JeRKy 8 Owner

Is there any way to modify the stock on the car so that it will turn on the foglights w/o turning having the Xenon lights on too? When I drive duringthe sunset I think turning on the Xenon lights is too much so I just turn move the stock up one notch so that only the mini lights are on. The fog lights wont go on unless the stock is all the way upthough! Id really like to just be able to drive around with just foglights on sometimes. I dont understand why the Xenon lights have to be on in order to turn on the foglights. I know alot of other cars let you turn on foglights whenever you want to.

eccles

Stupid federal legislation classifies foglights as "auxilliary lights," and thus they can only be lit in conjunction with the regular headlights (which totally defeats the purpose of fog lights). But some enterprising souls have found a way to rewire the relay so that they can be switched independently. See the "fog light rewire" thread.

pepe

Aussie spec ones can do this... looks fantastic as well :D

Thinthi

Be very careful about your warranty. i put some neon foot well (lit up the floor for the passanger and driver's foot area, but real dim) lights, looked real classy despite what alot of people said on this site. well when i took my car in because they sold me a broken car i was told i voided my warranty, keep in mind no wires splices, i just had it plugged into the cigerette lighter. the service manager also told me that i voided my warranty by having a radar detector in my glove box, not plugged in (it died on me, but after 3.5 years of good use, i just put it there to remind myself, new car time to buy a new detector). now i know that its bullshit, and i got the sales rep to say it doesn't void my warranty, but only if i pull everything out of my car (all my time and energy putting in the lights gone to waste). The service manager handed me this e-mail all the mazda sales managers got, and here it is:

---------------------------------------------
Sales Managers


Please be advised:


New Mazda vehicles equipped with CAN engine management system (Mazda6, RX-8, Mazda3) may not function well when wires are spliced and other aftermarket accessories are tied into a vehicle. One vehicle recently in question would not start. The technician was faced with trying to get the vehicle running and had to do it with limited factory support. MNAO, MC, or FORD cannot tell a dealer what will happen when these parts are installed as tehy vary in operation from vendor to vendor. The technical hotline will only recommend the complete removal of the system in order to isolate the root cause. The operation will not be covered under warranty.

I reccomend that dealers curtail this type of installation whenever possible. Warranty will not cover any related repairs caused by there aftermarket parts.

-----------------------------------------------------

i cut out the names, because i'm sure the e-mail adresses shouldn't be revieled here, but the point is, after reading this, i'm preety sure splicing to have only the fogs on (which i agree would be nice) can void your electrical warranty. I would go to a seperate dealer, be liek you are intersted in buying the car, but you read about the CAN management system, and you have a concearn about the fogs, will it void the warranty. Goodluck

Magnesium

https://www.rx8club.com/showthread.p...threadid=11737

Come on guys, check out the Tech Garage before you leap.

LL7

I have done this rewire job and it is easy. Never thought about voiding my warranty - oops. Since this is a federal regulation, can you get a ticket, or worse, for driving with only your fogs and parking lights on?

eccles

Erm, I referred to that thread three posts ago. C'mon guys, read before you reply. :p

Magnesium

hehe, caught me being a lurker

jtimbck2

If state troopers, county sheriffs, and local police are out there writing tickets enforcing *federal* regulations then there's something wrong. The cops have enough to do without trying to keep up with federal regulations.

The answer is, no, I don't think anyone will get a ticket for this (unless there are local or state laws governing it in your area as well).

Now as far as the warranty issue is concerned, I hadn't thought of that before (with respect to the fog light rewire). I was planning to do the rewire, now I'm not so sure.

NOTE: I am not a lawyer. I don't play one on television. I'm just using a little common sense.

QuantumTheory08

...I hate to say it, but I'd like to be able to turn on the fog lights with NO other lights on...under certain circumstances. (terrible I know).

Mitch Strickler

Just taking a common sense approach, the chance of a warranty problem seems tiny. I don't doubt that the new CAN system may be easily spooked, but the addition of fog lights to the accessories circuit seems to be the kind of thing that the system designers expected, and therefore not a problem. A circuit called "accessories" is by definition the place where additional power drains are attached. Of course, if you put on some monster power user, that could throw things off.
Come on, you technical types, comment on whether my theory makes sense.
Other common sense point: The people who have done the mod don't report any problem with their cars. The chances of a dealer knowing that there was a mod seem tiny, then. Techs have better things to do than open up wiring on properly functioning cars and check for splices. Finally, if there is any kind of problem, real or from a dealer threatening warranty withdrawal, just putting things back in OE form is easy.
Bottom line: I'm going ahead with the mod.

mikeb

for what kinda circumstances

doing drive by's

JRobUSC

More like "getting away from cops when they try to pull me over at night". Fog lights only means no taillights...

mikeb

oh

good luck

Nubo

My wife has a good quote

"I'd rather be judged by 12 than carried by 6". In this case, I would intend to use the FOG lights in the manner that FOG lights are designed to be used -- WITHOUT headlights so that you can SEE better through the FOG. I'm not going to risk my life because of some boneheaded bureaucrat. I'll challenge the ticket later if it comes to that.

On the other hand, people who drive around with fog lights on when there is NO FOG and no cause definitely deserve a ticket for being inconsiderate to other motorists and pedestrians, imo.

Nubo

Makes sense to me. The system is already designed to support the fog lights and the mod simply changes how the relay is energized - could not be more trivial from a systems point of view as far as I can see.

QuantumTheory08

...I shouldn't have said anything so please keep the bashing down if possible.

Yeah I was in a case with an officer in my small neighborhood while in dental school. I got away, partly because I turned all other lights off except my Hella "driving lights". I know it was stupid and irresponsible...and I got away with it; things could have been really bad. I really thought about fortunate I was later.

You never know when that option might come in handy.

JRobUSC

No bashing, I'm sure everyone has had at least one occassion where they wished they could just speed up and take off instead of stopping when they got caught speeding. I've never done it but if I hadn't thought about it I wouldn't have guessed that was why you wanted to run fogs only. I would imagine, though, the federal regulations everyone keeps talking about that make driving fogs only illegal were enacted specifically for that purpose.

OldCodger

Question - Has anyone actually seen the federal regs about aux lights?

My wife got a new SUV last week and the fog lights are controlled by pulling on the rotory headlight switch. Fogs can be on in the auto sensor position, PARKING LIGHT position, or headlight position. Fogs go off when hi-beam is selected. Are not SUVs subject to the same federal regs?

Note: The fogs operated exacltly the same as the RX8 in her previous two Explorers but not the new one. Previous models used a separate button on dash for lights so I expect the change came with the dash change.

eccles

No, I have not actually seen the regulation in question. But it's also true that SUV's do not have to meet all the same rules as regular passenger vehicles - they're classified as light trucks, which makes them subject to less stringent requirements. One of the reasons the manufacturers love them - they're cheaper to make.