Fogs and Aiming question

[Bishop]

I didn't really find anything when searching for my question about fogs, and I figure I could ask the aiming just to see if anyone can chime in.

Fogs: When I first bought the car, one fog worked (pass.) and one fog had a busted cover and didn't work (driver). I figured I needed to replace. Well, the other night, after installing my new HID's, I found both fogs to be working. I go back and turn em on a few hours later, driver side is out again, a few hours later, back on.... The cover is cracked and needs replacing, but since the fog works sometimes, I'm assuming there's nothing wrong. I'm thinking relay, but I'm TERRIBLE with electrical so I just wanna get some outside input.

As for aiming, I have US ellips, and didn't really fiddle with them after installing, but now that I have HID's and lowered the car, I wanna re-aim them properly so I can hopefully see further down the road...

The current pattern is A, and I think according to Daniel Stern's site, I want it to look like B. If this is correct, awesome.... Can you guys specificy which adjuster does which on the ellips?

[Bishop]

Bump for electrical gurus?

[EA8]

+1 bump ... would like to know this too as I am trying to aim mine.

[nando]

you can't change the cutout pattern on the lights. that's done inside the reflector.

[Bishop]

I understand that, I'm just curious if it's possible to balance things out a little more. The right side is good, but the left is a little low and to the left... It's livable, I'm more interested in fixing my fogs

[nando]

right, but what you are talking about in those pictures is the shape of the cutouts. you can't really rotate E30 housings (except for LHD and RHD patterns). Plus, US ellipsoids don't have either of those patterns.

[Bishop]

Ok. Perhaps my memory is skewed. I might try and take a pic tonight and get input then... Any idea on the fog? I got a suggestion to check the wiring, especially the grounds...

[nando]

yeah US ellipsoids are more like _- than _/

I agree to check the wiring. you could remove the entire housing, plug the side that works into the side that doesn't, and pretty much eliminate the bulb that way.

[Bishop]

Well, I know it's not the bulb because it's intermitten (sp?). Loose ground could be logical

[stumble_t]

Corrosion... you said busted lenses? take those shits out open em up and clean the shit out of the connectors with some contact cleaner put a little dielectric on there and put em back in. 1/2hr tops

Yea US ellips patterns dont look like that. If they are euros make sure all 3 screws holding on the reflector are there and tight. The adjusters don't let them rotate </>/up/dwn thats it.

[Bishop]

Hmmmm. I know I have US ellips. There are 2 adjusters per light, 4 per bracket. Like I said, I'll take my camera with me tonight, and try to get a good pic of the beams.. Maybe they're perfectly fine, but I'd like some clarification..

I'll try to find the time to pull the fogs out and check all the connections and hopefully do some cleaning. Should also add a new cover to the list of things I need to buy.

[Bishop]

Pic from tonight. Fog is out again too lol

[Bishop]

Bump

Had the car up on a lift today with the lights on (fog was ON at the time).

I jiggled, rattled, tapped, banged, etc.... on the housing, no flicker. I tried tracing the wiring back to find a ground or something, but it gets lost in the fender going into the bay and I'm not quite sure WHERE I should be looking for a bad connection. Any thoughts?

[FetusGoulash]

I jiggled, rattled, tapped, banged, etc.... on the housing, no flicker. I tried tracing the wiring back to find a ground or something, but it gets lost in the fender going into the bay and I'm not quite sure WHERE I should be looking for a bad connection. Any thoughts?

As someone already said earlier, take those fogs apart and clean them! you said they were cracked and broken so the connections (bulb to housing, housing to harness) are probably corroded and nasty.
its easier than chasing wires all over your car for no reason

[Bishop]

Alright, I'll tackle that next. They literally worked 20 minutes ago, and when I fired the car up just 2 minutes ago, no pass. fog.