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I've read the last four pages of this sub-forum without really coming across a concrete answer to my questions, so I figured I'd give this a shot. Forgive me if someone knows where the answer is already posted!

I want to get some OEM foglights for my '04 Civic EX. The true ones, like from handaaccessories.com, not the OEM replica ripoffs from eBay. My main question: Does Honda's foglights allow you to change out the bulbs for real, yellow foglight bulbs?

Minor questions: Do I need to do anything else to the foglights to make them appear like yellow foglights (i.e. yellow film)? Does Honda or a reputable manufacturer make yellow versions of the OEM foglights? If the yellow bulb replacement is something that can be done, what's the brightest I can go and does anyone have a particular brand to recommend?

Quick side question, which has kind of been debated here: I'd like to do this myself. Is it that difficult? Any advice to someone who's never done it before?

Thanks for any help, even links to threads with my answers. It's all appreciated...

 
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You can swap fog lights bulbs.
To achieve yellow color, you can either use yellow bulbs or film like most of members use.

Honda Do make Yellow ion fog lights; JDM Modulo.
However, I can't think of place where you can buy from.
Very costy, If i remember right, it's about $350-400.

Very easy to install, couple wire hook up here and there.
Only thing you would really have to do is make mounting holes; on lower part of the front bumper.
OEM foglights will be provided with instructions, so shouldn't be too hard to do.

There's detailed do it yourself guide somewhere that was posted awhile ago.

 
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Is this what you're talking about?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/JDM-h...42553848QQrdZ1

 
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nokya yellow bulbs 2500k color temp will be pure yellow. film doesn't work as well.

 
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How about using both or would the bulbs be enough? And when you say 'film', you're talking about the protective stuff I'll need to put on the lens to prevent cracks and chips, right?

 
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Well, I ordered the OEM foglights today from handaaccessories.com. Checked with my local Honda dealership before placing the order, just asking what their price would be. They wanted $340 for the hardware and an additional $150 for the labor, should I want them to install it!!! Yeah. Right. Anyways...

I should be getting them sometime next week. Think I might do a write-up on them, too, kind of like a DIY/review type of thing. We'll see.

Also, I ordered these, too:

http://store.racinglab.com/nohyyeprohal14.html

That's the exact type and wattage that comes stock in the OEM foglights. Didn't want to go higher, due to concerns with burning out the harness.

Only thing I can't decide on is if I should get the protective film in clear or in yellow. Any ideas?

And is it true that they'll only work on low beam, shutting off when the high beams are turned on? If so, is there a way to get around it?

 
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the film will just burn from the heat. our fogs get too hot in the summer.

yea there is a way around the wiring. you just cut a wire and route it elsewhere. mine work whenever the ignition is in ACC position, even if other lights are off.

 
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i have mine wired so it works whenever i push the button, keys or no keys, or other lights on...i have an 04 with oem style fogs from ebay...i got the same nokya hyper yellow bulbs off ebay for less than $20 and i have 3M yellow tinting on my lenses for protection and yellow color...the fog lights get really hot on hot days if u turn them on...i usually dont run with them on unless its nice and cool outside, or im on the freeway or if im gonna run canyons

 
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old pics of nokya yellow when i had hid headlight

 
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The OEM Honda foglights really run that hot? Well, if I don't put on a protective film, won't that leave the lenses open for damage? Almost sounds like a Catch-22. If I put on the protective film, they'll melt. If I don't, then the lenses will get damaged. I wonder which would be better? Would it help to switch to a bulb with lower output?

Nice pictures of the foglights. Did you install them yourself? Do you know how to reroute that wire for it to work in ACC mode?

Just curious: does it really require two people to take off the bumper?

 
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well i jus got my foglight also, but from ebay. and i've seen you everywhere on here gearbox, and you have alot of great diy info. it would be nice if you could give some info on how to rewire the foglight wires so that you could turn it on anytime. =)

 
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no, bumper is easy with one person. i have had my fogs almost a year and no damage without film

Normally, the switch for true oem fog lights will only work with headlights in low beam mode. After doing this diy, the switch will work whenever the key is in the accessory position regardless of which lights are on. Note this diy is for the sedan switch. For the coupe, you'll have to test which wire gets power with the headlights on but not when they're off.

Tools needed:

Wire cutter
electrical tape
tap splices (2)
short 12-14 gauge wire
pliars

step 1. Remove the center piece that holds the fog light switch. You can pry it off from the sides with a screwdriver or stick your finger in the socket and try to pull it out

step 2. Unplug the harness from the switch and examine the back of it. You should see about 5 wires coming from them. One is ground, another is for the dash light, and another is the headlight remote turn on. I used a test light (194 light bulb) to see when voltage passed through each power wire. I narrowed this down to the blue wire as the one which becomes live when the headlights are turned on.



step 3. CUT the blue wire and splice the end coming from the switch to one side of your small piece of wire. Splice the other end of your wire to the positive green/yellow wire coming to the socket plug. The blue wire coming from the fog light switch should now be directly connected to the green/yellow power wire of the 12v socket.

step 4. Tape everything up and plug the harness back into the switch.

step 5. Put the key to the accessory position and make sure the switch turns on the fog lights at all times.

ALTERNATELY, you can connect the blue wire from the switch straight to the battery and have the switch turn the fogs on even without the key. Being the lazy guy I am, it didn't seem like fun to run a wire all the way to the battery when I had power right in front of me.

Now enjoy your 5 minutes of work Remember in some states it's illegal to drive with only fog lights on, but cops don't really care.

 
Rep Power: 252

Excellent! Thanks, Gearbox. I got my fogs yesterday from handaaccessories.com and was just thinking of how to wire it up for continuous power. This is exactly what I was looking for...

I'm not sure of elsewhere, but here, in Michigan, I believe you're allowed a maximum of three pairs of lights (six singles, total) on the front of your vehicle and they can only be yellow or white; no colors. Now, whether or not they consider high beams to be a set of lights, I don't know. I'll have to call them later and get a definitive answer.

Sorry if I sound like a noob here, but I have a couple of questions about directly wiring to a battery, since I've never done that before:

1. Is there a different gauge wire to use when doing a direct connect, for sake of safety?
2. I should crimp the end of the wire to a ring before hooking it up to the battery, right? (I ask that because I, literally, once saw a guy simply wrap the wire for his fogs to the battery post. Yes, he later melted both the wiring and the inline fuse).
3. Should I put in an inline fuse? If so, what would be a recommended amperage?

If any of those questions have already been answered in the forums, please, just say so and I'll do an Advanced Search!

Personally, I think I might just go with the way this DIY is laid out, hooking it up so that the fogs turn on only when the ACC switch is on. I'm going that route because I'm assuming that directly wiring it to the battery would mean that they could be left on, even when the car is turned off. Am I right or will a direct wiring still turn off with the key out?

Thanks, again, for the DIY, Gearbox! Now all I have to do is see when the weather will warm up enough for me to tackle this!

 
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you are only using the wire as a switch to activate a relay. the 12v socket wires are pretty tiny to size does not matter. you're not running the fogs off it, just using it to trigger the relay to get power from bigger wires in the harness.

 
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I pretty much follow you, but I just want to clear something up. Yes or no: If I wire directly from the battery and press the switch, will the foglights stay on when the car is turned off and the key is out of the ignition?

 
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yes. but you need to find the wire at the back of the switch that is hot only when the headlights are on. then cut that wire and connect the side coming from the switch directly to the battery. tape off the other side. DO NOT splice the wire, it must be cut. the reason i chose the ignition was in case i forgot the fogs were on so when i pulled out the key, they would turn off. otherwise direct battery connection you have to remember to press the switch. i've forgotten a few times myself.

 
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Okay, that's what I thought. I'm not too keen on having a situation where I could leave the lights on by mistake and wipe out my battery. I think I'll just stay with the original DIY and have it set up to where the on/off ability is governed by the ACC. Seems to be the smartest way to do it.

I opened up my foglight package and took a look at everything. Kind of did a run through of the wires you were talking about and where they were situated on the harness. Now, when you talk of the "blue wire", you're talking about the red wire with the blue stripe, right? It's that striped wire that'll be jumped to the 12V socket (a.k.a. Cigarette Lighter)?

 
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no look at the pic again. the wire is blue. now also this might be different, which is why you need to test it. once everything is hooked up, go find a test lite from the store. it has two little metal electrodes that you connect to a power and ground and the lil light inside will come on if it detects power. you want to put the black into the switch ground and then use the red to probe all the other switch wires to see which one gets power ONLY when the headlights are on. You know, alot of people said the ebay fogs work when the parking lights are on so you might not even need to do anything.

 
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man ur fogs were crazy to install...mine were just plug and play

 
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Well, I know this is going to be frustrating, but it's not blue. My harness has all red wires, with each one denoted with a different, striped color. I'll take a picture of it this weekend, so you can see what I'm talking about. My foglights ore OEM. Are your lights the same or from something else, like eBay? That might explain the discrepancy.

Either way, I'll do what you suggested. I'll check the wires with that light and see which is the wire I need. I highly doubt that I'll get so lucky as to have these work the same as those eBay lights you talked about, but we'll see. Like I said, I'll post pictures of the wires this weekend...

Mine pretty much are, too. We're just trying to figure out which wire I need to cut for Gearbox's mod, that's all...

 
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mine are oem. sedan and coupe have different wires however. i have sedan.

 
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Then we have a problem. I have a 2004 Civic EX and it's a Sedan, too. I can only think of two possibilities:

1. The OEM kit from HandA is some sort of weird OEM aftermarket version, not generally used during factory production, but sold to customers after they've purchased their Honda.

2. I'm looking at the wrong connector on the wiring harness.

I've never actually heard of a situation like the one in #1. Maybe it happens, maybe it doesn't. I know that, generally (not just in automotives), some companies DO that, having a slight difference between factory OEM and aftermarket OEM, but I have no knowledge as to whether or not that would apply here.

As for the second possibility, I guess it could've happened, me looking at the wrong switch connector, but I highly doubt it. I took the switch out and matched it up to the connector on the harness. Both had five connection points, with the five wires on the harness (four in a row, one by itself) lining up perfectly with the five tabs on the switch. I'll take another look at when I get home, just to be sure...

 
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well you just gotta figure it out with a test light. i know there are a bunch of different fog kits, they even have different ones between 01-02 and 03. its very confusing and i just got the exact one for my car. dealer installed it and they had to first verify it was genuine oem (and it was).

 
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Mine says "Honda" in the corners of the lenses. Is that how they verify genuine OEM or is there something else?

 
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check the bulbs, they should be philips, there should be some made in germany writings too.

 
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"Germany writings"? Is that anything like German? j/k

Yep, I remember that the bulbs had "Philips" stamped on the end, along with the wattage and something else (maybe H8). The bulb ends were yellow, even though the bulbs are the standard issue white, if that's any help.

 
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"made in germany" writings lol

 
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LOL! Yeah, I figured that's what it was...

It states on the yellow tab of the headlight:

"Philips H8
GERMANY A511
12V 35W 12360
E1 24F U DOT"

I'm pretty sure it's genuine. So why the different colored wires?