Hig-mount brake light conveted to rear fog light

[TonyBlair]

Hi, just thought I\'d share this information...

Keen to get my fresh import one step closer to legality I booked her in for her first MOT yesterday. I took a day off work last week to get the rear fog light issue resolved. I\'d already bought a rear fog light and switch ahead of the car arriving in the UK, so I just needed to fit it.

However when the time came I changed my mind. Altough the fog light I\'d bought was a flush-fitting one, probably the better looking of the bolt-on fog lights, it just looked like it belonged on the back of a trailer... it certainly wouldn\'t look good on the back of the Rex.

Another option that sprang to mind was converting one of the reverse lights in to a fog light. This would involve some re-wiring and using some glass paint to paint the white plastic lense red. I didn\'t favour this option either since the red paint wouldn\'t be a perfect match of the red plastic surrounding the reverse light.

So I opted for option 3 - converting the high-mount brake light into the fog light. There are three 18.5 watt bulbs in the cluster that make up the high-mount brake light, so the existing bulbs were bright enough to be used as a fog light. The job involved disconnecting the high-mount brake and running a wire from the back of the car to the central console to connect it up to the fog light switch for the front fog lights.

!!WARNING!! If you are thinking about doing this job consult a proper auto-electrician. I really should have run the wire from the high-mount brake light cluster to a relay under the bonnet somewhere?! since the additional load on the fog light switch could be too much and *could* cause it to burn out!

Another thing worth mentioning is the there are definite benefits of keeping the high-mount brake light as a brake light. Imagine the scenario... you\'re driving behind someone at night and whilst chaning the track on the CD player you DON\'T notice that the car infront\'s lights have become brighter! With a separate brake light it\'s easier for drivers behind you to distinguish when you are braking - just worth bearing this in mind I think.

Pictures below...

Cheers
Jon

[TonyBlair]

You\'ll need to remove the spare wheel cover, the spare wheel and the backs seats in order the run the wire back to the fog light switch.

[TonyBlair]

My central console was already lose, so just needed to lift it up and play with the wires.

[TonyBlair]

I tucked the wire away nicely beneath the trim.

[TonyBlair]

The high-mount brake light.

[padams2002]

Did you use all three bulbs as a fog light or just one bulb?

[ds2000]

Good post, I need to sort a fog light out on mine, god knows how I\'ve got an MOT :rollin

[TonyBlair]

Originally posted by padams2002
Did you use all three bulbs as a fog light or just one bulb?

I used all three bulbs mate. I\'ll take some close-up\'s of the wiring and post them up.

Cheers
Jon