Front fogs not working

[JS2010]

Hi when I press the front fog light switch the light on the dashboard does not light up. I can hear the relay clicking.

If the relay is clicking, does this mean the fog switch is fine?

Does this mean the relay is fine too?

Would you simply replace the switch? Or the relay or both?

Thanks

JS

[Brianmoooore]

Would you simply replace the switch? Or the relay or both?

I wouldn't do either!
I'd pull out relay K8, use a piece of wire to link pin 30 to 87 of its socket, and see if the fog lights and tell tale light up.

[JS2010]

Would you simply replace the switch? Or the relay or both?

I wouldn't do either!
I'd pull out relay K8, use a piece of wire to link pin 30 to 87 of its socket, and see if the fog lights and tell tale light up.

Thanks Brian. I just tried this and nothing changed. No fog lights and no light on the dashboard. I put the relay back in and I can hear and feel it clicking when the fog light switch is pressed.

Do you think it could be a faulty fog light switch (£25)?

Many Thanks for helping.

[Brianmoooore]

If nothing lit when you linked 30 to 87, then it's nothing to do with switch or relay.
Switches are always repairable anyway - just take apart, clean, a touch of silicon grease, and reassemble.
Pull out fuses 29 and 30, and connect a piece of wire from the battery + terminal to the outer socket of each fuse in turn. Fogs and tell tale should light up.

[JS2010]

If nothing lit when you linked 30 to 87, then it's nothing to do with switch or relay.
Switches are always repairable anyway - just take apart, clean, a touch of silicon grease, and reassemble.
Pull out fuses 29 and 30, and connect a piece of wire from the battery + terminal to the outer socket of each fuse in turn. Fogs and tell tale should light up.

Still nothing at all. No fog lights and no light on dashboard.

Could both bulbs go at the same time? And how can I test the bulbs are OK?

Could it be a fault in wiring from the fuse box to lights?

[Brianmoooore]

Very strange! Are you sure you did exactly as I said?
The wire to the tell tale separates from the wire to the LH foglight right at the outer terminal of fuse 29, so it would need a simultaneous failure of foglight and tell tale bulb for neither to light, not to mention the RH foglight not lighting either.
If the tell tale lit, but neither foglight did, then I'd look at the earthing point for them on the LH inner wing.

[JS2010]

It is very strange. I did exactly as you advised. The wire I used was a speaker wire which had lying around from maplin (brand new).

I had to run the wire from the battery at the back of the car to the front.

Maybe the dashboard light doesn't work and is confusing the issue. Not sure if this is connected but the service indicator doesn't work either.

I have a multimeter which might help if I knew how to use it. I think I will read about how to use it then have another look at it. Not sure what else to try.

[JS2010]

[Brianmoooore]

A 12 volt 5W or 21W bulb connected to a couple of bits of wire is a far better fault finding tool than a multimeter, which can give very misleading results. I use a bulb and holder from an E30 wing indicator repeater, with the plug cut off.
Find yourself a bulb, turn on everything that needs to be on for the foglights to be on, remove fuses 29 and 30, then connect a piece of wire from the INNER socket of each fuse holder to the outer of your bulbs base, and touch the centre pin of the bulb against a good body earth (= rear bonnet bracket). The bulb should light.

[JS2010]

Result.

Thank you Brian.

I did as you said above. I made a test bulb from wire and Lego. The bulb lit when I connected it to the inner fuse sockets.

I then took out the front fog light and connected my test bulb to the two wires which lead to the lights. And it lit. Hooray.

I then checked the bulbs and they look blown. I will order some now. Although the dashboard light never lit at all at any stage. I learnt loads. Thanks again Brian.

[JS2010]

Any recommendations on front fog light bulbs anyone? And where the best place is to get them from?

[Brianmoooore]

Bulb is just a standard 55W H3. Readily available from loads of places.
The instructions that come with it will say not to touch the 'glass' with your fingers. This is essential, not just a recommendation.

[JS2010]

UPADTE: bulbs installed and both front fog lights now work.

Does anybody have any ideas why the light on the dashboard still doesn't work. The rear fog light dashboard light still works. Also the service indicators lights don't work either, not sure if this is related or not.

Am I missing something obvious? Any ideas where I might start on this?

[Sanchez]

Bulb on the dash could be dead.

[JS2010]

Bulb on the dash could be dead.

is it easy to get access to this bulb to check it?

[Cloggy Saint]

It'll mean removing the cluster, which is fairly straight forward.

[Brianmoooore]

It is just about possible to remove the bulb holder from underneath without removing the cluster, but it's not easy.
If you have other cluster issues, then it'll be best to remove it and sort them out as well - replace any blackened bulbs, check SI board batteries (place in freezer for ten minutes first), check soldering for large resistor near temp. gauge, and check tightness of both small brass nuts on the back of the case.

[Cloggy Saint]

Plus it'll be a good chance to remove that annoying speck that somehow got into the cluster.

[ChrisHC]

Also the service indicators lights don't work either, not sure if this is related or not.

As per the wiki, that is usually caused by faulty SI batteries. See Brianmoore's post just above. http://www.e30zone.net/e30zonewiki/inde ... ash_Lights