How To: Change Fog Light Bulbs

[drA!]

I successfully replaced the factory fog light bulbs with PIAA crystal ions this weekend. There are some things Id like to add to the install process:

1. The instructions that come with the PIAA bulbs suggest that you disconnect the negative wire from the battery prior to install. I did not do this and it didnt seem to affect anythingmaybe I was lucky, maybe its not necessary.

2. I removed 3 bolts and 2 plastic sunken pin screws from the plastic undercarriage shield. It gave me more room to work with underneath and also gave me additional room to access the rear bulb assembly.

3. I couldnt find Liquid Wrench at AutoZone, so I used PB Penetrating Catalyst which worked awesome. I sprayed small amounts on each of the bolts holding the rear of the fog light assembly to the frame and I loosened them right up.

4. I used a 9/16 flat ratchet to remove the bolt holding the fog lamp in place. This made it so much easier than using a standard wrench.

5. I dont know if anyone else ran into this, but the two phillips head screws holding the glass to the rear cone on each of the fog lamps were made of brass on mine. One screw came out fine, but I stripped one on each of the lamps. I ended up having to drill out the two stripped screws on each of the lamps. So that I wouldnt run into that problem again, I replaced the screws with 4 mm by 12 mm steel hex bolts and used nylon washersthey cost me about $2 for everything at Home Depot. I found that I had more room to work with using the allen wrench than the screwdriver when I refitted the assembly.

 

[seth]

in my opinion drA! did it the right way, he took the time to get at everything properly.
The people at mazda must frigging hate chaning these bulbs all the time, so much work for such a little thing. Couldn't they just make the wire longer?

 

[jono1200]

Just replaced my stock fog bulbs with some nice whites!! I can't believe what Mazda charges for that...it MIGHT have taken me 10 minutes per bulb. (partly due to the super instructions here!)
Jonathan

 

[loccusst]

I just did mine with 55watt blue bulbs (actually shines white). It took like 15 min total after you bend the plastic out of the way and remove the clips holding the wires. I used a flat wrench, no way a ratchet was gonna fit. Has anyone tried removing the part in the bulb that keeps the light reflected downwards? I know this changes them from driving lights to fog lights, thats why I want to do it. Was thinking of maybe baking the lense like you do headlights.

 

[Poseur]

Actually it changes them from fog lights to annoying lights. One of the biggest things about functional fogs is to have a level beam that will illuminate the ROAD only below the glare of fog above it. "driving lights" as alot of aftermarket companies call them are prettymuch designed as auxiliary high beams and rarely have no reflector to keep light level. Fogs also generally have a wider beam angle. Couple this with removing the reflector, and you've got obnoxiousness at it's finest. It's all up to you, but I prefer to be courteous. Hate to be that a-hole with the lights in ppl's faces. Additionally this will get you lynched by many truck drivers if you ever go on long stretches late at night...

 

[niko]

did mines couple weeks back! was pretty simple! heres a sample! i changed my headlamps and only the left fog (your left staring at pic) has been changed! the pic. was taken to see the difference before i changed the right one! dunno if you can tell the difference in the pic. but looks pretty nice in the norm!



peace.....

 

[Dlovtsur]

VERY helpful thread. Just finished putting in SilverStar heads and fogs, and this was a great help. One thing I would definitely agree with is that the wires need to be a little longer enabling better access to the two screws that hold the glass in place. Luckily I have a brand new car and the screws were only finger tight and I was able to get them off with simply a Phillips bit recessed in a socket, by hand. Had they been any tighter, I might have had to go buy a tool to get them out.

I also ended up removing the three small screws that hold the plastic undercarriage shield (didn't need to remove the sunken pin screws) in place.....gives you much better access to the bolt on the back of the fog light assembly.

Thanks, guys!

 

[DragonWagon54]

anyone gotta how 2 take the damn bumper off...a bigillion skrews and i cant seem 2 find them all...i think it would make it easier 2 change the fogs cuz i hate having 2 jack up my car.

 

[kherova]

My Install

Fog Light Bulb Replacement

So I replaced my fog light bulb mostly with the help of the instructions found in this thread and from p5sundevil

Although clearly detailed already, I thought I would post pics of my install with directions reworked from my experience so everything is together.

Before you begin, you should disconnect the battery, I didnt but it is a good general policy when dealing with anything electrical.
I found this job easier to do with the car up on a jack and the wheel turned out (before jacking up). You can do on the ground, but you will need short handled tools.

1st, you will need to remove the screws holding the bottom plastic bumper guard. I also removed the bottom two on the wheel well to give me enough room to bend the plastic housing away.

Once out of the way, you can get at the fog light housing retention nut with a #14 crescent or socket wrench.

I am showing you the wire housing clip you will need to remove after you do the next step (just so you know what youre looking at).

After you have removed the nut, washer, and split washer, go to the front of the fog lamp and slide out and tilt to the side (towards center of car) so that you can see a little blue plastic holding clip. It has been advised to take care to make sure that the lamp does not fall out in this process; which sounds like a wise precaution.

Once you have access to the blue nib, pinch down with a pair of needle nosed pliers on the top and bottom and push through.

This will release the wire housing clip. Pinch the top portion and remove.

Now carefully remove lamp from the bumper and place on something that wont scratch the glass.

Remove the two screws on the left and right side of the lamp.

Now I did the next two steps backward from how I think it should be, so do as I say, (the first pic will show the second step already done).

Once you pry the glass carefully out you will see the back of the bulb assembly. First remove the bulb wire from the connector housing.

Then release the spring clip by pusing in and towards the center of the bulb. While you are doing this, you can hold onto the wire going to the bulb to stabilize it, as when you release the clip, the bulb will want to fall to the side (and we dont want any broken bulbs in the lamp).

For my bulbs I used MTEC Cosmos Blue MT-402 to replace my PIAA-15955 Super Plasma GT-X. Althought the PIAAs are better bulbs, I wanted a bluer light to blend with my Midnight blue car.

 

[debbi1229]

Thank you - thank you! Thought this was gonna be a helluva lot harder but your directions made it SO simple!

 

[ehsande]

I'm glad I found this thread. I bought a 2003 Protege5 a few weeks ago with only ~80,000 miles on it. I took it to a drive-through oil joint and they said one fog light was out, would I like it replaced for $10. Yeah, sure.

15 minutes later the guy said they couldn't figure out how to get to it!

So, I picked up a bulb on the way home and found this forum. Some of the directions given here seem a bit complicated to me, but it was very easy. I found this YouTube video (in French) showing what is behind that light. Just one bolt to undo and it comes out. My wiring harness unplugged easily so I had the whole thing out & easy to deal with.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2bJLXDcqkc

 

[statlerjames]

wow. this is SUPER easy. way easier than I thought it'd be.