Headlight/fog switch for fogs to stay on

[Cali330ti]

Hey guys, I mostly lurk on here and the things I do is a bit out of the norm for the everyday ti owner. Back when I first joined I hadn't even made it home w/ the new car before the rheostat burned out. Trials and tribulations later I eventually fixed it w/ the awesome little piece of wire and solder fix.

However, I seem to remember while in my long and late night searches for a permanent fix that there was either a euro headlight or fog switch that would allow the fogs to come on independently of the headlights or at the least w/ the parking lights only.

I've been doing so many searches yesterday and today my eyes are going cross. Then again.....searches on forums aren't the best.

Reason I'm asking is I recently wired it so my fog light switch controls my electric fan.


Thanks for any help!

[John Firestone]

BMW NA, for their cars, had Munich tie the connection D you see below to an extra contact from the high beam relay (at least from 96 onward). To get the fog lights to stay on, you need to disconnect D from the high beam relay and instead tie it to ground (as in Europe). You might do this at the high beam relay (X10262 pin 7) to eliminate a potential fire hazard: that bit of thin, U.S.-market wiring is not fused.

[John Firestone]

Rereading your post, I believe I may have answered someone else's question, but perhaps another question you might also have.

I suppose you could use a European front + rear fog light switch to control both your fan and front fogs -- if you don't mind having both on at the same time. Alternatively, I seem to remember Ron Stygar had found some nice illuminated pushbuttons to use in his 'ti. Found them: they were for his Z3.

[Cali330ti]

I will not be using fogs at all. Just the wiring. This isn't a pretty car. It's my auto-x/track slut. I just want to be able to energize the fog switch w/o having to keep my headlights on. I really thought there was some euro switch that allowed that.

[Bozola]

I have a copy of the electrical troubleshooting PDF. if that helps.. at all.
________
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[John Firestone]

Originally Posted by Cali330ti

I will not be using fogs at all. Just the wiring. This isn't a pretty car. It's my auto-x/track slut. I just want to be able to energize the fog switch w/o having to keep my headlights on. I really thought there was some euro switch that allowed that.

As in Europe and the rewiring above or do you have something else in mind? What exactly are you trying to do? Get the fan to stay on when you turn on the high beams? Or something else, as you write about the fan with the past tense? Sorry about all the questions: I'm getting a little confused.

[Cali330ti]

Originally Posted by John Firestone

As in Europe and the rewiring above or do you have something else in mind? What exactly are you trying to do? Get the fan to stay on when you turn on the high beams? Or something else, as you write about the fan with the past tense? Sorry about all the questions: I'm getting a little confused.

I don't care about the high beams.

I just want to turn energize the fogs w/o turning on the headlights at all or w/ parking lights only.

That's it.

[John Firestone]

Disconnecting the front fog light relay coil from the high beam filaments and then grounding that side of the coil, the upper D above, will keep the fog lights on when you switch on the high beams. I don't know when your/the 330ti was built, so I don't know if the above wiring is for your car.

-John

[Cali330ti]

Originally Posted by John Firestone

Disconnecting the front fog light relay coil from the high beam filaments and then grounding that side of the coil, the upper D above, will keep the fog lights on when you switch on the high beams. I don't know when your/the 330ti was built, so I don't know if the above wiring is for your car.

-John

Bumping this back up as I've just ignored the annoyance this entire time.

And one last time...I don't care about the high beams. Let me energize the fogs w/ the parking lights ONLY or completely by themselves.

I'll wire in a switch if I have to but would enjoy keeping the current setup since it can utilize the safety of relays and factory fuses.

[John Firestone]

Can't you do that now: turn on the front fog lights when the parking lights are on and ignition is at run/start?

[Cali330ti]

Originally Posted by John Firestone

Can't you do that now: turn on the front fog lights when the parking lights are on and ignition is at run/start?

Nope. I wish. I believe that's the difference between US and Euro. So I guess that'd be a good question. Can you?

[John Firestone]

You should be able to run with just the parking and fog lights on, or with the parking, fog light and low beams on, on any E36. The high beams killing the front fog lights is the only substantial, American, forward lighting variance I know of, and you can remove that as I outlined earlier.

Were the fog lights on your car, factory installed or retrofitted? I am starting to wonder if someone has wired or rewired yours, perhaps for aesthetics.

[John Firestone]

BTW, would you be interested in a little controller that would let you switch on the auxilary fan while the engine is running and also run it for a bit after you shut down? We put one in Ron Stygar's old Z3M coupe which used to heat up something fierce after a long run and then take ages to cool down. (I just happen to be rechecking its code in preparation for sending out some more controllers.)

[Cali330ti]

I can tell you for sure you cannot run fogs w/ only parking lights. US market you have to turn on the lowbeams to energize the fogs. Mine are factory using all factory wiring. Nothing has been rewired or added. I have a 98 Sport. And yeah give me info on the controller. This is getting to the point I'm just gonna throw in a switch w/ relay and call it done.

[John Firestone]

Originally Posted by Cali330ti

I can tell you for sure you cannot run fogs w/ only parking lights. US market you have to turn on the lowbeams to energize the fogs. Mine are factory using all factory wiring. Nothing has been rewired or added. I have a 98 Sport.

Oh, those chowderheads.

According to the ETK, U.S. 318ti's use the European, rear fog light, light switch to give power to the front fog lights. Which is fine and dandy, except for one teeny, insignificant, little issue: you can't use the front fog lights as fog lights.

Please forgive me for not recognizing this earlier and for stubbornly presuming your front fog lights were that.