DIY: Fog Light Hard Wire in less than 10 Minutes! W/Headlight integration!
 

First off I want to give credit to spearfish25 for his write up on using the stock wiring to power the fog light. This is how i was able to make this happen in 10 mins from start to finish. (the wiring not light install)

these are all the tools you'll need.

This install is for folks that want the fog light to come on whenever you turn your parking lights or headlights on. You can modify my instructions to add an inline switch in one of the dummy switches next to the cup holder if you choose. I chose not to at this time because I have my sub control in the center dummy switch.

So first off I didnt want to have to run all new wiring from the front of the car to the back, through the gromett, to the fog light in order to have a switch. I also like the idea of using OEM plugs if i can just because...well because.

I have the 40th with the heated seat package but you may be able to this with other non-heated seat models.

I took apart the fog light per another DIY in this forum and found that others had issue with the bolt not coming off because of so much lock-tite. One came off without a problem but the other got stuck. What i did was just got a socket on the front of the a drill and a flat screwdriver and let the nut spin. Using the screwdriver as a wedge I was able to spin the nut off by the heat from the friction of the drill spinning the nut. BEST way to get it off without frustration. I installed the fog light in the reverse order of the DIY and plugged in the OEM plug as show below.


The next thing you have to do is take of the long trip on the door jam below. Place you fingers under the bottom edge and pull straight up.

Next take the corner kick panel off. Use a panel pulling tool to gently pry it out.

You will now expose the BCM. you want to look for the ORANGE single wire at the top left of the BCM

This is the one wire that gives power through the OEM fog light plug and does nothing else. Now here is the scary part. You need to cut this wire and strip wire opposite of the white wire block
I used about 6 feet of 14 gauge wire and heat shrunk it to the orange wire

Next all you need to do is take side knee pad off and run your wire through the center console. Pull up on the cup holder to expose the wire blocks connected to the heated seat switchs.

Now here is where the magic happens! On the brown wire block look for the RED wire. This is your switched wire that comes on with your parking lights.

I didnt want to do any cutting or splicing so decided to stuff the 14 gauge wire into the wire block. there is plenty of room in there.

I then taped it down so it wont come out and wire tied everything.

Thats it! put everything back together, you're done! Rep's Rock Hand em out if ya got em'!:tup:

great DIY!!! Although your video is set to private....

fixed!

Does it also brighten when the brakes are engaged?

You could have just spliced into the taillight or license plate lights

No it's just a steady light.

But then that would have been a 1+ hour DIY. Since you would have to take 2 rear panels out, rubber trim, the tail assembly out, make a ground, splice both lights and then put it all back together. Not a simple process.

Mine literally takes 10 mins. :D


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Stickied!! awesome thanks Admins :D

also the heated seats still work without issue :)

Good job!:tup:

Will i need to purchase the "basic connector" wiring harness to do this mod or just the Reverse Fog light and everything else is already there?

JDM Fairlady Z Reverse Fog Light

if the fog light is OEM you wont need to buy any additional connectors. The wiring harness is already installed in the car all you have to do is install the light and plug it in!

Cool, sub for future reference. Thanks!

It is not as simple as that,someone here figured it out and it is do able but it is some work.

yes it is as simple as that.

always gonna be haters. :rolleyes:


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Just installed my fog light. I had 0 issues getting those screws off that hold the fog light in. Just used a little blow torch and heated the nuts up for about 3-4 seconds to melt the loctite and boom comes off.

how did the rest of the wiring go for you?

EASY! Thanks for the DIY. Rep coming your way.

I also changed out the light bulb in the fog light to a 7443 bulb. That blub has a 25 watt and 5 watt filament. I just removed the 25 watt leads and moved the 5 watt over. It matches the rear lights much better! :happydance:

Nice man very cool! Was it a quick process to wire up with the DIY?

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Yes it was very quick thanks to your pics and instructions!

Solid

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Base & Nismo
 

Has anyone noticed if the base coupe and Nismo come with the lamp harness installed? I can see the Nismo not having it, but it seems to be missing in my base coupe- I guess I will need to add a harness back to the BCM or am I not looking hard enough for the harness under the bumper? I'd like to use the stock BCM method of turning the light on and I found a cool Nissan momentary switch from a Quest...

im fairly sure all come with the harness pre-installed since the cars are built the same just get added extras (i.e. sport package etc). Do you not see any wire at all under the bumper by the dummy fog light? look like the grey wire on the left below

http://www.the370z.com/attachments/d..._installed.jpg

mine does not have this harness on my 2009 base with sport.

i looked everywhere while i was under the rear bumper. no issue though, i just wired up my new lines.
imho, probably quicker just to wire new wires into the cabin anyway.

still confusing... i guess more tools are needed based on reading the instructions.

Thanks for the confirmation- no biggie- just driving me nuts!!!.

Mine is a sport as well. I think the Touring and later years must be equipped with the harness... I'll have to check for the orange wire at the BCM...

Rear Fog light ?
 

I don't get it? Isn't a rear fog light meant to be turned on when in reverse only?

No, the rear fog light is meant to be turned on when there is severe fog. Most cars in European or Eastern nations have a fog light system just for some reason Nissan decided that the US didn't need a fog light .

Isn't it a DOT thing? In line with the same regulations that define whats OK for newly manufactured vehicles sold in the US. Such as seatbelts past a certain year, headlights at a certain height, third brake light for newer than 1996 or whatever? Ive only ever seen one car here in the US with the fog light on (out of the cars here like our Z's that come with what is obviously intended as a fog light in other countries) but in a few short weeks in the EU I saw many. I think the one I saw on was "aftermarket" like some of us do to our Z's.

ive figured that when u hit the switch your underware gets brighter:eek:

This is all correct....DOT does not require cars to have integrated fog lights here in the U.S. I have a 2010 370 and I just installed the OEM light last night... No trouble with the nuts on the dummy or anything... Looks good.

I am curious if this works on the base coupe? I am hoping someone has a way to wire the light so that it will illuminate with the running lights and then illuminate brighter with the brake light. I am also curious if anyone has any LED bulb suggestions for the factory OEM unit.


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you would have to rewire it and use a dual filament bulb to get it to do what you're trying to do. its not too terribly hard to do also you would need to tap into the brake light and running tail light as well.

Interesting.....I pulled the cup holder as the OP shows and I do not have that brown connector. I guess I will be forced to tear out the trunk panels and wire it there....


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hello, i cant open the screw what i have to do?

wat do u mean? just drill through it if u cant undo da screw

For you rear fog light guys. Are you guys buying the rear fog light bracket too?

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I know this is an old thread but I wanted to say it's honestly the best and easiest way to wire the light.

Thanks man!

Just followed these instructions and gotta say thanks! Really was easy and I like the fact that it uses the weather sealed factory plug in the rear.

Is Cbtech still around? Wanted to see if there is a wiring diagram somewhere that shows this orange wire going to the rear fog lamp and what the red wire in the console is from...or goes to.
Where does one find a wiring diagram?
UPDATE: I found Cbtech; he does not recall where he found the wiring diagrams.

I have since did more searching and found that the orange wire out of the BCM is indeed the rear fog lamp positive source which is controlled by the BCM.
The red wire in the brown connector in the center console is the positive source for the climate controlled seat switch illumination. I assume if there are heated seats then the brown connectors (should be two) should be connected to the switches in the center console. As stated above, can still grab power from this connector for the rear fog lamp. Note that according to the wiring diagram, pin 7 is the one you want. Pin 8 also shows to be red, but would not have power on it (unless you have heated seats). Just do not put a high wattage bulb in the rear fog as the wiring may not support it.

I also was looking at trying to fool the BCM to turn on the power to the orange wire whenever the head & tail lights were commanded on, but just would not work. I did see how one could add a Rear Fog Lamp switch and have the BCM turn power on to the orange wire...but that requires adding a switch somewhere and tapping into the headlight/wiper/turn signal combination switch wiring, either at the BCM or in the steering column....which another person already detailed-out how to to do so.

And just because I would not let this go and have too much time on my hands......

I went looking for a 370Z combination switch (headlight/wiper) that had the rear fog light switch; found several of them...all in Spain....all with too high a $$$ cost for me.

So I stated looking for a combo switch from another Nissan vehicle...cause surely Nissan would use the same combo switch across all of their models....right??....

Well....wrong!

I looked at all the FSM at nicoclub for all the models, comparing combo switch designs, to find that the 370Z is unique. The BCM's combo switch logic is opposite to all other models in that in the 370Z the output signals are normally at a logic high, with a pulse to logic low....all others are normally logic low with a pulse to logic high. So the diodes within the Z's combo switch are reversed to those of all other models.

Bottom line....combo switches from other models will not work, only the 25560-1EA0C combo switch.

And one more thing.....the red wire in the brown connector for the rear fog light power source....that is a 24 AWG wire, suggest using the red wires from both the brown and white connectors to split the current draw between the two red wires.

Just connect the orange wire from the BCM to both red wires under the cup holder.

What I did was to remove the terminals from the connector bodies, then used the additional wire from the orange wire to tie the two reds together, then used heat shrink to hold everything in place. This way I can go back to OEM should I ever need to.

Getting the terminals out of the connector bodies is a bit tricky....PM me and I will attempt to explain how.