I just got my black 2000 Lightning today, and I've run into something that I wonder if anyone has found a work around for.

To turn on the fog lights, you have to have the headlight *** on with the headlights on, and then you pull the *** out and it turns the foglights on.

The problem? You can't pull the *** out when the headlights are on the "auto" setting...so how can I get my fog lights on if I leave my car on auto-lights? (which I'd like to do)

Thanks,
Daniel

 

Please, somebody help!!!

 

you can't..... sorry.
rewiring the switch would allow for both lights to come on but would be very difficult to do.

 

Hey Daniel,

I rewired my lights and put a seperate switch to control the fog lights. I also hooked it up so that the fog lights came on with the auto headlamps.

First you have to pull the **** for the headlamps out so it is in the fog light position. Second take a small screw driver and put it in the bottom of the **** and pop it off. Third take the small screw driver again and to the top right of the **** assembly there is a small black plastic piece that needs to be pushed to the side to release the whole headlight assembly.

Next locate the small yellow wire on the left of the switch and TAP it to a seperate switch. Then just run power and ground to the switch and your are done. DO NOT CUT ANY WIRES, just tap it with the plastic tap.

Now you can ride with just the fogs and parking lights on and the auto feature will turn on the fogs too. I have had it done about 2 months and no problems.

Good Luck,

ROB

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The heartbeat stops when LIGHTNING Strikes!!!!

99.5 Red Lightning #1652> born May 27, 1999
best 1/4 mile 13.220 @ 104.44
2 Chamber Flowmasters
8" Bazooka Tubes
6.5 Diamond fronts
5x7 Kenwood Excelon rears
Phoenix Gold Amp
Dyna Mat Cab
Superchip
Downs Filter
Red Rhino Liner
JBA Jet Hot Headers
BFGoodrich Drag Radials
Autometer Phantom Boost & Transmission Temp Gauges
B&M Transmission Pan (Extra 4 quarts oil)
Synergen synthetic oil & transmission fluid

1996 SVT MYSTIC Cobra #177 of 1999
2 Chamber Flowmasters

1999 Harley Road King Classic
Too much to list

2000 Mercedes ML430 SUV

2000 SVT MYSTIC Gold Cobra Coupe 1 of 800 (deposit)

ROB
Bel Air, Maryland

 

H8 2 W8, the wiring portion will work for '99 but should be double checked for '00. Ford changed the head light switch assembly for '00 to a fixed non-adjustable auto lamp style. The retention method for the switch has also changed for '00. It is a snap in style switch. All that is needed is a small pick or small screw driver to release the retaining tab on the bottom of the swich assembly. A small indention will be seen to allow the screw driver to be inserted. Push down slightly to release the tab, the switch will the come staight out.

Just another one of those cost reducing things that Ford does to keep those big profits coming I guess.....

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99 Lightning, Black, CD
changer, Downey SST tonneau, Class 3 hitch, Ford bed mat, tinted back window,clear headlight/ foglight lenses, Pioneer speakers, Airaid airbox, clear corner lenses (thanks Roger L!) Autometer boost gauge, APC head/fog lamps (Thx. PFA), AIM drop shakles, MTX loaded sub box. On tap: Interceptor, Bassani headers. Chip?
DOB: 4-28-99, ordered 12-27-98
Build #694
My one really cool toy..
(except my '64 Mercury Parklane "hobby")

SVT RULES THE ROAD!!!!!

 

Double post, sorry

[This message has been edited by LightningKid (edited 03-25-2000).]

 

Okay, looks like I might have to wait for some nicer weather to fix this one...thanks for the info on the wiring and switch assembly though, once I get to give it a try, I'll let you know if I kill my lighting system.

Daniel

 

I got bored at work one day when we ran out of work early so I decided to "re-engineer" the lights so that I could turn my fogs on with the parking lamps. I wired em this way on my 94 and always liked the look- parkings lots and such where headlights just seem to be a little too much.

I took apart my Main head lamp switch and ground out the detents for the fog light switch so it could be pulled out in the parking lamp position. I ran a diode from the parking lamp circut to the fog lamp relay circut to power up the relay in the parking lamp mode. Works like a charm.

I dont have the wire colors with me right now but if anyone wants them go ahead and email me and Ill get them for you.

I'd have to look a the diagram again but you might be able to use the same theory to power up the fog lamp relay with the autolamp circut and ground out the detent in the off position so the switch can be pulled out. Depends on your level of mechanical inclination
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Struck by Lightning
Lightningstruck9@aol.com

Furthering the American Quest of Unlimited Horsepower and Crappy Gas Mileage!


[This message has been edited by Struck99 (edited 03-26-2000).]

 

What kind of diode did you run? This one sounds the easiest to do so far.

 

UPDATE FOR 2000 LIGHTNINGS:

I just found this accidently today on my truck, so I don't see why it wouldn't work on all 2000's. Apparently, the fog/driving lights are already wired to be able to turn on with the autolamps... BUT, one needs to grind out the 'rail' that keeps the switch from being pulled out in the autolamp position.

I can only offer a text description for now, but I hope to have pics and full instructions once I finish up this little project. My inspiration was an email from Struck99, but his directions did not correspond from his '99 to my '00. So a little exploratory surgery was in order. Here's what I did:

1) I first removed the one-piece headlamp/dimmer switch console from the dash. This console has three metal clips holding it in the dash - one on the bottom-middle where the 'notch' is, one on the left-middle, and one on the top-right (horizontally to the right of the dimmer switch, but on the top of the console). I simply used a small screwdriver to coax these clips into releasing the console from the dash. I then unplugged the two electrical bus connectors (one for the headlamp switch, and one for the dimmer switch) from the console

(NOTE: Since this is a single-piece part, I chose NOT to take off the faceplate to make any alterations. I'm sure one can take the thing apart and superglue/epoxy it back together, but I'd rather not break plastic pieces apart if I don't absolutely have to. )

2) If you look into the console from the bottom, you should be able to see the mechanical headlamp switch mechanism. There's a black plastic column that's attached to the headlamp switch that should rotate as you move the switch to its different positions (autolamp, off, park, on). Also attached to that column, inside the console, there's a black plastic 'arm' - this, along with the 'ramped' white plastic collar around the switch, is what prevents the headlamp **** from being pulled out in any position except the 'on' headlamp position.

The easiest way to find the 'ramped' white plastic collar I am talking about is to turn the switch to the full on headlamp and foglamp position (turn switch full clockwise and pull it out). Now look for the black plastic arm. Now watch that arm as you slowly turn the switch counter-clockwise back to the park position. You should see the arm ride on a white plastic collar surrounding the whole headlamp switch mechanism. There is a 'ramp' in this collar that forces the switch to pop back inward when you turn from the 'on' position to the 'park' position. Good luck, this can be a little confusing.

3) Using a small file, I filed down the white plastic collar at the positions I wanted to be able to pull out the headlamp switch to activate the foglamps. I filed down the ramp at the 'park' position, but duplicated the slope on the other side of that position. So now the switch stays pulled-out in the 'on' and 'park' position, but still pops back in when I turn to 'off'. For the autolamp position, I simply filed a notch without the ramp - by this time I was too tired and couldn't get a good position for the file to create the ramp, but I'll probably try again later.

That's it for making the foglamps work with just the autolamps. Simply clean out the filings, reassemble everything, turn the headlamp switch to autolamp, wait until it's dark or cover the autolamp sensor (where is the autolamp sensor? I just waited till it was dark to test this), and then pull out on the headlamp switch. If this phenomenon isn't limited to my truck, your foglights should turn on now!

Now, this is a work in progress, because now I have to figure out what the ten wires/pins on the headlamp switch are so I can rewire, splice, jumper, diode, or whatever in order to be able to turn on the foglamps with just the parking lights. Hopefully I'll have this figured out tomorrow, and I'll post my findings here. Sorry for the long post, but I wanted to document everything while it was still fresh in my memory. Any questions, let me know!

~rick

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lightning_svt@hotmail.com
2000 Ford F-150 Lightning

 

Sweet! I'm going to go try this right now!

 

Lightning_SVT, what kind of file did you use? I didn't have anything small enough to fit through the holes (I also do not want to remove the front bezel).

I took a trip to home Depot, and the only files I could find to fir through there were "hobby files". These little guys made it in, but it seemes like it would take 5 years to file down to anything useful.

I whipped out my Dremel drill, popped off a little plastic piece on the back (there are to clips there, don't know what their clipping), unforunately, I broke one of them trying this, but it hasn't seemed to have any ill-effects on the switch. Well, with this new found access hole, it was really easy to make the cut I needed and the "ramp" to automatically move the switch in when you move it to off for the auto-light setting.

It seemed really difficult to go through the top to reach the "park light" position to drill it, so I just left it alone for now...maybe sometime in the future, I'll revisit this.

Daniel

 

UPDATE FOR 2000 LIGHTNINGS (part 2):

Well, following an afternoon of checking voltages, theorizing, testing, and hoping, I was able to get the foglamps to turn on with just the parkinglamps... BUT I also lost the ability to have the foglamps turn on with the autolamps. Thus, I will not post my latest info until I get this right; I don't want to put anyone through wasted effort.

The good news is I have some good data, and some good possible solutions. I haven't made any wiring changes that aren't easily reversible yet, and I won't have to if I can help it. So stay tuned as I make more progress...

Oh yeah, I found where the autolamp sensor is: underneath the plastic 'grille' in the middle of the dashboard. Simply turn the key to the 'on' position (don't need to start the truck though) and cover the 'grille' with a book or magazine during the day to activate the autolamps or shine a flashlight in there during the evening to deactivate them. Just be patient though, as our autolamps take what I think is too long a time to decide to turn on or off.

thepawn: the files I used were some old hobby files as well. Luckily, the ones I had were fairly aggressive, but it still took a lot of work and a long time to complete. The clips on the 'top' there are to keep the headlamp switch mechanism in the pod; without those clips, then the only thing holding the switch mechanism in the pod is the front bezel itself. So when you pull out the switch for the foglamps without those clips, it may be possible to pull out the whole front bezel with it. But, I haven't taken the pod apart, so I don't know for sure.

~rick

 

Rich,

Sorry to hear about the problem...good luck on getting it to work all together. I'm not quite as crafty, so I will have to wait for the spoils of yourself or thers.

I am going to glue the clip that I broke back on (still have it right here), and that should solve any problems with the switch moving behind the bezel.

The autolamp foglights have been working for me (tried them out a few times last night).

Thanks,
Daniel

 

UPDATE FOR 2000 LIGHTNINGS (part 3/final?):

Alright, everything works again! I think I've finally gotten the result I want, which is: the ability to turn on the fog/driving lamps in the autolamp, parking lamp, or headlamp position.

The last step of this modification, in addition to my part 1 earlier in this post, is the wiring. If you look at the wire bus connector that plugs into the back of the headlamp switch, there should be 9 wires of varying colors. Although the connector has space for 12 wires, only 9 of them are in use. Also, on the wire side of the connector (as opposed to the switch side of the connector, which is the side you would insert into the switch), the wire positions are numbered.

Okay, find the #2 wire (white/black) and the #12 wire (brown) that is attached to the connector and splice them together. That's it! No cutting needed! I used one of those 'quickie splice' plastic jobs - I don't know what they are officially called - where you insert the 2 wires you want to splice, and then use a wrench to drive a single metal prong through the both of them, and voila! instant splice!

Now, I didn't cut any wires because I'm the kind of guy who won't cut unless I need to... and so far I don't know of any reason why I would need to. It's possible that this mod will send some weird signals to the computer if it monitors the light switch, but functionally everything seems to be working fine the way it is. It's conceivable that you could cut the #2 wire away from the connector after splicing it to the #12, but it doesn't seem to harm anything that I know of. Would anyone with tech experience want to comment on this? Sal?

Anyway, I'm going to start working on a semi-official HOWTO with more detailed instructions, photos, etc. and hopefully post it to F-150 Online's official HOWTO page. Wish me luck, I hate writing reports! As always, any questions let me know.

~rick

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lightning_svt@hotmail.com
2000 Ford F-150 Lightning