Escort Fog Lights

[chrisanthony]

Hi

I'm wondering if theres a way to install fog lights on my 96 escort lx. If there is how would i go about doing that? and how would i wire them?

Thanks Chris

[AzTumbleweed]

Buy a set of fog lights and follow the instructions.

[denisond3]

If you are adding the fog lights because your headlamps arent beaming the way they should - getting a pair of new headlamps would make a dramatic difference in nightime driving. Even polishing the old ones will help to some degree - but you cant polish the inside. The interior reflecting surfaces are somewhat dimmed with age, and the plastic of the front lens is not as clear as it once was.

[chrisanthony]

Hi

Yea i'm planning on getting a used pair of fog lights, so it doesnt have instructions. My headlights are fine, I sanded and polished them last summer. Reason is my area is really dark and gets foggy at times.

[AzTumbleweed]

I've had fog lights and never thought it was really that much better. For nice clear nights I bought some 50watt off-road lights at Wal-Mart then installed 100watt Halogen bulbs in them. They really light up the road at night.

[denisond3]

If your fog lights use 50 watt bulbs, that would be about 10 amperes of current for the pair of them. The wires you use would need to be heavy enough to carry the that current without getting warm, such as #12 wire. This would be for the ground wires as well as the wires supplying the 12 volts to the units.
Though it may be some extra trouble, I would get a relay to handle the actual current to the lights, with a lightweight control wire (like #18 or even smaller) for you to switch them on. One of the hard parts of adding such wiring to a car, is finding a good place to bring wires through the firewall. On my 94 Escort there is a hole beside the brake booster & a little above it, toward the center of the firewall. Using a relay located under the hood would eliminate the need to bring the heavy wires through the firewall, and eliminate the possibility of it shorting out on a sharp metal edge someday.
I have bought such relays on ebay; 30 amp 12 volt relays. Such as item # 400001186805. I like to wire the relays up so one side of its internal coil is connected to the wires going to the headlights. Then the other wire from the internal coil just has to be grounded; using whatever switch you install on the dashboard. The advantage to this is that the fog lights will go off when you turn the headlights off, even if you leave the fog lamp switch in the -on- position.
Good Luck

[AzTumbleweed]

Right you are Denisond3. I have it running through a relay. It's actually a Chrysler headlight relay. Seems to work OK. The power comes straight off the battery. The wire that actuates the relay comes off the hi-beam circuit. So when I flip to hi-beam that circuit actuates the relay and my driving lights. I have a switch to deactivate it if I don't want to use them. I've never had any problem with this setup but now that you mention it maybe I should check out the wire going from the battery to the relay. The power for both lights goes through it and it's really not too thick. I have a 30A circuit breaker at the battery connection just in case.

[zzyzzx2]

Bah humbug, find an Escot GT that already ahs the foglights and plug and play. There is even a blank spot on the dash for the fog light switch.

[chrisanthony]

Originally Posted by zzyzzx2

Bah humbug, find an Escot GT that already ahs the foglights and plug and play. There is even a blank spot on the dash for the fog light switch.

Yea i tried that, its hard to find escort gts here, even checked the junk yard..its all Lx's