SWWAFordGuy
Active Member
I have a 97 XLT, 4wd but no fogs. In their place I have black, plastic blanks. The project came up with a headlight upgrade figured I'm already working on the front, lets take a look and see about adding in those fogs. Research showed the OEM fogs to have a weird looking bracket arrangement for mounting, not really a problem. I had the truck up on a lift and took a look behind the bumper, it appeared there would be ample supports for aftermarket fogs.
To work on the install, the best option was to remove the bumper entirely and set it face down to get access to the back. When I pulled the bumper, lo and behold, there was a wiring harness already set up for those lights. What a deal, all I would have to do is install the correct fuse, pop in a relay and replace the headlight dash switch.
Then the problems appeared. The aftermarket lights I had chosen were actually a little too large to fit aiming straight ahead because of the bumper mount that connects to the vehicle frame and there was no frame to attach anything to at the trailing end of the bumper. I could fabricate some kind of frame work/cross member to bolt the lights to but didn't want to go to all that trouble. What I settled on was removing the valance under the bumper and mounting the lights there. The harness reached about halfway and the lights came with a wire stub that would reach the rest of the way and have a couple inches left over.
Now came the relay and fuse install along with the headlight switch on the dash. F27 in the fuse box is what I verified as the one to install and a relay in the power box under the hood. Here's the problem: F27 already had a fuse in that slot. The other empty fuse slot that I could use had no metal connectors = no power. Same issue with the open spot for a relay under the hood. The space was there but no connectors inside the slot. That means the wire harness was installed, something that Ford is known to do, but the fuse box under the dash and the power box under the hood had no live connection to power the harness. What the hell is that?
I ended up running a separate wire harness up from the lights and along the inside of the hood compartment, behind the glove box and mounted the switch on the side of the center console. The harness came with an inline fuse and a 60 amp relay which I used as well.
What I want to know, is this a common issue? From my limited understanding about how Ford builds vehicles, they will install a wire harness but might not power it.
However. the missing connectors inside both the fuse box and the power relay box? Is that at all common or did I stumble upon some kind of mechanical oversight?
I went with this for the foglights and got the same company's 600watt wire harness because it was offered with 12gauge wire.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00OZ35XQE/ref=psdc_15730331_t1_B07334LMNP?th=1
To work on the install, the best option was to remove the bumper entirely and set it face down to get access to the back. When I pulled the bumper, lo and behold, there was a wiring harness already set up for those lights. What a deal, all I would have to do is install the correct fuse, pop in a relay and replace the headlight dash switch.
Then the problems appeared. The aftermarket lights I had chosen were actually a little too large to fit aiming straight ahead because of the bumper mount that connects to the vehicle frame and there was no frame to attach anything to at the trailing end of the bumper. I could fabricate some kind of frame work/cross member to bolt the lights to but didn't want to go to all that trouble. What I settled on was removing the valance under the bumper and mounting the lights there. The harness reached about halfway and the lights came with a wire stub that would reach the rest of the way and have a couple inches left over.
Now came the relay and fuse install along with the headlight switch on the dash. F27 in the fuse box is what I verified as the one to install and a relay in the power box under the hood. Here's the problem: F27 already had a fuse in that slot. The other empty fuse slot that I could use had no metal connectors = no power. Same issue with the open spot for a relay under the hood. The space was there but no connectors inside the slot. That means the wire harness was installed, something that Ford is known to do, but the fuse box under the dash and the power box under the hood had no live connection to power the harness. What the hell is that?
I ended up running a separate wire harness up from the lights and along the inside of the hood compartment, behind the glove box and mounted the switch on the side of the center console. The harness came with an inline fuse and a 60 amp relay which I used as well.
What I want to know, is this a common issue? From my limited understanding about how Ford builds vehicles, they will install a wire harness but might not power it.
However. the missing connectors inside both the fuse box and the power relay box? Is that at all common or did I stumble upon some kind of mechanical oversight?
I went with this for the foglights and got the same company's 600watt wire harness because it was offered with 12gauge wire.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00OZ35XQE/ref=psdc_15730331_t1_B07334LMNP?th=1
