| Dano |
So, I came outside the other morning and my foglights were on.
I had been using them the night before during a rain storm and shut down the headlights, leaving the foglight switch in the "on" position. The lights were off when I went in the house.
The next morning my wife said they were off when she left for work around 6:30 a.m. (still dark, so she would have seen them).
When I went to work around 8:15, the foglights were on. Headlights switched off. Car off.
The Pilot started right up, so the lights were certainly not on terribly long. Pressing the foglight switch did not deactivate the lights, although the green led in the switch dimmed somewhat in the off position.
Have not been able to get them to shut off, so I disconnected the ground wire in the foglight system.
These were installed by me and have been trouble free since the installation until now, about 6 weeks. I figure it's a relay or the switch itself.
Any troubleshooting suggestions? |
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| cwa107 |
quote:
Originally posted by Dano
So, I came outside the other morning and my foglights were on.
I had been using them the night before during a rain storm and shut down the headlights, leaving the foglight switch in the "on" position. The lights were off when I went in the house.
The next morning my wife said they were off when she left for work around 6:30 a.m. (still dark, so she would have seen them).
When I went to work around 8:15, the foglights were on. Headlights switched off. Car off.
The Pilot started right up, so the lights were certainly not on terribly long. Pressing the foglight switch did not deactivate the lights, although the green led in the switch dimmed somewhat in the off position.
Have not been able to get them to shut off, so I disconnected the ground wire in the foglight system.
These were installed by me and have been trouble free since the installation until now, about 6 weeks. I figure it's a relay or the switch itself.
Any troubleshooting suggestions?
Weird! I'm guessing you have a bad relay too - and being that only one of the two relays is exposed to the elements, I think I'd start with the outside one.
Question: when you flip the switch on and off, do you hear the relay under the dash click? |
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| Blkblurr |
| Sounds like the relay contactsare stuck in the on postion. Measure whether or not the relay has power to the coil when your headlights are off. If you have no power to the relay coil, then your relay switch contacts are welded closed. Pull the relay out and measure the resistance across the relay contacts. You should get very high resistance in the Mega ohms if the relay is still good. You will get zero or close to zero if it's welded closed. Just replace the relay then. |
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| Dano |
quote:
Originally posted by Blkblurr
Sounds like the relay contactsare stuck in the on postion. Measure whether or not the relay has power to the coil when your headlights are off. If you have no power to the relay coil, then your relay switch contacts are welded closed. Pull the relay out and measure the resistance across the relay contacts. You should get very high resistance in the Mega ohms if the relay is still good. You will get zero or close to zero if it's welded closed. Just replace the relay then.
Thanks for that advice. . .I'll give it a try this weekend. . . |
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| Dano |
quote:
Originally posted by cwa107
Weird! I'm guessing you have a bad relay too - and being that only one of the two relays is exposed to the elements, I think I'd start with the outside one.
Question: when you flip the switch on and off, do you hear the relay under the dash click?
I'll listen for this. . .if it clicks, is that good or bad? |
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| ericsgr |
| when you turn them on OR off you should hear the relay click. That is the coil either pulling the contacts against eachother or releasing them as the coil is de-energized. Unless it is a solid state relay though..........then you will hear nothing either way........even if it is working. I dont have fog lights so I can't tell you what type of relay it is. Someone else will have to answer that. |
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| Titans Fan |
| The same thing happened to the fogs on the 4-Runner that I had before the Pilot. It was a relay I think, and started happening whenever it was damp. It was fixed under warrenty (only a few months old at the time.) |
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| cwa107 |
quote:
Originally posted by Dano
I'll listen for this. . .if it clicks, is that good or bad?
Good. It means the interior relay is working... and yes, I have the '05 fog lights and it *does* click (normally). |
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| Dano |
Thanks for everyone's suggestions here . . .much appreciated.
Finally got around to taking a look at the relay under the bumper. Had to pull off the bumper cover again, front grill and all (which was not fun).
Found the relay to be soaked in water. Rubber boot around it didn't let the water escape, so it just stewed in it, shorting out.
Replaced the relay ($40 :3: ) and all is well. Installed it so that water will drain.
But all in all, found it to be a pretty poor design. There were many other places this relay could have been put, but yet it is placed down near the road surface without much protection. It can get splashed with water from the road, and soaked from water draining out of the engine compartment (which is apparently what happened to mine).
Sometimes things can be so overengineered that common sense gets left out of the equation. |
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| john802 |
quote:
Originally posted by Dano
Found the relay to be soaked in water. Rubber boot around it didn't let the water escape, so it just stewed in it, shorting out.
Replaced the relay ($40 :3: ) and all is well. Installed it so that water will drain.
But all in all, found it to be a pretty poor design. There were many other places this relay could have been put, but yet it is placed down near the road surface without much protection. It can get splashed with water from the road, and soaked from water draining out of the engine compartment (which is apparently what happened to mine).
Sometimes things can be so overengineered that common sense gets left out of the equation.
That's the reason why honda redesign the bracket and relocate the fog light engine harness relay/fuse. |
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| Dano |
quote:
Originally posted by john802
That's the reason why honda redesign the bracket and relocate the fog light engine harness relay/fuse.
Oh dear God!
I have the new bracket but was using old instructions!
:bonk: :bonk: :bonk: :bonk: :bonk:
Now I'm going to have to take off that bleeping bumper cover again! ugh!!!!!!!! |
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