Add fog lights to 2001 XLT Expedition

[kirkifer]

So,

I have a 2001 XLT that does not seem to have any wiring for fog lamps under the hood. There is no relay in the relay box and no wiring. Funny thing is that the low amperage wiring is present at the headlight control switch. I found a switch with foglight control at the junkyard and it fits perfectly and the foglight indicator glows amber when the switch is pulled out...

So, I have part of the system. How do I add the rest? I grabbed a couple of relays at the junkyard, so I have those.

I guess that I need to know where the wires from the headlight switch terminate and how to connect it to the relay and how to wire it properly in the relay box. Certainly, someone on this forum knows how to do this properly. I would appreciate some help... Thanks!

 

[Captain Morgan]

Re examine the front of the frame rails and see if the cables are pulled back behind the tire toward the cab. They might be more than 2' from the bumper.

 

[Silver99Xlt4.6]

My 99 Xlt came with Fogs , Weird your xlt Did not .

 

[bar422]

My 2001 XLT doesn't have them either.........I was thinking about trying to find some aftermarket ones.

 

[kirkifer]

Not there...

Nope, no wires along the frame rail, except for a harness that goes back for things like running board lights and emission stuff...

So, does anyone know where the wires go from the headlight control switch? There is a yellow wire, black wire and what appears to be grey/black that all pertain to fog lamp control.

( BTW, Diagrams I have found indicate it is a white/black wire, but it looks grey to me. )

Thinking I could beat Ford engineers and do a little engineering myself, I put a multimeter on these wires to confirm that they work like they are supposed to. In other words, 12 volts when the fog lamp switch is pulled out... 0 volts when the switch is in... 0 volts when the high beam switch is in the on position. Yep, they work just like that. So, I disconnected one wire at a time to just test things... (thinking I could cut the wires and forget about the harness and relay box, etc...)

Well, that doesn't work. Nope, the Ford Engineers did not build a simple on/off switch that in turn triggers a relay. Take one wire off (it doesn't really matter which one) and the amber indicator light does not glow and there is no voltage. Man, I am starting to understand why these vehicles cost so much... Ford goes out of their way to make these things overly complicated.

Does anyone know where these wires run? I mean, with nothing in the relay box, these wires have to terminate someplace...

Thanks for any help.

 

[kirkifer]

My 99 Xlt came with Fogs , Weird your xlt Did not .

It is a little disappointing to start looking and find nothing, especially when many people either have them on an XLT or find wires either behind the bumper or along the frame rails.

As modular as these things are, it would seem that similar trim levels would have similar features...

 

[kirkifer]

My 2001 XLT doesn't have them either.........I was thinking about trying to find some aftermarket ones.

Have you thought about how you might wire/operate them? I do not want a tacky looking switch hanging off my dash. Additionally, the Ford factory ones turn off automatically when the high beams go on. This is because most states have laws limiting the number of forward facing bulbs to a total of 4.