OK, im in a situation here and looking for some help from all you experts out there

I have a 2007 F150 ext cab xlt 4x4 with 5.4 V8

the truck came with factory fog lights and the other day I noticed the lenses appear to be melting-not plastic melting and dripping but the lenses are disfigured (sorry no pics wont come out on camera), the wire harness and bulb and everything seems to be fine just the lenses are melted-Ok i figured I got the one in a million bad set of lenses so i take the truck into dealer to look at for warranty. I also have a set of hella 500 55watt fog lamps and hella 500 55watt driving lights mounted on brushguard and installed correctly-using the parking lamp wire for the lead wire.

The dealer is trying to tell me the disfigured lenses are do to overheating of the bulbs due to the current load of the aftermarket lights I put on. I tried to explain to them how the lights are hooked up and that the lead wire hooked up to the parking lamp draws very little if any current and all it does is tell the relay to come on, the lights themselves have seperate power source, and further so the factory fog lights are on a seprate source from the parking lamps to begin with. I have to go back on wednesday and talk to the service manager to see what they will do, but as of now they wont do anything-and they charged me $50 check out time and couldnt give me any actual reason as to why the aux. lights are affecting the fog lamps and they couldnt show me current readings to prove there theory.

Looks like I get to have a chat with the service manager and possibly some explaining of that masnuson muss act (Ill bet i spelled it wrong). What do you guys think-any way possible the aftermarket lights affected the factory fog lamps lenses?
Thanks

 

Ford Service manual, either print or DVD:

These are from the DVD, right click save as, and print them, to bring with when you talk with the service manager.

EVTM Cell 86 fog lamps
https://www.f150online.com/galleries...028-178952.jpg

EVTM Cell 92-1 parking lamps
https://www.f150online.com/galleries...028-213363.jpg

EVTM Cell 92-2 parking lamps
https://www.f150online.com/galleries...028-213364.jpg

You can hand draw in your aux light diagram on an extra copy of cells 92-1 & 92-2 ( if applicable ), showing where the relay coil gets power from.
That seems to be circuit 14, brown wire.

Circuit 14 powers the fog lamp relay coil on cell 86-1, which as you know has nothing to do with circuit 478 ( fog lamp circuit via the normally open contacts on the fog lamp relay ).

If he has a problem understanding how a relay works, give him the old analogy of a light switch.
Your thumb and index finger are the coil on the relay, working the switch on the room side of the plate, and the contacts are in the light switch behind the plate.
Ask him if he feels 110 V ( or in the shop more likely 277 V ) on his finger when he turns his lights in the shop on and off ?

When he says no, ask for your $50.00 back that he stole from you. I say stole, as that is what he really did IMHO, he does not know squat about cells 86 & 92 in the EVTM, and is trying to BS you, and keep his billable hours up at the dealer.

Magnuson-Moss says they cannot deny a warranty claim because you installed a non Ford item on your truck, but they can fight the claim.
With the documentation about the install printed out, showing how circuit 14 has nothing to do with circuit 478, have him provide you in writing how this can be, given Ford's documentation on the truck.

My guess he will try to tell you something about the current bridging in the relay ( contacts to coil ), or similar.
Bring a printout from howstuffworks, or similar ( google for you favorite )
http://home.howstuffworks.com/relay.htm

Remember to keep your cool, and don't use words like I just used ( clown, stole, A** Hat, etc ), and have clean copy of the diagram, and a copy of cell 92 with a hand draw representation of how your aux lamps are wired in, using correct symbols.

Don't start out with MM act language, as this is only to stop a blanket claim rejection, for having non Ford items, not a right to put what you want on, and they have to prove it caused it.

You want to keep the tact of here is how I did it, and here is how Ford says it works, please explain to me how this happened the way you say it did.

Example of correct symbols, if you don't have them handy ( right click save as ):
https://www.f150online.com/galleries...028-153096.jpg

Good luck !

 

thanks so much for the info-got some reading to do now
ill let you know how it comes out

 

Could it be that someone has installed a different and higher amp bulb?

 

Has factory 40W bulb in it

Ok talked to the manager today-he is going by I have aftermarket lights tapped into factory wiring end of story no warranty no discussion. Talked to a rep from hella and he agreed with me that if im pulling to much current im gonna blow a fuse, melt a wire, or blow a relay but in no way can I disfigure a lense of a light on another circuit. Really long story short after telling them screw it dont worry about im gonna call ford headquarters, file a report and never use your service again, shut my hood and left. I was gonna let it go didnt want to mess with it (they were talking engineers and crap). They called me back(they saw me in the parking lot on the phone) and now it goes back saturday and some kinda field inspector is going to test a stock truck and then test my truck and compare numbers. The wont let me watch the test, wont give me results right away and everything has to be sent to a manager. I dont like the way they want to do this but they told me they are not gonna charge me for it so ill let them play with it and see what they say, I just really hope I dont end up looking like an idiot in the end of all this.

Sorry for long post-tried to keep a really long story as short as possilble-let you know what happens on saturday

Im thinking i just got fluke lenses after they started talking engineers and crap I wasnt gonna worry about, lenses look little funny but work and actually told them not to worry about it, but now they are draggin it out so we will see what happens

 

If they are stock lenses with stock bulbs in them, adding a trigger wire for a relay coil on the parking light circuit has absolutely nothing to do with the fog lights lenses failing. Any nitwit with a rudimentary knowledge of DC circuitry can see that. Using an existing circuit to trigger a relay coil takes less than 1A, and does not affect the power consumed at the bulb, only the power drawn through the fuses and associated wiring to the splice.

They're blowing smoke and flashing mirrors... Hoping you'll bite too. Refute their argument with logic, and climb the ladder as necessary.

Good luck!

 

And there is the rub...............

 

Ok here is the scoop
They are calling out the I have accessories on my truck so I no longer have a warranty on my truck bit and thats end of discussion. I called ford and that did no good. I, as well as any others in here, know my lights are not causing the problem. I think I got fluke lenses but they are making it to much crap. I still have light and the lenses still function just look a little funny so im not going to pursue it anymore, not worth the time or effort for lenses. I just wont use that service/dealership anymore. The mechanics are apparently incompetant and dont know what they are doing and the manager should be fired-but thats just my opinion. Ill just have to try to find a more mod friendly service shop next time i need work done.

 

This is over a 45.00 part ( www.oemfordparts.com ).

Dealers wonder why they are called stealers ? They have a bad name ( as a general rule ) because they gave it to themselves.
Think of the life time of revenue that dealer just gave up for less then 100.00 ?

Might want to post this in your area in the forum, just so people know to stay away from that dealer.

 

yeah thats some BS... wonder what the ford people woulda said though. i woulda done the same... time wasted plus aggrevation is not worth the $100

 

It would have been one thing to deny the warranty because of the lights being tapped into factory wiring-fine, bunch BS whatever. But what upset me was that they gave me a reason-couldnt back it up, and then couldnt prove it. A simple 5 minute test was all that was needed to prove me wrong and they wouldnt do it so that leaves me to 2 conclusions
1-they know im right and they are wrong and wont step up
2-they never properly tested the truck in the first place

Owell im moving past it now-besides apparently I have way better aux. lights because the factory stuff cant handle it

Thanks for the input guys

 

The lumen output of the Hella lamps, turned 180*, and melted them.
Why didn't I think of this before.
BAD Hella lamps, bad, bad bad !!

 

This must be it, better explains the melted lenses than what the stealership told me

 

That top line concerns me!!!! where you said this " They are calling out the I have accessories on my truck so I no longer have a warranty on my truck bit and thats end of discussion. "


So are you saying that they are voiding the warranty on the ENTIRE Truck or only a portion of the warranty that is specific to the electrical system? which would mean anything electrical including your PCM.

 

Im hoping they are just going for electrical because of the lights but they may push the whole truck because I have several other mods done and the warrany I claimed has no connection to the aftermarket lights, either way I will no longer be using this dealership, they are not mod friendly
Other dealers can be though-the one dealer I went to (no longer does warranty work on ford though because VW bought them out) they had to change belt once-removed aftermarket intake and never said a word, nor had any problems with the toys on the truck (this was my old ranger)
Its all in how nice your dealer is, some will play nice and not care-others pull the he has mods done to the truck pull the warranty bit-just depends on the dealer