[slow 2K2GT]

Oh ok thanks, learn something new each day.

[TNT4ME]

The euro ones and I believe the aussi ones already have this as a factory item. I also think I remember seeing the fuse slot for this in the engine bay, but don't hold me to that. So there must be a way to do this and make it look factory.....

[beckett]

I dont understand what it would look like, does anyone have a pic, or maybe a photoshop could be done.

Thanks

[southpawboston]

The euro ones and I believe the aussi ones already have this as a factory item. I also think I remember seeing the fuse slot for this in the engine bay, but don't hold me to that. So there must be a way to do this and make it look factory.....

well i can tell you for a fact that the wiring is not there. a wire would have to be run from the dash all the way into the hatch. i just hooked up the unused filaments to the third brake light so i didn't have to run any wires into the car. so now my car has five brakelights :).

[kylemorg]

SPB is right -- the socket is a dual-filament type, but the bright-side wiring is cut off at the socket.

BTW, I have both filaments on at all times on mine. I put a washer in the bulb socket to shunt the power to both filament contacts so it keeps both filaments lit all the time when the lights are on. They're fairly bright, I'd say 80% of the brightness of the brake lights, but not obnoxious.

[southpawboston]

to shunt the power

great word! lol...

[DubyaO]

I can say this is very helpful when backing up. My Boxter S had this and it made life easier at night.

[getfuzzd]

http://elantragtclub.tripod.com/elantra/id472.html

alot of DIY's here

[kylemorg]

This morning when I had the back of the car facing the garage door with the rear fog lights on, I found that they are pretty focused -- they're much more focused than the normal brake/tail lights.

I wonder if I'm annoying people with my bright rear fog lights when they tailgate me; Gee... I hope so!

[ElantraFX]

Yeah they are on aus spec cars, its a much brighter light, i'd wire it to a relay controled by a switch. By doing that you wont inadventently blind other drivers.

[sportiva]

I have a Hatchback GLS, and have considered this too. I don't have the car's wiring diagram, but I would bet that there is no wire connecting the regular tail lights to the center hatch tail lights through the same harness that feeds the high-mount brake light.

I am thinking that instead of running another wire to the unused high power bulb filaments, I would disconnect the existing low-power filaments wires and trace them to the point they connect to under the dashboard. I would then disconnect them and connect them to the fog light circuit, swithing the socket connection in the back from the tail light filament to the unused high power filament.
I know, doing this would disable the center tail lights, but I think they are totally unnecessary in the stock set-up.

Does anyone have a wiring diagram and confirm the existing routing of the center tail lights?

Thanks,

Val Barone

[southpawboston]

sportiva, the hatch tails do splice into the main tails harness at a joint connector under the driver's side dash. so you could re-utilize that wire from the hatch tails and hook up a fog switch w/out having to run all new wiring back to the hatch. all this info is on webtech, you jsut have to search around under the ETM (electrical troubleshooting manual) tab under webtech.


EDIT: oh what the heck, here are the links you need:

http://hmaservice.com/xml/graphics/E2/E2KF339C.svg

notice the hatch tails run up to joint connector M45, yellow wire, pin#19.

http://hmaservice.com/xml/graphics/E5/E5KF303C.gif

notice where M45 is located.

http://hmaservice.com/xml/graphics/EL/ELANTRA_C54.gif

pin layout for M45.

it's all there, and it's all free. i can't encourage people enough to learn how to use webtech!

[sportiva]

Thanks, SPB. It's just as I thought. As far as using Webtech, I have tried, but there is nothing on the screen that lets you search for information, as far as I can see. Webtech Pro, on the other hand, is available only to dealers with the necessary log-in screen provided.
What am I missing?

VB

[SuperGLS]

There is a search on the regular WebTech. Click SEARCH in the top right corner next to CONTENTS. Then a search bar pops up on the left. Good luck.

[vsolo]

I went to do this mod & ended up doing something completely different. :rolleyes: I saw the cut off wire, I pryed off the rubber seal & realized & could that the contact out (the 28 watt one) & add some wire right at the contact & was going to hook it up to my brakes. then I got looking if I can take out the contact, I could move (8 watt contact to the 28 watt contact) {in the mean time I misplaced the contacts with the cut wire} :hand:

I was a little concerend with the 28 wattts over the 8 watts, sooo I decided to replace the light bulbs with a 1157 LED bulb. :cool:
In the 1st pic you can see the 28 watt set up on the left & the 8 watt on the right (on the LED only 6 of the LED light up for the 8 watt). :thumbsup:
I used a jewelers common screwdriver (middle pic) to take out the rubber gasket & to get the contacts out & swapped. the contacts are numbered 1 (is the 8 watt) and 2 (is the 28 watt) on the back on the connector.
After I was done I took a picture, I think it looks better than the picture, it is really bright.

Take that tailgaters :diablo:

[A&F 01 GLS]

how can you use those LEDs on ur set up or did u just rig it up w/ some wires and half-assed mount it. I was thinkin about buyin a couple of those LED lights but the end is really weird.

[vsolo]

I got premade 1157 Red LED's (you know the ones that say "for Off Road Use Only") from Advanced Auto Parts , They were 6.96 each. they just plug & light, you can see the difference with the number of LEDS that were lit in the 1st pic.
I don't half *** anything, it just takes me longer to get things done right :D

[SuperGLS]

Good stuff. That's just like was SPB has done if I'm not mistaken.

[saturn]

I've thought about doing this, also considered the law... my friend's audi only has one of the "extra lights" lit up at a time when the fog is enabled... I don't know if this is the law, but I always thought it made his car look like one of the bulbs is out.

[Doohickie]

I have it hooked up on my Elantra, both sides. It is switchable separately from the other fog lights... the logic is like this:

To turn on the front fog lights, the engine has to be on (no headlight interlock). I got a blinker/headlight switch from an XG350 that has the fog light switch built in.

To turn on the rear fogs, the front fogs need to be on, as well as the headlights. The switch from the XG350 has the AUTO light position; I wired the AUTO position to turn on the headlights, marker lights and rear fogs (but the rear fogs only come on if the front fogs are already on).

My feeling is that the front fogs are functional in bad visibility conditions, but they're also kind of "bling"; sometimes I turn them on just for the look. The rear fogs, though, I only use for bad visibility/bad weather.