I want to turn my fog lights on without turning on my main headlights to do so....How do I go about doing this?
Thanks for the help.
Thanks for the help.
I thought about this as well...it would be nice if you could turn the fog lights on with the hadlight switch set for parking lights instead of all the way on. I *may* do some investigation to see if this can be done without tearing open the steering column...when I have time.Originally posted by mymazda62003@Oct 6 2004, 04:25 PM
I want to turn my fog lights on without turning on my main headlights to do so....How do I go about doing this?
Thanks for the help.
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Yes...it would be even easier to wire them to the parking lights which are nearby.Originally posted by clay@Oct 6 2004, 10:34 PM
Im dont know if this would mess up the lighting system or make them not be as bright but couldnt you cut the wires from the fogs and re-attach them to the wires that go to the yellow side markers? (Im pretty sure those turn on with the parking lights) Wouldnt that work? I could be wrong and if I am, Im sure plennty of people will let me know but it makes sense to me.
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you have it half right. The mazda fog lights are white which are really just more for looks the most effective lighting color in fog is actually yellow.Originally posted by grahamb@Oct 10 2004, 02:38 PM
I really don't understand why mazda makes you turn on your headlights to get the fog lights to work. I think the purpose of fog lights is that when you are in a foggy situation, regular headlights just reflect off the fog and make it impossible to see. Fog lights are angled lower and cut through the fog...but if the headlights must be on to get the fogs to work....in a foggy situation with the head lights and fog lights on wouldn't the head lights still reflect of the fog and make it tough to see?
does that make sense?
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That's actually a myth. It's absolutely not true. You can do a little searching on-line if you don't believe me.Originally posted by timba24@Oct 11 2004, 04:06 PM
the most effective lighting color in fog is actually yellow.
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Cool! Thanks for the mod, been looking for that. One question though:Originally posted by drew@Oct 11 2004, 08:14 PM
Hey everyone,
I got a hold of the wiring diagrams, and came up with a solution.
To give some background, this modification disconnects the control of the fog light relay from the headlight relay's switch, and instead connects it to the relay that controls the taillights, parking lights, side markers, and license plate lights. This way, the auto-off feature will still work, and you won't get caught leaving the fog lights on. The fog lights will now be controllable when only the parking lights are on.
Also, you should be aware of two things:
1. This mod ONLY WORKS FOR V6 MODELS. If you have a 4-banger, let me know, and I can explain what you need to do differently.
2. DISCLAIMER!!! In Virginia, at least, you're technically not allowed to operate more than 2 pairs of headlights at a time. The stock Mazda6 takes care of this by turning off the fog lights when the high beams are on. After performing this modification, it will no longer work this way, so be careful to turn the fogs off whenever you're using the high beams, or be aware that you're not completely street legal.
Ok, now here's my handy-dandy picture. I only took one after I finished the job, but I circled and color-coded everything of interest, so it should be sufficient.
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Here are the steps involved:
1. Disconnect the negative battery cable. This time it's for real!
2. Disconnect the 2 nuts I've circled in cyan, and remove the 2 terminals from their studs.
3. Detach the wiring harness on the left from the fuse panel. I circled in yellow where it's attached. It can be jiggled free from there. Don't bother disconnecting the connector...that won't help. It's the wires underneath this harness that are holding the panel in the box.
4. Loosen the 4 clips circled in green and lift the fuse panel free of the box. I also had to cut some tape where I've indicated in orange in order to lift it completly. Once you take these steps, there will still be a whole bunch of wires pulling down on the fuse panel, but it should now be free enough to do what we need.
5. You need to locate the wire that energizes the fog light relay's coil. This is the terminal indicated as white on the fog light relay, which is indicated as red in my picture. Locate this wire underneath the fuse panel. It was a solid pale green color in my car...I assume it will be the same for yours.
6. Once you locate the proper wire, follow it as far from the relay as you can, and cut it. You need to keep enough length to complete the modification. The wire should eventually lead back into the panel to another relay, but I couldn't trace it that far...it was stuck in a bundle with piece of tape, but I still had enough length. Tape the free end closed, because it will still be energized whenever your headlights are on and high-beams are off.
7. Route this wire over to the top of the panel to the taillight relay indicated in red. The 'white' terminal is where it needs to go. You can see the wire in my picture if you look closely. I just stripped the end and stuffed it in the appropriate socket before re-inserting the relay.
8. Reassemble everything in the reverse order...you're done. Now test the modification.
One more thing...don't go thinking you can just run a wire between these two relays in order to avoid disconnecting the panel. If you don't cut the existing wire, you will create a short whenever you turn on the high-beams.
And feel free to ask questions...don't go cutting wires if you're unsure about something.
Drew
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D'oh, you're right, my mistake. I'll fix the original post, and thanks for catching that.Originally posted by Spidy@Oct 12 2004, 02:41 AM
Cool! Thanks for the mod, been looking for that. One question though:
>7. Route this wire over to the top of the panel to the taillight relay indicated in >red. The 'white' terminal is where it needs to go. You can see the wire in my >picture if you look closely. I just stripped the end and stuffed it in the >appropriate socket before re-inserting the relay.
Don't you mean the tail light relay in BLUE? The reg is already your fog relay I thought...
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Excellent!Originally posted by drew@Oct 12 2004, 06:48 AM
D'oh, you're right, my mistake. I'll fix the original post, and thanks for catching that.
Drew
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What lights act as daytime running lights, now? What changes when you switch from 'park' to 'headlights on'?Originally posted by Spidy@Oct 12 2004, 03:41 AM
Excellent!
Thanks for figuring it out, with this mod my fogs will work EXACTLY the way I always wanted them to... and its such an easy mod!! Should work great for HIDS cause now I can use the fogs as daytime running lights up here in Canada eh!
Spidy
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I suspect it shouldn't make a difference...Originally posted by drew@Oct 12 2004, 07:56 AM
What lights act as daytime running lights, now? What changes when you switch from 'park' to 'headlights on'?
There were some different diagrams for cars with daytime running lights. Although I didn't look at those specifically, I wouldn't expect anything to be different for this modification, but you never know.
If you do make this modification, post back here, so we can confirm it works for Canadians as well.
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Yikes...that's not cool, because now you don't know what changed.Originally posted by Spidy@Oct 13 2004, 02:21 AM
Doh! It didn't work...
Hooked up everything as in the pic but it didn't work...
It actually behaved as usual... meaning the fogs came on when the low beams were turned on. But didn't come on with just the parking lights...
Oh well, at least nothing broke in the process. Gee, I guess it must have something to do with the DRL on canadian vechicles.
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We don't call it the 6s here in Canada, its just called a Mazda 6 GT V6... but equivalent to to the S probably.Originally posted by drew@Oct 13 2004, 07:28 AM
Yikes...that's not cool, because now you don't know what changed.
You do have a 6s, right? I'd change it back if I were you...sorry it didn't work.
Actually, do me (and yourself) a favor and look at the inside of the fuse box cover, and see if the 2 relays are labeled as they should be. The taillight relay is actually a 3-letter acronym called TNS or something like that, and the fog light relay should just say FOG LIGHT. The 6i has a fog light relay in a different place.
Drew
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Look at my edit...I think I found the problem.Originally posted by Spidy@Oct 13 2004, 04:03 AM
We don't call it the 6s here in Canada, its just called a Mazda 6 GT V6... but equivalent to to the S probably.
The relays are exactly in the same place... that's why I thought it should work.
Its not called TNS though, it says "Tail Relay" and the fog one says "Fog Relay"
Do you have wiring diagrams for models with the DRL?
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Yeah, when I was doing the mod that's the first thing I tried when it didn't work.Originally posted by drew@Oct 13 2004, 08:10 AM
Look at my edit...I think I found the problem.
One more thing you can try as a sanity check would be to disconnect the wire you just moved, and see if the fog lights stop working all together. That should confirm that you did that part correctly.
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If you can't get to that auto-off box, one thing you can do is cut the other wire that goes to the fog light relay coil, and ground it to the chassis (figure out which of those two studs on the fuse box is grounded). Then your fogs will always be on in the 'park' setting. I don't know if that's acceptable to you, but it's another option.Originally posted by Spidy@Oct 13 2004, 04:29 AM
Yeah, when I was doing the mod that's the first thing I tried when it didn't work.
I just removed the wire and the fogs stopped working ... which is to be expected cause well, I cut the wire
Any way, don't feel bad! Its a community of volunteers here, not a dealership, lol!
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That same terminal is tied to the left side (as viewed from the front of the car) of the 2 fuses directly to the right of it...so the left terminal of the ILLUM and TAIL LIGHT fuses are the same 'node' in the electrical system. That may help you find which of those steel 'bars' underneath the panel belongs to the point that you're connecting to, because there is no wire...it's all part of the box. I didn't investigate that too much because the solution I had was 'good enough', as far as I was concerned. If you want, you could also tie it 'downstream' of one of those 2 fuses as well...it shouldn't draw too much power to create any problems. The ILLUM fuse probably carries the less load of the two.Originally posted by Spidy@Oct 14 2004, 05:43 AM
Only thing I don't like is that I had to push the wire into the socket where the tail light relay is. Would have been nice if I could have attached it to the wire underneath but I couldn't find which one it was... even by inspection.
Any thoughts on this area?
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