For the last 2 days the fog lights on my Wrangler have been going on by themselves. Can't turn them off.
One friend told me just to pull out the relay. Don't need Fog lights in LA anyway. The dealership told me that doing that might affect other devices in the car, then quoted me a $350.00 repair.
Who has had this issue and could give me advice?
If they come on by themselves some type of problem is causing them to come on and to me they must have a switch that sends power to the body control module=BCM then the BCM sends power to the fog light relay and then the switch inside the relay closes sending power to the fog lights themselves.So unless the fog lights have some kind of automatic turn on sensor or a time relay it has to be a problem within the fog light switch or the wiring going to and from the BCM or the BCM itself is acting up internally.
One of the reasons you might not wish to take the relay out is yes it could have an affect on other circuits but to me if just the fog light relay is removed it really shouldn't affect the other circuits at all.Not sure just why the dealership told you that it could cause problems by simply removing that relay but what I'd do is find out via the fuse box panels and see if the fog lights have their own fuses.
On a lot of Dodges I've noticed that they use the headlight fuses to supply the fog lights their 12 volt circuit feeds.So you couldn't just pop out the fuses bec you'd kill the hi beams too.Dodges are famous for poor quality or poor grade wiring or electrical problems and again keep in mind that bad grounds are the most common faults.
From what you're saying the dealership already knows what the problem is I bet and if I were you not requiring fog lights then what I'd do is first find out if the fog lights use their own fuses , then if so pop them out.Otherwise I'd try the relay if it has one in the fog light system I'd pop it out but first I'd read what the owners manual or service manual or fuse panel states that the relay actually controls and if only the fog lights I'd remove it for a temporary fix it.
Again the fog lights must come on via a sensor or relay or via a switch and regardless they have to be first connected to the BCM and to me if its not a switch it must be the TCM or bad connections a bad ground going to the TCM.
There are so many options really but it be nice to have the regular circuit working properly bec if it's a bad BCM etc it could then start affecting other circuits that the BCM controls over time.You could unplug the fog lights but if I were you I'd tape up the ends to be sure that not too much moister gets into them.
Hope that helps and best of luck.By the way if you've actually switched the fog lights on when turning the headlights on etc but they won't turn off it could still be the switch or it could be that if any relay in the circuit the relay itself is faulty and sticking therefore its switch inside itself stays closed and fog lights never want to shut off.It also could be in the wiring that would go to the BCM from the fog switch and the wire that sends the BCM pin the power or signal is acting up or the wire from the BCM to the relay is acting up.
One little last note you could try asking the auto parts stores if they've any free print out info on the BCM and the fog , head light systems circuit.Then you'd get a better idea in exactly how the fog light circuit works , plus you could ask if anybody working there could explain the diagram etc info to you.
If they come on by themselves some type of problem is causing them to come on and to me they must have a switch that sends power to the body control module=BCM then the BCM sends power to the fog light relay and then the switch inside the relay closes sending power to the fog lights themselves.So unless the fog lights have some kind of automatic turn on sensor or a time relay it has to be a problem within the fog light switch or the wiring going to and from the BCM or the BCM itself is acting up internally.
One of the reasons you might not wish to take the relay out is yes it could have an affect on other circuits but to me if just the fog light relay is removed it really shouldn't affect the other circuits at all.Not sure just why the dealership told you that it could cause problems by simply removing that relay but what I'd do is find out via the fuse box panels and see if the fog lights have their own fuses.
On a lot of Dodges I've noticed that they use the headlight fuses to supply the fog lights their 12 volt circuit feeds.So you couldn't just pop out the fuses bec you'd kill the hi beams too.Dodges are famous for poor quality or poor grade wiring or electrical problems and again keep in mind that bad grounds are the most common faults.
From what you're saying the dealership already knows what the problem is I bet and if I were you not requiring fog lights then what I'd do is first find out if the fog lights use their own fuses , then if so pop them out.Otherwise I'd try the relay if it has one in the fog light system I'd pop it out but first I'd read what the owners manual or service manual or fuse panel states that the relay actually controls and if only the fog lights I'd remove it for a temporary fix it.
Again the fog lights must come on via a sensor or relay or via a switch and regardless they have to be first connected to the BCM and to me if its not a switch it must be the TCM or bad connections a bad ground going to the TCM.
There are so many options really but it be nice to have the regular circuit working properly bec if it's a bad BCM etc it could then start affecting other circuits that the BCM controls over time.You could unplug the fog lights but if I were you I'd tape up the ends to be sure that not too much moister gets into them.
Hope that helps and best of luck.By the way if you've actually switched the fog lights on when turning the headlights on etc but they won't turn off it could still be the switch or it could be that if any relay in the circuit the relay itself is faulty and sticking therefore its switch inside itself stays closed and fog lights never want to shut off.It also could be in the wiring that would go to the BCM from the fog switch and the wire that sends the BCM pin the power or signal is acting up or the wire from the BCM to the relay is acting up.
One little last note you could try asking the auto parts stores if they've any free print out info on the BCM and the fog , head light systems circuit.Then you'd get a better idea in exactly how the fog light circuit works , plus you could ask if anybody working there could explain the diagram etc info to you.
