"Touchy" Fog Light Switch

jeep_boss

jeep_boss

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Seattle, WA, United States
I can't figure this one out.. a couple of weeks ago, I'm on the highway with my daytime running lights on, and I hit my turn signal in advance of passing the car in front of me. I saw my LED canon lights reflect on the car in front of me right at the moment I hit the turn lever (I'm running the lights off of the factory fog lamp switch). This persisted a few more times on that particular trip.

When I returned home that evening, I figured that I'd take the mechanism out and inspect and clean it out. There was slight tarnishing on the copper contacts - all of the wvite plastic seitch linkage components looked to be OK (I didn't really notice any wear on them as I saw with someone on YouTube).

That said, I did not disassemble the actual knob on the mechanism, since it seemed fine. Something "isn't" fine though, as it started happening again today.

Could there be something with the knob wearing out that is making it too touchy, that it activates the fog lamp mechanism? I don't know per se if these things wear out or if it's a common issue with the age of our TJs and all.
 
jeep_boss said:
SWEET!!! I never would have thought a fix for this would have been published, let alone here (and twice!)
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Once you take it apart you'll wonder who the idiot was who designed that switch. It looks like some sort of damn Rube Goldberg contraption inside the switch.

They should have just added an extra rocker switch next to all the others for the fog lights in all honesty.
 
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Chris said:
Once you take it apart you'll wonder who the idiot was who designed that switch. It looks like some sort of damn Rube Goldberg contraption inside the switch.

They should have just added an extra rocker switch next to all the others for the fog lights in all honesty.
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Yeah, I agree. I had already take mine apart thinking there was debris or something in there. I'm glad that I took it apart in a way that I had actually noticed the little clock hand looking thing. That could have been lost pretty easily!
 
Totally agree with @Chris on this. What a pile of shit it is. It takes a really tiny torx bit, so be prepared for that.
 
jeep_boss said:
Yeah, I agree. I had already take mine apart thinking there was debris or something in there. I'm glad that I took it apart in a way that I had actually noticed the little clock hand looking thing. That could have been lost pretty easily!
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Yep, someone over-engineered that thing to death.

Like I said, why didn't they just add a rocker switch for the fog lights. Would have been so much nicer.

Oh well!
 
Chris said:
Yep, someone over-engineered that thing to death.

Like I said, why didn't they just add a rocker switch for the fog lights. Would have been so much nicer.

Oh well!
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I'm tempted to just go ahead and use the harness with the button that came with the Vision X canons. I am planning at some point soon to get actual fog lights for my Jeep that I can use on the road (the CG2's are just too bright), so maybe I'll just add the Vision X kit and wait to fix the factory switch until I find decent fog lamps.
 
jeep_boss said:
I'm tempted to just go ahead and use the harness with the button that came with the Vision X canons. I am planning at some point soon to get actual fog lights for my Jeep that I can use on the road (the CG2's are just too bright), so maybe I'll just add the Vision X kit and wait to fix the factory switch until I find decent fog lamps.
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Be careful, that fog light switch will get more touchy and will leave the fog lights on when they are supposed to be off. Came home from work one night, went in the house, forgot something in the jeep, went back out to get something and the fog lights were on even though the switch was off. Had to jiggle the switch to get them to turn off.
 
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If I could get a multi-function switch from a non fog light vehicle, I could install that, then put a rocker switch in the center area. However, my OCD would absolutely have to figure out a way to make the fog light indicator in the gauge cluster turn on when the rocker switch was turned on.
 
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bobthetj03 said:
Be careful, that fog light switch will get more touchy and will leave the fog lights on when they are supposed to be off. Came home from work one night, went in the house, forgot something in the jeep, went back out to get something and the fog lights were on even though the switch was off. Had to jiggle the switch to get them to turn off.
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Ouch! Was this AFTER the mod / fix you lonked me to?

Chris said:
If I could get a multi-function switch from a non fog light vehicle, I could install that, then put a rocker switch in the center area. However, my OCD would absolutely have to figure out a way to make the fog light indicator in the gauge cluster turn on when the rocker switch was turned on.
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Aye. We suffer from the same OCD brother! I have some free time on my hands rigt now, I'm already interested in figuring out ways to work around he axle lock indicator lights for my fully pnuematic air lockers that I'm prototyping, so the proctology gloves are going on.
 
jeep_boss said:
Ouch! Was this AFTER the mod / fix you lonked me to?



Aye. We suffer from the same OCD brother! I have some free time on my hands rigt now, I'm already interested in figuring out ways to work around he axle lock indicator lights for my fully pnuematic air lockers that I'm prototyping, so the proctology gloves are going on.
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It can be done. I don't know exactly how, but if you sit down with the wiring schematics, you can figure it out.

I almost bought a Rubicon with a V8 swap from this guy locally before I found my current Rubicon. I actually decided against it because of the half ass job he had done with the swap. The V8 was in there and ran great, but he didn't pay attention to the little things like getting the locker lights in the cluster to work, as well as other indicator lights (including reverse lights). While most people wouldn't care about this, it bothered me greatly that someone would go through the effort of putting in V8, but not paying attention to the little things. If I am going to do a swap like that, I want everything to function as if it were factory, including all the dashboard lights. That's just my attention to detail.
 
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bobthetj03 said:
Be careful, that fog light switch will get more touchy and will leave the fog lights on when they are supposed to be off. Came home from work one night, went in the house, forgot something in the jeep, went back out to get something and the fog lights were on even though the switch was off. Had to jiggle the switch to get them to turn off.
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This happened to me. Except mine drained my Battery one day at work. The fog light switch had shorted and drained the battery. Had to replace my entire multi switch. I looked at doing the free fix but mine was actually melted in the inside where the shirt happened. Mine has been Trouble free since I replaced it. Cost me $100 and about an hour of my time.
 
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UpperMI said:
This happened to me. Except mine drained my Battery one day at work. The fog light switch had shorted and drained the battery. Had to replace my entire multi switch. I looked at doing the free fix but mine was actually melted in the inside where the shirt happened. Mine has been Trouble free since I replaced it. Cost me $100 and about an hour of my time.
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Mine did the same but at night. I just pulled the relay and when I installed my winch I didn't have room for them any more.

—
There must have been a time
when we could have said no.
 
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