Looking for some help here - My wife thinks it is a Poltergeiest!


Couple of weeks ago car would not start ( would not turn over)- put the battery on charge - was Ok for a couple of days then happened again. This time when I tried to charge the battery in place the charger kept cutting out but eventually it stopped and battery took a charge. Next day car was completely dead.


Replaced the battery with a brand new one- Now the weird bit.


Middle of the night - the fog lights came on all by themselves. Nobody touched the car . My wife went out - unlocked the car - fog lights went off . Locked the car they came on again. She left it unlocked. ( Note this is just the fog lights - no other lights - normally you cannot have the fog lights on without the headlights)


Next morning car was completely dead . As before the Battery ( new one) would not recharge in Situ so I removed it and charged it separately . Reconnected the battery . Car was OK that day - went out for the evening leaving the car in the driveway - when we returned - the fog lights were on again.! I fiddled a bit with the light switch and they went off. Car started fine.


Next morning - car was completely dead again.


I have checked the battery cables and connectors. All seem sound and very clean with the exception of the ground connector to the bodywork just behind the headlight . It had some light corrosion which I cleaned up quite easily and dosed with WD40 . I can't remove the connector as it is locked solid.


I have now recharged the battery and removed the Fog light fuse ( F87 in Passenger compartment fuse box). Car is running fine today - I wait to see what the morning brings.


BTW - Fuse F87 is for Fog Lights, master light switch.. Anybody know what "master light switch" is ?


Thanks for any suggestions where to look next


Hawthorn

 

Hawthorn, the master light switch is the headlight switch on the dash. As for your fog lights acting up, it is sounding like you have a bad wire or a bad relay. There is a relay that powers on all the accessories for the car (so, really, you have more coming on than just the fog lights). I would have to look at the diagrams to tell you the specific relay (Won't have the diagrams for another week as I am on travel). Hopefully someone else can tell you the accessory relay and then you can do a switch-a-roo with a matching relay to see if the problem moves.

If you have a wiring issue, this is going to require a hand over hand of the wiring to determine where the problem lies.

 

Thanks Thermo,


Would that be the R4 accessory relay in the engine compartment? Or the R15 Head Light and Fog light Relay in the passenger compartment.


Anyone?

 

Hawthorn, that would be the R4 relay that I would be talking about. The headlights loose power when the car is turned off. The R4 relay is what kills the headlights. But, with how the fog lights are wired up, they are wired to the normally closed contacts of the headlight relay which would allow them to have power when the headlights are turned off.

 

f I may just clarify my reading of he situation. If the foglights only illuminate then there has to be a fault in the Light Switch. Thermo is right that they are wired up as he says but for the Foglights to be lit the Switch has to be pulled out and that cannot be done without selecting the sidelights. I have just tried mine and must say I have learned something new Haha. The headlights are governed by Fuse 67 and that is controlled by pos 1 on ignition and before it reached R4 relay.

Therefore the only way power can be applied to the fogs is for the switch to malfuntion.

Roger

 

Thanks Rchiv,


Any idea how to remove the Headlight switch from the dashboard safely ?


And is there any way of diagnosing the problem as the switch without a multi-meter/volt meter?


The fog lights did go off one time when I fiddled with the switch ( I tried turning it anti-clockwise - didn't really move but the fogs went off).


Would a faulty switch explain the fog lights coming on just by themselves with car locked and standing?.


Thanks again for any help


b rgds


Hawthorn

 

Hi the switch is removed by inserting a thin blade at the top and pressing down to release the tang.

As the fog light switch is permanently live it can malfunction. Normally to turn the fogs on you have to set the switch to sidelights the pull the switch. If the fogs are coming on without the switch being set as above then the switch must be at fault.
There is little one can do but I would remove the switch and liberally spray silicon behind the switch toggle to see if that helps.

Roger