Hey all,
So I went to replace my passenger side fog lamp bulb and I found that the old housing (the little black piece that the bulb tip slips into) had melted and I couldn't get the bulb out. So, I cut out the old housing leaving two wires: one brown and one black. I went to the autoparts store and found that the Halogen bulbs slip into a normal wire connector. I bought a few of these and I plan on splicing them in. This is where I am stuck. How should I go about wiring it back up. I know that one wire is hot and one is ground, but I couldn't get a reading with my multimeter (its tight to get in there because I cant get my plastic wheel well off due to rusted bolts). Also where should I ground the ground wire. Any help would be appreciated.

 

According to the circuit diagram of the RAVE, most all lighting items use black as the ground wire. Where is the lamp you describe (side of vehicle, bear wheel, etc.)?

 

So I tried to wire things up today without any luck. What I did was extend the black and brown wires using some external 14 gauge wire I had laying around. Then I tried first with the brown wire being power and the black being ground and it just sparked and broke the fuse. After that, I tried the reverse with the black being the power and the same thing happened. I should note that I was touching the ground wire in both senarios to a bolt on the engine (I did this just to see if the wiring would work before I put everything back together). So, does anyone know what I am doing wrong. Perhaps the connector for the fog lamps needs to be used for it to work properly. Any help will be much appreciated.

 

What you describe is trying to use a fuse that is too small for the load.

1. Are these stock lights?

2. Where are they mounted?

3. Which number fuse blows, and in which fuse box?

 

They are the stock fog lamps on a 99 D2 (the lamps located on the bottom of the front bumper). The fog lamp fuse in the fuse box in the engine compartment blows (not sure which number bay it is in). It is a 15 amp fuse and that is what it has always been. If I don't try to connect the passenger side light and the fuse is still good, the drive side will go on. However once I try to bring power (in both combinations as described in my previous post) then there is a spark, it blows the fuse, and drivers side goes out.

 

Here's schematic, and photo/connector info. Black is the ground. But they show a blue/purple for hot wire, may have changed?

Also strange that it blows fuse AND only driver side goes dark?

 

Hmm thanks for the help savannah. What I meant by saying that it causes the drivers side lamp to go out is, that since that is the only one lit, then it is the only one to go out. The passenger side doesn't turn on at all. The bulb is brand new and I checked the element to make sure that that wasnt the problem. I guess you might have to ground directly to the lamp housing for it to work. Like I said I was grounding it to an engine bolt as a way to check.

 

it looks like the schematics and pics you posted are for a 03-04 model. Mine has a different setup then what is pictured

 

pics came from this, connectors are same number in both verions of electrical schematic in RAVE, what does your version show?

 

Would also consider this idea - if fuse does not blow, and passenger side bulb never comes on, and fuse blows when driver bulb installed - perhaps we should direct attention to passenger side, may have some sort of short, enough to take out the bulb, or cut wire toward bulb and partial ground toward fuse. You might be drawing ten amps and not lighting either bulb...