Both fog lights stopped working sometime in the past month. The car is a 1989 325iX with the fog lights integrated in the front panel below the bumper. The interior switch illuminates green, the fuses are OK, and the bulbs are OK. When I test the sockets with a circuit tester, it does not work. Is there another fuse or relay involved? The Bentley manual only explains how to replace the bulbs, and that the fuses are #29 and #30. Any advice is appreciated!
Check the wiring diagrams, I think lighting circuits are in the final Bentley section - I'm gonna guess a relay issue, unless the wiring to the fog housings are bad. Only a guess, though.
Old wiring. Guys, on cars this age, it's quite common for the wiring to be bad right at, or very near (within about an inch) of the connectors out at the lamps. On almost every E28 I've had, I've had to reconnect these because the corrosion had gotten them. Once you find one bad one, it's safe to assume they're all in similar condition so, if you're fixing one, fix them all. The good news is, you hardly ever need to use your fog lamps, do you?
Thanks for the input. I found the relay - K8, next to the fuses 29 and 30 - after closer examination of the Bentley manual. And, yes, I use the fog lights often. The ellipsoid low beams are not all that good, so the fog lights make a big difference - (I have 56 year old eyes). The high beams are great, however. I'll be getting a new relay, and I'm sure that will do it, since I'm a lucky one with a fairly rust free car and the wiring is clean. Thanks again!
BCWeir mentions these in a prior post; I think they sound like an interesting upgrade to try - apparently the tabs need some minor modification to fit cars - If your ellipsoids use 9005 or 9006 bulbs. http://hirheadlights.com/ http://shnu.us/HIR Trimming Stock.htm http://www.8thcivic.com/forums/lighting-h-i-d-s-neon/25565-hir-bulbs.html#post463050 Search the JD parts website (left side of the page, down slightly) for JD part # AH211917 https://jdparts.deere.com/servlet/com.deere.u90.jdparts.view.publicservlets.HomeUnsigned
I have 50+ year old eyes & and an E30 "The ellipsoid low beams are not all that good, so the fog lights make a big difference - (I have 56 year old eyes). The high beams are great, however." I think the boys are being especially tactful today. The ellipsoids don't seem to satisfy my rods and cones either. But............I live in an area where the roads are narrow, winding, dark, and have steep drop offs. When I meet someone on these roads who is augmenting their low beams with their FOGS on a clear night..............It makes me want to bust a bootleg turn, chase them down, and take a ball bat to their precious fog lights. So take a hint, and upgrade your low beams. After all, you might run in to some crazy old fart like myself in your area. WOW...... I didn't know I could come off so "crotchety"!
For 99% of the driving in this country fog lights are just aux lighting. There are few areas in this country that sees regular fog. (I know we will hear from the 1% ) I always run my fog lights, they do add benefit to lighting up the road. I am running Hella H4/H1 conversion in two of my e30s. (the third has Hella smoked euro ellipsoids, that suck by comparison, fyi the lenses are not smoked, just an illusion). I have only had issue with other peoples fogs lights that were after market and not adjusted properly. Factory fogs have never bothered me. What really gets me though are people in mostly toyotas/lexis/honda that run around at night with their stupid DRLs on b/c there dash is lit up like a christmas tree day and night and they can't realize their driving lights are off.
No they don't. At least not at speed. Read Daniel Stern on fogs. Thus you rationalize your own inappropriate use of them. What gets me is guys like you using fog lamps in traffic all the time.
That's the most clear and concise explanation I've ever seen of the how, when and why of fog lights. Nice find. Yup. 20 years ago, I was one of those guys. Then I learned and grew up.
