Wagon rear fog lamp install

This is a rough walk thru for EDM/JDM rear fog lamp install in wagon. I installed EDM fog lamp lens with JDM fog lamp resistor. The resistor is necessary to regulate the voltage for leds. JDM resistor fits on EDM lamp, it's just the bracket is different - all is need is little bending of the bracket and removing plastic guide pins on the lens housing.

 

Disclaimers

 

1. If you break or burn something it's your fault, not mine.

2. The install is a major PITA - took me like 8 hours.

3. Vacation pix will be very helpful! I am not able to describe this install in too much detail, so refer to the pics for inspiration.

 

Overview

 

Unfortunatelly our cars are not prewired for rear fog lamp, despite clues they might - the description on fuse box lid says "rear fog" (fuse #1), as well as the USDM wiring diagram mentions in one place fuse relay. I compared EDM/JDM wiring diagrams with USDM diagrams, as well as checked the actual wiring (as much as I could do) and no luck. The place for rear fog relay is occupied by DRL relay, plus USDM BIU (Body Integrated Unit) does not seem to support rear fog lamp - or no lamps for that matter - BIU in EDM/JDM cars controls headlamps, fogs, etc. In USDM cars it's the DRL unit that deals with the lighting. This is interesting, because BIU is on CAN (Controller Area Network) so it should be possible to control lighting via computer/ECU on EDM/JDM cars. Also, the BIU part number are differnet for USDM/JDM/EDM cars. In theory our BIU could support controlling rear fogs, but given the effort SOA made to USDM-ize our cars, I doubt. And SSM could be required to program it anyway.

 

The bottom line that USDM cars need extra wiring and a relay. The only stock thing that can be taken advatage of is the fuse (nice to have factory fuse with proper label!). This walk thru describes how to hookup rear fog to front fogs switch, so they come on together. In the future I plan on a separate switch.

 

Bunch of pics are attached - not cross referenced with the description, but you should be able to figure out what is what.

 

Parts needed

 

1. Approx. 9 meters of wire - I used 18 gauge, but 20-22 is probably okay

2. A standard automotive relay, available at most car part stores

3. 18-22 gauge female terminals/connectors (4)

4. 18-22 gauge vampire wire taps (3-4)

5. Zip ties

6. Electrical tape

7. Silicone

 

Tools

 

Normal stuff, the only uncommon one you need is deep 8 mm socket.

 

 

Install steps

 

1. Disconnect the cable from the battery negative terminal.

 

2. Remove rear gate trim. Refer to vacation pics, fairly well pictured.

 

3. Unscrew the screws holding rear garnish to the gate. 8mm deep socket is needed. There are many of these nuts - be careful to not drop them inside the gate. I dropped one and could not get out.

 

4. Remove the garnish. Note you'll have to pull out the grommet securing license plate lights harness - be careful to not damage it.

 

5. Remove the backup lamp.

 

6. Install the fog lamp in the garnish. Note, you may need to reuse the foam gasket if your fog lamp came without. It's glued to the lamp with a tape. Separate it gently from the old lamp. Put the gasket on the new lamp - I used silicone to glue it to the lamp.

 

7. Install the garnish back into the gate.

 

8. Remove both D-pillar covers. Just pull them away.

 

9. Drop the headliner a little bit - just pull it down in the back - it's secured with clips to the roof.

 

10. Time to start wiring things. If you have the OEM resistor, the stock backup lamp plug can fit into the socket on the resistor - a notch on the plug needs to be cut. The idea is to keep the ground wire, but cut the hot wire (Brown-Yellow) in front of the plug and hook up the new wire that needs to be routed all the way to the power source (fuse box).

 

11. Route the new wire along stock harness and use zip ties to secure it. I chose to go on the right hand size where the stock harness is (the rear washer fluid hose is on the left) -- wiggle the wire thru the harness grommet - removing the grommet makes things easier.

 

12. Route the wire above the headliner to the left side (if you go on the left side right away you can skip this step).

 

13. Remove the cargo area trim (left side). Refer to vacation pics. Removing it completely seems difficult - I just peeled it back so I could route the wire under it. See this thread for walk thru on installing rear power outlet (which you may do at the same time, as I did!): http://legacygt.com/forums/showthread.php?t=9097

 

14. Pull up the rear seat bottom cushion - no need to remove it completely, just raise it to get access.

 

15. Remove the screw securing the perimeter part of the rear seat backrest. Raise it a little bit to get some clearance. This step might be optional, if you're able to wiggle the wire somehow thru here in step 17.

 

16. Remove the lower inner trim on the rear door step. Major pita. I broke mine. You need to pull it hard - try to push the clips/hooks out of their holes by wedging a screwdriver and pushing towards outside of the car.

 

17. Route the cable up behind the cargo side trim, under the seat backrest and along the door step. Follow the stock harness and use zip ties where appropriate.

 

18. Remove the instrument lower panel (under the steering wheel column) - it consist of lower and upper covers. See vacation pics.

 

19. Remove the lower inner trim on the front door step. Again pita, be careful to not break it.

 

20. Pull back the trim on the B-pillar - just peel it back at the bottom, no need to remove it completely.

 

21. Route the cable to behind the B-pillar cover and along the door step and up along the stock harness to the fuse box area.

 

22. Separate the relay panel from fuse box - just pull it. Flip it back, so you can access wires behind it.

 

23. Now, in order to utilize the factory rear fog fuse (fuse #1) we need to tap into the wire. The wire comes out of the large 20-pin white plug above the fuses on the fuse box (second from the top). The wire is Blue (pin #4, forth from the left, second row). Use a vampire tap to attach a piece of new wire - ca. 15 cm is enough - we'll locate the relay close to the plug. This is the power source wire (from battery) that will power the rear fog lamp.

 

24. Now we need to tap two wires to the front fogs relay - the front fog relay is the one in left-bottom corner of the relay panel (right-bottom when the panel is fliped back). Tap two 25 cm wires, one to Blue-White wire (control power) behind the relay, another to Purple-Blue wire (control ground, from the front fog switch on the stalk).

 

25. Connect all the new wires to the new relay (using female connectors, trim wires as necessary). Battery power (from the white plug) goes to pin 30 on the relay (assuming standard Bosch-style relay), control power goes to pin 86, control ground to pin 85 and the rear fog lamp wire to pin 87.

 

26. Mount the relay using one of the bolts securing the fuse box to the chassis.

 

27. Check everything, reconnect negative terminal to the battery and see if the rear fog lamp works!!!

 

28. Put back everything....

 

Enjoy your uber cool rear fog lamp!

........

........

Looks UBER sweeeet:icon_mrgr

Wish I had some spare time----- like 8 hrs

Ha, thanks.

 

I guess I should be awarded for most useless walkthru - few people may take advantage of it.

 

I know about one guy (former member) who had JDM fog installed.

 

There are another 3 guys here I bought the lamps for.

 

Very unique mod!

Come on, unclemat. Useless and unused are two very different things. It looks like you spent more time on the walkthrough than you did on the install. You didn't tell a story- you provided actual instructions. I'm not going to do it, but it was a pleasure to read.

 

Unique, though? I think you passed unique. Nice work.

Thanks, Fat Charlie. Yeah, unused is the right word! The write up took me an hour or so. I figured out since I spent so much time on the install (not counting deciphering the wiring - I was hoping that our cars would be prewired for rear fog) and took few pics along the way, I thought I might as well contribute here.

 

The rear fog lamp has another fantastic application - great tailgaters deterent! You should have see the guy's reaction who tailgated me yesterday.

 

And the lamp is BRIIIGHT! Much brighter than the reversing lamp. In fact since I have the JDM lamp as well (RH) I am thinking about converting it to white LEDs and using it instead of the wimpy reversing lamp!

This is a repost from another thread, but I felt it fit more here:

 

Concerning rear foglamp modification, I was wondering if anyone here has tried putting a set of LEDs in the reflector of the wagon's taillamps?

 

http://media.trafficdriver.com/evox/stilllib/subaru/outback/2006/5es-4/44.jpg

 

In the above photo, I'm refering to the region just to the left of the amber turn signal. It appears to me that at least eight LEDs can fit in this area.

Looks great

 

Now you need LED taillights.

Where did you get the LEDs to do that mod and how much does it cost. It is a nice mod. I wish Subaru does is from the factory, just like Volvo or Audi.

It's OEM EDM lamp. I bought it from a Subaru dealer in Europe.

Lots of European cars come with rear fogs. I'm sure you've seen them before.

 

To answer your question, most of the time the rear fog is wired to come on with the front fogs. I think there are some cars that are switched separately but I'd say that's the exception.

Lots of European cars come with rear fogs. I'm sure you've seen them before.

 

To answer your question, most of the time the rear fog is wired to come on with the front fogs. I think there are some cars that are switched separately but I'd say that's the exception.

 

I don't think so. By ECE code the front fogs shold come up separately from the rear fog. Both must come up only with low beams.

 

Stock EDM/JDM Legacy has extra position on the rocker fog light switch on the turn signal stalk. So you can have: fronts on, fronts+rear on. No option to have rear on only.

 

Note, the switch does not stay there, the idea being after car is shut off the rear fog WILL NOT come up again. This is the measure against the retards driving with rears on all the time. Not sure if it's in the code now.

Wow, I guess those yuppies driving around in their Euro cars really are idiots then. I see rear fogs all the time in LA, especially when its not foggy:p

Wow, I guess those yuppies driving around in their Euro cars really are idiots then. I see rear fogs all the time in LA, especially when its not foggy:p

Fog lights in the US are generally to warn those nearby that the driver's brain is in a fog. I'll bet they've got their front fogs on, too.

I have never seen it

 

yes you have... most german cars have only one rear fog lamp (with the acception of audi, some have 2 rear fog lights)... it's really bright and you think they're on the brakes with a bulb out...

Any suggestion as where to get the oem rear fog light in the States as to avoid buying it from European dealers?

I don't think so. By ECE code the front fogs shold come up separately from the rear fog. Both must come up only with low beams.

 

Stock EDM/JDM Legacy has extra position on the rocker fog light switch on the turn signal stalk. So you can have: fronts on, fronts+rear on. No option to have rear on only.

 

Note, the switch does not stay there, the idea being after car is shut off the rear fog WILL NOT come up again. This is the measure against the retards driving with rears on all the time. Not sure if it's in the code now.

 

I am ready to install mine now. Finally got my case resistor and EDM LED rear fog. But I would like to turn them on as the EDM people do; A junkyard here sells an EDM combination switch (i.e. turn signal stalk). Would you think that it would just be a matter of plug and play?

Have you finally added a separate switch for them?

...not sure if the BIU will allow for the plug and play of the stalk....

 

I'm sure you could always just get a blank button for the section next to the mirror defrost and hardwire it with a switch....?

 

I'm just thinking out loud....IDK

GL

...not sure if the BIU will allow for the plug and play of the stalk....

 

I'm sure you could always just get a blank button for the section next to the mirror defrost and hardwire it with a switch....?

 

I'm just thinking out loud....IDK

GL

 

What's the 'BIU'?

Yeah I originally planned to get a blank button but I want to look as close to stock as possible. The best way would be if someone had the EDM schematics for the electric stuff.

Nice to know they have rear fogs for our Legacy's.

 

I have one on my Accord also. It was also a EDM product which was shipped from Malaysia.

 

It also uses its own switch differ from the front fogs.

 

http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b260/kongzilla/The%20accord/pictures5064.jpg

14 years later this information is still very useful! I think when I have the time I’m going to try and tie into the rear wiper switch as I never use it.

14 years later this information is still very useful! I think when I have the time I’m going to try and tie into the rear wiper switch as I never use it.

Did you ever end up trying to tie into the rear wiper switch?

 

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