How To: Rear Fog Light in Taillights
#1
How To: Rear Fog Light in Taillights
Hi,
since i also got alot of help here i decided to make a little writeup how to convert your oem taillight/brakelight combination to a taillight/brakelight/foglight combination. Generally only the eu-Spec FD's got a rear fog light, but what to do if you import a jdm or usdm fd? You have to apply a rear foglight to legalize your car...
There have been discussed a lot of solutions, for example:
What you have to do:
wire colors (kouki fd 99'):
green: brakelight
brown: taillight
black: ground
--> finished, now you got a symmetric rear fog light and all the other functionality is still given. I hope that helps some of the european fd owners here.
greetings
ica
since i also got alot of help here i decided to make a little writeup how to convert your oem taillight/brakelight combination to a taillight/brakelight/foglight combination. Generally only the eu-Spec FD's got a rear fog light, but what to do if you import a jdm or usdm fd? You have to apply a rear foglight to legalize your car...
There have been discussed a lot of solutions, for example:
- place a new lamp on the bumper
- convert one of the reverse lights
- It works only when you turn on the lights
- if the rear fog light is off, you still have 4 brakelights/4 taillights
- if the rear fog light is on, you have 2 foglights and 2 brakelights/2 taillights
- the foglights can be switched on in the center concole
What you have to do:
- run 2 wires from the center console to the trunk
- therefor release the center console and take out the rear seats
- run a wire under the carpet to the trunk
- apply a switch in the center console and put the wires on(there's an oem one available)
- take out the taillights (the center section first just to be sure not to damage the outer taillights)
- buy 2 diodes (i used 3A 40V) and change the taillight harness the following way (changes in blue color)
- put everything back together
wire colors (kouki fd 99'):
green: brakelight
brown: taillight
black: ground
--> finished, now you got a symmetric rear fog light and all the other functionality is still given. I hope that helps some of the european fd owners here.
greetings
ica
#2
Urban Combat Vet
iTrader: (16)
Appreciate the motivation, but the reason only Euro-spec cars received rear fogs is because (w/the exception of small indirect license plate lights) white/clear lights visible to the rear while the car is in motion forward are illegal in my State....and I suspect in all others. Your modification would cost about $80 if cited where I live.
#3
RX-7 Bad Ass
iTrader: (55)
Great info and a clever idea!
Just FYI for others reading this thread -
This is NOT a good idea on a US spec car. This is to meet a European standard for a rear mounted foglight which is required by law. It's basically one or more bright red lights on the back so the car is clearly visible in the fog to a car approaching quickly from the rear.
This just simply puts 2 of the taillight bulbs into permanent "brake light on" mode, which is when they're lit the brightest. So, 2 of the bulbs will be brightly lit all the time, the others will all function as normal.
In the US, your car would look broken with this setup . In Europe, they'd know you had it on for a foggy day. And, I believe you have to demonstrate a functional rear fog light to get the car registered and on the road.
Dale
Just FYI for others reading this thread -
This is NOT a good idea on a US spec car. This is to meet a European standard for a rear mounted foglight which is required by law. It's basically one or more bright red lights on the back so the car is clearly visible in the fog to a car approaching quickly from the rear.
This just simply puts 2 of the taillight bulbs into permanent "brake light on" mode, which is when they're lit the brightest. So, 2 of the bulbs will be brightly lit all the time, the others will all function as normal.
In the US, your car would look broken with this setup . In Europe, they'd know you had it on for a foggy day. And, I believe you have to demonstrate a functional rear fog light to get the car registered and on the road.
Dale
#5
Non Runner
iTrader: (3)
In the UK, a fog light has to be a minimum of 100mm from a brake/side light to be legal. They also require an interior warning light to be lit when the fog light is on.
Source: http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si1989/Uks...1796_en_16.htm
That being said....Mine wasn't even checked when it went in for its test......I was almost disappoint haha
For mine, I just stuck a red bulb in my right reversing light housing & rewired it to an oem front fog switch
Old interior pic of my warning light:
Source: http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si1989/Uks...1796_en_16.htm
That being said....Mine wasn't even checked when it went in for its test......I was almost disappoint haha
For mine, I just stuck a red bulb in my right reversing light housing & rewired it to an oem front fog switch
Old interior pic of my warning light:
#7
I won't let go
Eh...
Personally, after looking at the reverse light assembly, it may be somewhat easy to pop the rear plastic out and add a lamp. Plenty of room. But that's just me if I were to do it.