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2004 - fog lights suddenly quit?

('03-'05) 
15K views 26 replies 5 participants last post by  FozzyFamily 
#1 ·
Recently I noticed my fog lights no longer work. Up until this point they worked fine. I replaced both bulbs a few months ago and all was well. Now I press the button and nothing. I checked all fuses and nothing is blown. I noticed the little light on the button stopped working at the same time. Any ideas?
 
#7 ·
Thanks for the help so far and I have an update.

Now the button lights up when I press it, and I hear a slight click when I push it in and out like the sound of a relay, but still no light coming from the fogs.

I didn't actually do anything besides open that little "door" down by the button when I got in the car so far.

I looked at the in car fuses again and see the relays next to the fuses on the right. The light doesn't light up on the button now, so not sure what the deal is.

I've determined the bottom relay is the one clicking when I hit the button though, I can feel it when I put my finger on it while pressing the button. Can it be making the noise but be faulty?
 
#8 ·
Try removing the relay and inserting a jumper into its socket on the two terminals that correspond to the relay's contacts. If the lights come on, then the problem is with the relay or with the circuitry that feeds power to the relay coil or contacts. If they don't come on, then report back and we'll take the next step.

I don't have 2009 diagrams, so unfortunately I can't advise of the relay's terminal configuration. You should be able to analyze the relay with a multimeter to determine how it's set up. There should be four terminals. The two with a finite resistance between them are the coil, which makes the other two the contacts. There should be infinite resistance between them.
 
#9 ·
Id try connecting the wires at the switch together first to test it to be sure good contact is being made there..if no lights then move to the relay. And yes they can still make noise and not close the switch, try plinking it with your finger while working the switch on and off and you may free it up temporarily if its jammed. You do understand the terminology used by bbottomley in regards to testing the relay right ? Just checking :biggrin:
 
#11 ·
Ya I noticed the relays are partly behind plastic of the opening, do they just pull out? I'll try tapping on it while working the button first. Ill see what's in my garage, probably have a jumper although not sure.
I'm not too big on the idea of pulling out the button to test the connections though, I looked up in there and there's a lot going on with the cruise and wiper/mirror defrost being there too.
Doesn't sound like much changed with that small area on your 09 compared to my 04, except for yours works lol
 
#12 · (Edited)
Oops, I misread. You're the one with the 2004. It should be pretty much identical to my 2003, and getting to the wiring behind the switch is not that simple a job. The good news is that I have diagrams for 2003, which should be close enough to your 2004 to get started with this. Here's a picture of the relay block.

526886

The fog light relay should be the one with numbers 19-23. Confirm this by feeling it click when you turn the switch on. Positions 19 and 20 are the relay's contacts; 21 and 23 are the coil. 22 is unused.

Remove the relay, strip both ends of a short wire, insert it into the two slots at 19 and 20 in the socket, and set up everything else the way it should be (key on, low beams on, switch on) for the lights to come on. They either will, or they won't. If they do, shut things off right away, because your wire might be a bit undersized for the job.

Then come back here and give us a report. I'm inclined to think that this part of the circuitry is OK because of your experience with the green light, but this will confirm things and let us concentrate on where the problem really is.
 
#14 ·
Bruce's picture is on it's side. The relays ARE vertical on the right side of the interior fuse box, with the fuses to the bottom ( positions 1 thru 8 ).

The bottom one is the Ignition relay. Comes on when the key is in the on position. The 3rd from the bottom on the 03-08 IS the foglight relay. So his suggestions about inserting a wire are still correct. Try that and please post back.
 
#15 ·
So in the car that diagram is rotated 90 deg. ccw?
Its not that I don't trust you guys on it, just was confused because the relay on the bottom was the one clicking as I pressed the button, not the one you mentioned. So maybe the fog relay is bad. It'll try and test it tonight.
 
#16 ·
Thanks, Mikey. They show everything horizontal in the diagrams, and I hadn't yet braved the chill to go outside and check the actual orientation of the relay block in my (still disabled) Forester.

Dr. Evil - In preparation for what will probably be the next steps, do you have a multimeter? If not, do you have a friendly Harbor Freight store nearby? They are really cheap there. And start reading through my Multimeter Tutorial to get yourself up to speed.

My gut feeling about this sort of thing is that relays do occasionally go bad, but switches and connectors are the more likely suspects. We shall see.
 
#23 ·
Bbottomley- I didn't know that's what that was. I've never been to that building since I was 18 working for Coca-Cola and that was a Schnucks grocery store.

TC2000- Mine looks like yours, that's the one clicking. Confused why Ferret's shows it as a different relay.
 
#24 ·
Harbor Freight - Be prepared for a treat! (Note that $3.99 is a sale price. Regular price is a bit higher, but they are very often on sale. Either way is a bargain, especially if you remember what digital meters cost when they first came out.)

Configuration of the relay block is certainly a surprise. Usually that sort of thing stays pretty constant through the life of a model. I'm not that surprised to see that it is different on the 2009s, but it is strange that it also showed up that way in 2004.

If the terminal configuration of your relay is the same as shown in my diagram, I think you'd be OK to try the jumper wire test.
 
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