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How To: Fog Light Wiring

Posted: Sat Oct 22, 2016 11:33 pm
by smwalker
So this will be just a general guide on how to install a fog light relay harness and bulb harness for the 2011-2013 Caprice (2014 + fuse boxes are different I believe but all the rest should apply). I plan on making the bulb harnesses so we do not have to buy the ones from AU but this guide should work if you choose to buy the AU bulb harness.

So lets define the two harnesses first:

Bulb Harness - This is the harness that attaches to the bulbs and runs along with the harness that is currently in our bumpers for the side marker lights in the bumpers. This harness then terminates at connector X108 that is located under the right headlight capsule.

The bulb harness from AU is Holden part number 92238667 and can be had for about $30 plus shipping from AU. I have recreated it except for the cool connectors at the bulbs, those seem to be some kind of special Delphi Product. I am only able to get the standard Delphi 9005 bulb connectors. Still good just not like the original. You would not need this harness if you went with an aftermarket Relay harness as they would have the wires going all the way to the bulbs. But if you want to connect into the factory plug at X108 then the Holden or my product is the way to go.

Relay Harness - This is the harness that somehow gets power and ground down to connector X108 for the front bumper.

Discussing the Relay Harness. There is no GM or Holden part to buy for this as wiring for this option would have existed in the main harnesses and the relay would have plugged into the under hood fuse box and it would have had a fuse to protect the circuit. So we have to recreate this harness on our own.

One way you can accomplish this is with an aftermarket universal harness that has a relay, fuse, switch and would go all the way to the 9005 bulbs. I have seen these on ebay for $10-20. They are fine to use and modify as you need to make work. Shortcomings look to include an unsealed relay so try and find a good dry spot for it to prevent corrosion.

I have come up with a solution that uses a factory relay (sealed) similar to the ones we have for our cooling fans (Hella). And uses all the correct terminals to hook up to the factory fuse box and interface with connector X108 so the install will look as close to factory as we can get. Only one splice is required to trigger the relay from the side marker lamps wire. This way the fogs can only be on with at least the parking lights and will turn off with the rest of the lights.

So lets get started!

Tools Needed
Wire strippers
Standard connector crimping tool
10mm Socket and rachet with 6-8 inch extenion
7mm socket
13mm wrench
Small screwdriver
Long thin pick
Hanger to bend into a hook
Wire snake - or tape measure
T20 Torx
T40 Torx
Lighter or heat gun


Front End Preperation - Remove Front Bumper, Unplug X108, Remove Right Headlamp
(Optional Step) Jack up front of car, put er on stands and remove front tires.
(Optional Step) Remove right front fender liner
These first two steps will give you access to unplug and plug in X108 and make taking off the bumper easier. But can be done without them. Just ain't easy.
1. If tires still installed turn wheel all the way to the left.
2. Remove the two T20 Torx screws going through the fender liner and into the bumper on each side of the vehicle.
3. Pull fender liner back and unscrew (but do not remove) the two 10mm bolts you see going through the top edge of the bumper and into the fender on each side of the vehicle. The heads on these are slotted to come out of the slots they are in when you pull things loose later
4. Remove the four 7mm screws along the bottom front of the bumper.
5. Remove the 4 plastic rivets along the top center of the bumper
6. The bumper is now loose so go to one side and try to separate it from the fender. If it is not moving you may need to loosen the 10mm bolts a bit more to create a larger gap between the bumper and fender. There is a pin in there that lines them up, you need to get a big enough gap to clear that pin.
7. Once separated from the fender slots give it a yank to unhook the tabs under the headlights that may still be holding it.
8. Realize now may be a good time to have an extra set of hands and yell for your spouce/neighbor to hold one end of the bumper for you while you go to the other end and get it loose.
9. If you have not already done so disconnect the connector X108. Follow the bumper harness wires to the area under the headlight it should be up in there. The bumper will have to be loose and you may have to move the fender liner out of the way to get you hand up in there to disconnect. Curse at me because I should not have made those first two steps optional.
10. Place bumper on something soft to protect the paint.

11.Remove bumper bracket - Under the front of the right headlamp there is a bracket that the bumper slots into, remove that to get to the headlamp screws, it's 2 10mm bolts

12. In either order remove the headlamp capsule and unplug the wiring connector. 4 10mm bolts to remove it (2 lower ones are a bit hidden). Pull up on the red tab on the connector to help remove the plug.


Underhood Preparation - Remove Fuse Block, relocate cooling fan relays

To make some room for our work it's easier to relocate temporarily the harness for the cooling fan relays.
1. Remove the two T40 torx screws for the two cooling fan relays (blue Circled)
2. Disconnect the cooling fan connector (blue Circle)
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3. Pull harness and relays out of the way near fender

Next we will remove the top of the fuse block. (car cannot be moved while this part is off so prepare)
1. Loosen the 13mm Nut holding the main battery terminal on to the fuse block. (Orange Arrow)
2. Remove the battery terminal and wrap the metal end of the cable in electrical tape to keep it from shorting out. Or cover good with a rag or rubber glove.
3. Unscrew the 2 10mm bolts in the top of the fuse block (Orange Circles) This action disconnects all the wires from the fuse block underneath
Note theses screws do not come out they just continually spin. Loosen till you hear a clicking that is how you know you have loosened it far enough.
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4. Starting at the front unhook the 6 or 7 tabs that hold the top of the fuse block to the base. Unhook and lift at the same time to keep them from rehooking as you go. DO not worry no wires are connected underneath. IF you get all the tabs loose and it still feels like there is something holding it on you may not have loosened those two 10mm bolts far enough. Loosen till the top is free. Lift off the fuse block.

Should see this at this point:
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Installing the Harness - Mount it, snake wires, make connections
Now we can begin mounting the relay and running the harness.
I removed the metal mounting tab from the new relay (just pulls out) to make it easier to get my fingers in the tight space to get the nut on.
So find the square hole on the lower part of the cars relay bracket and install a nut and self locking bolt with some washers to secure the relay bracket. Here is is before I tightened up the bracket:
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Point the relay mounting tab toward the rear of the car and slide on the relay with the harness attached to it. Should look something like this:
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Now lets run the harness under the fuse box and computer up to the front of the vehicle to meet up with connector x108.
I used a hangar with a hook on it to grab the harness and pull it through to the front following the frame rail. Here you can see my white hangar and the red X is the area you want to shoot for to grab the harness:
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Looking down in the back of the fuse box you can see your hangar and grab the harness:
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Got IT!! Pull it through.

Next you can loosen the 13mm nut on the engine ground point (right behind fuse block) and install the harness ground loop. Here you can see it in there before I tightened it:
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Then run the negative trigger wire up to the SEO Underhood Harness plug and insert terminal into the slot you are using for the headlamp switch wire. This should correspond with the color wire you used on the inside of the vehicle when you ran your wire from the headlight switch (oh wait we have not done that yet,so wait on that) But here is what it will look like when hooked up and I removed all the other wires I was not using under the hood:
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Maybe Next run the wire to the Fuse box Terminal. There is a U opening in the bottom of the fuse box terminal where a huge harness is coming in, just follow that. Lift up the drivers side large plug and take the white plastic covering off the back of it:
ImageImage

In this posting I detailed there are a few fuses in our boxes that are wired up in the block but are not being used. I chose to use one of the larger posts because I ordered the wrong connectors (DOH) but one of the medium ones would be OK for the fog lights.

We are going to use spot 78 to insert our terminal. First we have to unlock the connector terminal lock. It is done by using a pick or small screwdriver to lift up the white plastic framework. Not to worry the wires wont all fall out when you lift up the locking frame, its a secondary lock. Here you can see where to lift it and what it looks like when lifted:
ImageImage


We will then insert the terminal lead into spot 78 till it clicks and lower the locking frame back down. Here is the terminal inserted into spot 78:
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Next put the white rear cover back on and route the wire out the bottom of the cover next tot he main harness. Place the large connector back down in it's slot.

You can now reinstall the fuse block since we are done in there. Make sure both the large lower connectors are snugged into their lower fuse block spots. Place the upper fuse block back on and press down to snap it in place on perimeter. Then tighten the two 10mm screws on the top of the fuse block. This will bring the connectors below up to the fuse block terminals and make the connection of the wires. These screws do not really tighten fully and you will notice they will keep spinning like they are stripped. They are designed to bring the connector up into position but also make it impossible for the installer to over-tighten them. So the only indication that you have brought the lower connectors up enough is right next to each bolt is an orange indicator tab. When that is all the way up and visible the connector below is in it's correct position. Here I will point out the orange indicator tabs in their correct "seated/connected" position:
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Also go ahead and install a 15 amp fuse from your spares into fuse spot 26 - Silver arrow in picture above.

Put your cooling fan relays back in their brackets and reconnect the cooling fan plug. Should end up looking like this:
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Unwrap your battery cable and reinstall that back on the fuse block.

X108 Connections - Splice into existing factory wire and insert terminals into X108.
Now we move up to where the headlight is removed and you should have connector X108 free and the end of your relay harness with 3 wires coming out of it. We will now combine the two into one.

1. Cut a slit in the loom covering of X108 harness about 4-5 inches in length. Be careful not to cut any of the 3 wires in the cover:
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2. About 2-3 inches away from the connector cut the brown wire and strip back each ends of the wire about 1/4 inch.
3. Slide a piece of adhesive shrink tubing into the cut wire coming off connector X108.
4. Crimp a bare butt connector onto the brown wire coming off the X108 connector.
5. Take the stripped white wire (12 volt Positive Relay Trigger) from the relay harness and combine it with the other brown wire and insert them into the opposite end of the bare butt connector. Using a crimping tool crimp the 2 wires together in the other end of the butt connector.
Should be two wires on one side and a single wire on the other:
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4. Move the shrink tubing in place and center over the butt connector.
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5. Using heat gun or flame (lighter) shrink the tubing till it is tight on the wires and/or you see some adhesive ooze out.
6. Take the split loom and try and have it cover the splice you just made on the wire. Like:
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Next we will insert the 2 wires for the fog bulbs into connector X108. First you have to remove the cavity plugs from 2 of the connector cavities. You can use a pick to stab them from the side and pull them out or use a straightened out big paper clip to push them out from the front. Just pick any two slots you want to use, really does not matter at this point. We will mate them up with in the correct spots when we do the bulb harness in the bumper.
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Before you insert the two wires with terminal on the end you have to unlock the connector locking system inside the connector. The white part just moves down inside the connector. Here are two pictures of it locked and unlocked. Just move it with a pick or small screwdriver:
ImageImage

When unlocked insert the purple and black wires with the terminals on them till they click in place.
Relock the connector locking system

Then we can close up the harness that we cut open but this time we will include the split loom on the end of the relay harness.
So try and wrap that cut wire covering over all the wires that were in it before plus the new harness from the relay.

Then cover it all in two layers of electrical or friction tape. Final result should look something like this:
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Lastly secure the relay harness to the factory harness a bit down the line. Good spot is here to keep them together and keep any tension off the wires:
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Bulb Harness Install on the Bumper - plug them in and combine the two harnesses together in the bumper.
Now lets move on to the bumper. I will assume you already have your fog lights installed, if not do that. Plug in your bulb connectors on each lamp. Then lay the bulb harness next to the existing marker light harness. You can secure these together with tie wraps or cut off the white tie wrap clips on the factory harness and replace them with new tie wraps and clips securing the two harnesses together. Leave enough slack on each bulb section to leave some room for them to be disconnected if you have to change the bulb.

The last 2 connections will be to insert the purple and black wires this time into the bumper portion of connector X108. Based on the cavities you chose to insert the wires into on the car side connector remove the black cavity plugs that match up to where the terminals are on the car side connector. This connector also has a terminal secondary lock that needs to be unlocked. It is very subtle in the pictures but again it just moves down a bit.
Locked on the left then to the right is Unlocked.
Image Image

Once unlocked insert the purple and black wires from the bulb harness that have the terminals on them into the corresponding slots for the matching wires on the car side connector X108.

Insert the terminals and wires till they click and then relock the secondary locking devise on the connector.

Now you can put the front end back together. Headlamp, bumper bracket under the headlamp, bumper, Connect X108, fender liners, tires, lower vehicle.


Headlight Switch Wiring
Lastly, or really you could do this first, we run the wire to activate the fog light relay. Steps involve removing the factory headlamp switch, running a wire from the headlamp switch over to the police harness plug under the glove compartment, and installing a new headlamp switch that has the capability of turning on fog lights. I will include a wire that has the correct terminal to go into the headlamp connector and on the other end of the wire it will plug into a spot on the police harness under the dash.

To accomplish the next steps we need to remove some interior pieces. Think we have covered these in other parts of the website bt if you need detailed instructions reply here.

Remove both dash end caps
Remove glove box
Remove drivers side lower knee bolster (just clips holding it in) - Advised to remove (or loosen) dash applique above it first.

So the running of the wire can be done through the dash tube that goes across the dash.
Drivers side would look like this:
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Note: Wire will come with the black protective wire cover in the picture along with a grommet for the hole.

Passenger side routing would come right out of the tube and go towards the front of the car to get in behind the dash bracket.
Like so:
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Then it would get combined with the Police harness and tuck behind the dash bracket with the police harness.
ImageImage
Note: You can see I removed all the wires from my police extension harness. If you have some things hooked up to yours yours may look different.

In order to insert the new wire into the police harness you will have to remove one of your existing wires to make room for it. Just like all the other connectors we have seen there is a secondary and primary locking systems on this one. I have marked the secondary locking tab with black in this picture so you can see it easier:
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Using a pick just dig it out and pry it up so it looks like this:
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Then using the pick at the terminal you want to remove you are going to insert your pick in the void at the front of the connector that terminal is not using and there is a tab in there. Stab it and move it away from the terminal while pulling on the wire in the back and it should slide out. There is no easy way to explain this process sorry.

So now you are saying "What spot should I put the wire in?" Well there are 4 choices. Remember the 4 wires in the up fitter harness that is under the hood? What ever color wire you connected the relay harness lead to there is the same color wire you would connect to on the interior SEO harness. So there are 4 wires and the colors are Blue, Green, Gray, Tan. I know the 4 wires are right next to each other on one of the outer rows so the spot you need is easy to identify.


Inserting terminal into headlamp switch connector.
insert the wire into spot #6. It should be empty.
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The headlamp switch connector has a locking tab that folds out. There are clips on each side if it that you just wedge open to release the tab. Terminal only goes in one way, look at the other in there to see the orientation. Insert till it clicks. Then close the tab.
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What did I forget?

Re: How To: Fog Light Wiring

Posted: Tue Oct 25, 2016 1:53 am
by l77
Very nice write up Steve. Wish I was your neighbour :) Thanks!

Re: How To: Fog Light Wiring

Posted: Tue Oct 25, 2016 8:38 am
by Pursuit
Second the nice write up! Great pictures and explanations! Thanks for sharing with the group.

Maurice

Re: How To: Fog Light Wiring

Posted: Fri May 05, 2017 9:07 pm
by smwalker
Just adding some clarifying info to this thread from an offline conversation today:

Was just curious if you thought about using the Fog Light fuse slot F4 and Relay slot R5 in the underhood fuse box. I got thinking about it when you did the write up on the foglight harness and the installation.

I did investigate using the existing slots. However I found on mine (may not be the same on your, let me know) that while the slot is there the contacts inside the slot do not seem to be there. And adding contacts inside the fuse block housing is not something that is possible as far as I know. They get wired when they are made then sealed up forever. If I remember correctly the relay position had a battery positive contact but no other contacts for feed, ground or trip wires.

I even entertained the idea of getting a WM fuse box from AU that was wired up for the fogs but soon saw they do not get some of our emissions circuits (purge valve, etc) so that would not work well with our cars with that additional equipment.

So the extra fuse spots I listed are just spots that have the contacts wired on the front and the back. I am not sure what they were ever for but they were there so I used them just so I could keep all the fuses in the box and not have extra ones hanging out all over the engine compartment.

Re: How To: Fog Light Wiring

Posted: Thu Jun 01, 2017 5:29 pm
by CrashTestDummy
I finally got my light modules in, so I can schedule the light install. I'll probably do the surface mount LEDs, too, when I do that.

Anyway, has anyone found good LED bulbs for these lights? I'm thinking that might reduce the heat some, helping the plastic live longer. If not, I'll start digging...

Update:

It looks like that bulb is a GM 93190920. It looks like that converts to a 9145 or H10 bulb in 'other manufacturer-speak'. I found a Sylvania LED bulb, but man, it's stupid-expensive. It looks like I can get them from Opt-7, my favorite LED headlight provider, for about $40.

Thoughts?

Re: How To: Fog Light Wiring

Posted: Sat Jun 03, 2017 9:59 pm
by indianajoe
got my foglights functioning today (installed hardware earlier)
finished product first:
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i strayed from steve's instructions in order to give myself the potential for using the fogs as DRLs,

steve was kind enough to work with me to make it work, the only change you need is to connect the white wire on the relay harness to 12v ignition on wire instead of splicing it into the brown wire on x108 connector

unlike steve's car, my car still has (whats left of) all the SEO upfitter harness
i was also missing the connector for the grille lights/siren wiring (they replaced the connector with some butt connectors)
here is the white wire connected to the gray wire, and the blue wire connected to the brown wire
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(forgive the phone screen annotations)
i got inside the footwell and pulled the brown wire out of the plug behind the glove box and replaced it with the wire from the headlight switch:
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then i connected the gray wire to the pink/blue ignition hot wire:
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now the fog lightd can be turned on as the only functioning lights

Re: How To: Fog Light Wiring

Posted: Sat Jun 03, 2017 11:13 pm
by smwalker
CrashTestDummy wrote: Update:

It looks like that bulb is a GM 93190920. It looks like that converts to a 9145 or H10 bulb in 'other manufacturer-speak'. I found a Sylvania LED bulb, but man, it's stupid-expensive. It looks like I can get them from Opt-7, my favorite LED headlight provider, for about $40.

Thoughts?
The connectors I used say they can be used for a 9005 Bulb. That give you any more options? I think the halogen 9005 is higher wattage but a LED replacement should be in line with a 9145 wattage draw, or even less as that is the point of LED's . The relay I provided is rated for 40 amps so lots of room there. The wiring is 18AWG that I think was a bit larger than the Holden Factory bulb Harness I copied. I would be more worried about heat in the capsule than current draw. If you get a choice for a LED with a larger cooling fin structure choose that one.

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Re: How To: Fog Light Wiring

Posted: Sat Jun 03, 2017 11:24 pm
by smwalker
Looks good Joe. And to you and anyone else who wants to wire it up as a DRL I can make you a jumper wire from the Pink/Blue to the Gray under-hood wire in the same connector (or whatever color of the 4 you used in your install, Joe used gray) so that will eliminate a splice and keep things clean on that up-fitter harness. Just let me know I already have the terminals for that.

Re: How To: Fog Light Wiring

Posted: Mon Jun 05, 2017 9:23 am
by CrashTestDummy
smwalker wrote:
CrashTestDummy wrote: Update:

It looks like that bulb is a GM 93190920. It looks like that converts to a 9145 or H10 bulb in 'other manufacturer-speak'. I found a Sylvania LED bulb, but man, it's stupid-expensive. It looks like I can get them from Opt-7, my favorite LED headlight provider, for about $40.

Thoughts?
The connectors I used say they can be used for a 9005 Bulb. That give you any more options? I think the halogen 9005 is higher wattage but a LED replacement should be in line with a 9145 wattage draw, or even less as that is the point of LED's . The relay I provided is rated for 40 amps so lots of room there. The wiring is 18AWG that I think was a bit larger than the Holden Factory bulb Harness I copied. I would be more worried about heat in the capsule than current draw. If you get a choice for a LED with a larger cooling fin structure choose that one.

Image
From what I saw, the 9145s draw 3+ amps, whereas the CREE LEDs draw about half that. The $40 Opt7 LED bulbs do not have the cooling fins (with built-in fan), but Opt7 makes a set that does have those cooling fins, much like the Opt7 headlight bulbs. They're $90, though, but that's still not a big expense, and well worth it if I never have to replace them.

Having room for those cooling fins were a concern, since I haven't been behind the bumper cover yet. Is there enough room?

Re: How To: Fog Light Wiring

Posted: Mon Jun 05, 2017 9:43 am
by indianajoe
There's quite a bit of room behind the foglight housings, I was actually able to install them without removing the bumper cover