First mod to my V (warning I am a hack)

[daan]

Alright so I've had this since early 08, put nearly 80K on it, and I finally have a couple hours to work on my car. I've had these lights for almost 2 years now, I think it's time to finally install them. Who knew between having 3 kids, getting laid off and finding a new job and moving to a different state would slow my project down? Anyway here goes:

I bought a set of those wal mart lights,but it seemed that everyone who got them on here ended up replacing them anyway I decided I wanted "real" Nissan ones.While trolling around in the classifieds someone on here was selling theirs used so I got them pretty cheap. I should have had this done last year when the front end was replaced after my deer hit, but hindsight, blah blah blah.
Anyway these are factory lamps and what looks like the wiring kit from an aftermarket light set. Big fuse, nice relay, everything's wrapped up to keep it dry. Now I just have to figure out where all these wires go...
There wasn't a bezel for the switch though, I ended up having to use the blanking plate thingy next to the mirror controls. I cut all the bracing/webbing whatever out of the inside and Dremeled a hole in the front. I had to thin out the sides enough to get the nut to screw onto the switch but it all worked out in the end.


I got the lamps in no problem, the switch is 99% there now all I have to do is route all the wires around. I was doing this while changing my oil, so it probably should have gone quicker than it did. I was working outside and I ended up having to move the car back inside because of a freak rainstorm (that the sun was still shining during, go figure) and then ran out of time (had to pick my kids up at school) so hopefully I'll be able to finish this tomorrow. WIthout starting anything on fire... As long as I don't end up driving around like this for the next 2 years...

[JHR16DE]

Looks good. I have Wal-Mart fogs setup the same way. Switch is on the same spot as well.

[Promise Land]

If your car was pre-wired for fog lights (all S & SL modesl are), youd just have to plug in the connectors that are tied up behind the headlights and add an OEM turn signal stalk with foglight switch. It'd work without having to add the extra switch, relay, etc.

[daan]

Well right after posting this I came down with a nasty summer flu. My kids were both sicktoo so we thought it may have been that Pertussis thing thats been going on lately (9 kids have actually died from it in Wisconsin already) so my mind hasn't really been on car modding lately. (We're all ffine, BTW) Anyway back to lights- 07-08 S models didn't get prewired for fogs. And when I bought mine, the dealer wanted nothing to do with installing them. They were adamant that if I wanted fogs I had to buy an SL They didn't even want to sell me the kit so I could do it myself... Anyway There's no wires of any sort where my fog lamps are so I have to pull wires thru the firewall someplace and figure out where to stash the relay and all the other wires so they don't get wet or rubbed against by anything.

[daan]

I got the wires pulled and connected today (well that only took like 4 hours...sheesh)

I had to remove the battery and the air box to get at the grommett the wires were supposed to pass thru. The switch I have has blade terminal ends on the wires, and that wouldn't make it thru the grommett (even after trying twice..not fun) I ended up cutting the terminal end off and reattatching it once it was thru-I should go back and solder it together and put shrink tubing over it.

THere's actually a lot of "stuff" in the way of the wiring in there. I spent a loooong time fishing wires around, and kind of ran out of time so I had to rush to put the car back together enough to drive it to work tonight. I was all excited to see my new lights in action, and when I hit the switch...nuthin'. Crap. I need to go back and figure out if I wired something wrong in the relay, or if a fuse is bad somewhere. I THINK I did it right, but I'm still not getting any light out of the ...lights. Dangit. It's still better than paying the what, $4000 they wanted for an SL when I bought mine...

[JHR16DE]

Switch looks good. Do you plan on getting different color bulbs for the fogs?

[daan]

I actually got the lamps with yellow bulbs in them, and replaced those with white ones. I'm not a fan of yellow lights.
I spent a few more hours futzing with all the wiring on here, still no joy. I pulled everything apart and checked the connections, the switch and all the interior wiring is OK, the fuses were both still good, I had power and grounds connected OK under the hood, and still nuthin'. I started to unwrap where they attatched the relay to the factory wires from the lamps (which were both plugged in still, and with brand-new bulbs in them) and came across another fuse block. This one was mummified in tape which is why I never checked it before:


Totally burned fuse and holder, melted wires, the whole bit. No wonder it never worked. SO the seller burned it up, pulled it out of his car, covered it all in tape and sent it on. Nice. I'm pulling apart all the other wires under the hood to see what other suprises I've got. So now I'm gonna have to go buy a new fuse block, after figuring out how many amps this one was and splice all that in. I'm starting to think I should have just bought an SL...

[daan]

Yup, I'd say that fuse is blown...
I finally got my lights to work. I cut out the old, melted fuse holder thingy and spliced in a new one (with a 40-amp fuse this time)

I actually bought a new relay, switch and wiring kit in case I needed them, but after taking everything (I mean,EVERYTHING) apart again, the only bad fuse or connection was the melted one. I connected the power wire to the + battery terminal, there's a handy nut/screw to do that but of course mine is corroded on there so bad the screw won't come off. I soaked it in Kroil for a whole day, but it still won't budge.

I ended up just connecting the wire to the side of the terminal, which meant I didn't screw it back on tight enough and when I went to pick my kids up today the + terminal came off the battery post and the car wouldn't start. I had to borrow a wrench from the school to get back on the road. SHeesh it's like I never worked on cars before or something...anyway after all this my advice to people would be to just buy new parts instead of buying somebody's old hacked up stuff, I definitely ended up spending as much $ and waaaaay more time to install these lights. Lets hope I don't hit another deer this fall...