Fog Lights Out

[mcaffrey55]

I bought a 98 sahara equipped with factory fogs and center mounted Hella 500s. When i bought it, the passenger side fogs (1 factory and 1 Hella) were both out. I bought new bulbs, but went to install them and both looked fine. I replaced one and there was still no light.

I looked for a fuse, but the only one I found was in the glove box, and I know thats not big enough for all 4 fogs.

I also looked in the fuse box under the hood, thinking they wired them thru there...(I had Hella 500s on my 82 Volvo, and the kit came with a fuse box of its own -- the little vial type fuses -- and I looked for one of those but didn't see anything)

Any Idea what the issue is? Maybe wiring? Any suggestions?

[Spicoli]

I couldnt imagine that you fogz and hellaz were wired together, but you should make sure since it was once someone elses Jeep (can they be turned on and off independant of eachother). If they are wired together, there's gotta be a relay that came on the wiring harness, and there should be a fuse in that relay. I think the hella harness is designed to have the relay mounted to the firewall. But, to be honest with you, I don't see there being a seperate relay for each side.
That being said, my first guess would be a wiring issue.

[mcaffrey55]

The switch turns on one factory fog and one hella. My guess would be they're all wired together. I don't see another switch anywhere. If they were wired separately, I would have thought the previous owner would have the hellas wired together, and the factory fogs together.

I looked on the firewall, but didn't see a relay box. I'll have to look harder, but i'm almost positive there isn't one. Any other ideas??

[Spicoli]

I think you may have a mess on your hands. The install of the Hellas was not designed to be associated with the fogs. It may be that someone had taken it upon themselves to rig it in such a way that they're are now wired together (witch is pretty st-st-stoopid when you take into consideration the specific purposes of each type of light).
Only suggestion I have is to go back to Hella for a wiring diagram and set of installation instructions for the type of lights you have. Once you have those in-hand, reverse engineer whatever it was that someone was trying to do. In the end, the hellas should be wired to the highbeams. Once you have straightened that out, you'll prolly fix the fog problem in the process.
I think I know what it was they were trying to do......i didnt like the way Hellas had the setup of the lights either. They have them setup to work with an on/off switch and the highbeams. Switch on, you hit the highbeams, your Hellas come on. Since I'm not the most proficient in automotive wiring, I had a friend wire them up to work on the on/off switch alone, no highbeams required.

[fredjacksonsan]

Since they're out on one side, I'd suspect there's a problem with the wiring for that side, and trace it back under the vehicle.

[mcaffrey55]

I am going to attempt to rewire it all. I'm not quite sure how to get the dash off. Does it pop off, or is there a screw somewhere? I have a tendancy to break plastic (too impatient.) so i'd love to know.. Thanks everyone for all your help.

[fredjacksonsan]

Sorry, I break things under the dash, too so don't have any help for you there....

[Spicoli]

I'm not condoning pirating of any kind, but then again, i'm not too sure if this qualifies:
Got on ebay, and search "wrangler service manual".
I got a Chrysler service manual on CD for like 10 bucks. Worth every single GD penny. It's normally a $60-70 book. And it tells you everything a Jeep service technician knows. It's year specific too.

[JEEP1997]

I have a 1997 Service Manual on hand that I just purchased. Supposedly, all the updates are included. It's late at the moment but will be available all of Sunday. I'm usually pretty good with reading and fixing wiring problems, not perfect though...... email me at [email protected] ... Kevin -- I'll even speak to you over the phone ....