Another Fog Light Question

[profdlp]

I probably have a couple of these threads archived somewhere, but they are years old and I have a new question.

Just over eight years ago my Jeep was broken into and the steering column trashed. It ended up needing all the computer bull droppings replaced. Since that day my fog lights always come on once I turn the headlights on. The little pull-out switch makes no difference either way. The fog lights come on with the parking lights as well, which is probably illegal...

Multiple attempts to have things reprogrammed (at three different dealers) got me nowhere. (I suspect the people had never seen a problem like that and it wasn't in their magic book of "If that, do this".)

I installed the factory fog light kit and they worked flawlessly until the break-in. My memory is hazy after ten years but I remember having to tap into a certain wire in the wiring harness up front.

So here is my question: Could the new BCM be trying to send the signal from the switch down a different wire? In other words, if I were to move the wire to the fog lights to a different wire in the Jeep's wiring harness is it possible they might start working properly again?

Complicating this is the fact that I have a 2007, when Jeep was transitioning to the KK. (Most of my Jeep is KJ, but I have a KK PCV valve setup, for instance.)

It occurred to me (eight years too late) that a simple solution would have been to rewire the fogs to an add-on switch independent of the stalk switch and just use that. I FINALLY installed the three switches I needed for my awesome (if I do say so myself) offroad and work lights and they look great. So great, in fact, that I no longer have a good place for a fourth switch...

Any of you electrical gurus out there have any suggestion for moving the tap-in for the factory harness and maybe get some control of my fog lights back?

 

[lfhoward]

I don’t have the answer, but I am wondering if the 07 had KK-like wiring and they repaired your multifunction switch/steering column using 05-06 vintage parts? I would probably get under the steering wheel and find the harness coming from the multifunction switch, then use my multimeter/test light to identify the wire that should turn your fog lights on. (Pull out the stalk and it gets power.) Then move the wire from your fog lights kit to that location in the harness.

I know, much easier said than done, and it will kill your back to be working under there.

 

[Deb'nKJ]

There may be something in that; it does rather seem that, in some way, the foglight switch has been bypassed.
Who knows, it might, suddenly, seem oh so familiar & what's wrong become blindingly obvious.

 

[profdlp]

I don’t have the answer, but I am wondering if the 07 had KK-like wiring and they repaired your multifunction switch/steering column using 05-06 vintage parts? I would probably get under the steering wheel and find the harness coming from the multifunction switch, then use my multimeter/test light to identify the wire that should turn your fog lights on. (Pull out the stalk and it gets power.) Then move the wire from your fog lights kit to that location in the harness.

I know, much easier said than done, and it will kill your back to be working under there.

I had a phantom electrical problem in a car years ago and I ended up punching holes in the shielding of a lot of various wires trying to test them. I think this is a great idea but I'm hoping to narrow it down to just a few "likely" wires rather than take a shotgun to anything and everything. Anyone know if the wires in the column going to the stalk would match stuff under the hood in the actual headlight/fog light area?

The repair place swore they used 07 parts, though that is somewhat meaningless since my 07 might actually have been partly 08 due to it being a transition year. (Like the PCV valve I mentioned earlier.) Jeep was tossing whatever they had in the warehouse in there that year, it seems.

There may be something in that; it does rather seem that, in some way, the foglight switch has been bypassed.
Who knows, it might, suddenly, seem oh so familiar & what's wrong become blindingly obvious.

On page 4 of the attached document it shows what I tapped into when I installed the factory kit. They are marked WT/YL and A-LB. I am thinking that whatever replacement crap they put in there may now be sending the fog light signal down a different pair. This would be easier to test as I could undo the plug and perform a trial-and-error test to see if something is off and magically comes on when I pull out the fog light switch. This would save jabbing my shielding up. (See above.)

 

[Deb'nKJ]

& why can't you undo the plug? (sorry, but am I missing something here?)

 

[profdlp]

& why can't you undo the plug? (sorry, but am I missing something here?)

I am going to do just that. Need to get someone to sit in the Jeep and move the switches.

 

[Deb'nKJ]

oh, that problem!