replacement fog light bulbs
 

this goes out to those that have changed thier fog lights to 100w bulbs:

have you noticed any i'll effects from uping the output to 100w? i know the stockers are 55w, and i just had one of them blow out on me. i want to know if it is worth it to go 100w instead of 55w. have any of you noticed faded lenses, melted wires, etc.

thanks.

i was thinking of doing yellow bulbs in my fog light housings, does anyone know where to get 55W or 100W yellow bulbs?

Let me tell you right now, that changing to the higher wattage is REALLY bad for your wiring! I just redid all of the lights on my P5 (Signals, Low / High beams, and Fogs) with Eurolite Xenon Crystal Fusion bulbs, all at the stock wattage, and with a blue tinge to them. I tried the 110W for about an hour, but decided the difference between the two was too small to risk melting the wires. (Which can, and does happen.) I suggest you get yourself some good bulbs, in stock wattage. The ones I mentioned above are available everywhere basically, and not only do they shine brighter, they look really cool being blue and all...

Hope this helps!

From Calgary,

Maxx

believe it or not, but thse are the ones that i am replacing. i liked the way they looked, but they only lasted about 4 months.

I have also replaced my lowbeams and fog bulbs with Eurolite Fusion Blue. Unfortunately these bulbs seem to have a fairly short life span! I lost one of each after two months of use. The dealer replace the first set no charge. But even if they replace them again I'd rather not have to change the bulbs every two months.
I'll be purchasing PIAA lights next time. I know they're more money but the people I've talked to swear by them and a few said their bulbs have lasted as long as two years!

So you've taken out your fog lights before?

Could you tell me how to do it? I can't seem to pull out the lamp!

Thanks

ps - If you use overwattage bulb, it may void that warranty if the dealer finds out. Overwattage bulbs generate more heat in the lamp, which will a) cause condensation b) raise ambient temperatures which leads to earlier failures. It's not a good idea to use overwattage bulbs IMO.

A friend of mine had some low beams PIAA's in his accord. One of his bulbs blew after 7 months.

He was driving w/only 1 bulb for 2 months until I told him it looks stupid. He has since put his stock ones back in heh.

Fog Lights
 

Changing the fog light bulbs is a real pain in the ass. First, you'll have to remove the bottom plastic splash guards from under the front facia. When this is done, you should see the fog light housing is attached to the frame via 2 aiming bolts, and one retention bolt. Remove the aiming bolts (they are very hard to move, but don't worry. With enough force they will come loose.) Next, remove the retention bolt, allowing the whole assembly to hang down. The retention bolt removal will save you alot of time when re-installing the housing. Next, the complete housing can be removed from the cutout in the facia, jsut be sure not to pull to hard on the wires. Next, locate the two small phillips screws on the backside of the light assembly. Remove these, and slide the black outer bezel down, exposing the rear of the light, and the bulb.

Reverse the process to re-install, but go out at night, on a flat, deserted road to aim your new foglights. The way they come from the factory has them pointed far too low. Hope this helps, and if you have any questions, feel free to email me.

Regards,

Maxx

Re: Fog Lights
 

i don't know what year your pro is, but it wasn't that hard to get mine out. there is a bolt under the bumber that you can see if you get under there. one bolt. take it out, and the housing will pop out. it takes a little wiggling, but it will come out. (there are two pins/studs on the sides that snap into the bumper to hold it in.) once it's out, there are two screws on the back that come out, and you have acess to the bulbs. installation is a reversal of the process.

i think i will just get some sylvania cool-blues of the 55w variant.

thanks for the comments.

I'm planning to put 55w Hella YellowStar fog bulbs in mine.

Re: Re: Fog Lights
 

That's exactly what I was thinking.. what year is that? Mine only has 2 bolts that I can see. Did you have a splash guard that you needed to remove? The stupid workshop manual page I got from the dealer mentioned about that but I don't have one. Plus it looked like the 99-00 bumper. Needless to say I was confused. =).

So the 2 pin/studs on the sides.. do I just ignore them and push/pull the lamp out? Or do I need to do something with those first? That's the part that I couldn't figure out. I got the bolt out.. but I was stuck there =(.

THX!! =)

no splash guard. i just hung my head under the bumper, and there was a bolt there right behind the fog light. the two studs on the sides kind of snap the housing into the bumper. moving the housing side-to-side, you should be able to see them.

so it's one bolt per fog light, and two studs per foglight.

Oops!
 

Sorry guys, I was a little confused! It was late! :laugh: My car is a 2002 Protege 5, so the fogs on the normal Protege's will no doubt be different. Hope that clears it up!

Heh Maxx.. no worries.. =)

okay.. one more time about the studs (sorry.. must sound like a moron =( ).

They are used to snap the lamps into place yes. Ok.. I get that.
But, they seem to be keeping me from taking the lamp out. They seem to be holding it into place pretty damn firmly.

Should I just put more force? Or is there a trick to it?

Thanks!!

I'm stuck there too. I can't release the 2 side studs holding the fog lamp in the bumper housing.

The studs look like bamboo spears.

Here's an illustration of the passenger-side stud on driver-side fog light lamp.
http://users.rcn.com/enamho1/images/lampstud.gif

Can you push the stud inwards to clear the snap tab, or do you have to pull the snap tabs outwards to clear the stud?

All:

Would just like to vent a bit.

...I have gone through 3 sets of NOKYA superwhite H7 bulbs. First it started off a few months ago and the drivers side stopped working. No blow, just stopped working. Got it replaced free. Then a couple months later, same thing. Replaced, good for a while. Then, passenger side NOKYA superwhite fog light bulb (in my PIAA 100's) blew. Replaced that with standard 55W bulb, ended up doing both lights, no problem. Today, the drivers side H7 light goes out again! DAMN! Bought some Sylvania Cool Blue's (have him for bright's and they work nice) and replaced the drivers side. It then went out. I was like WTF - I noticed that the stock connector ended up being hosed. The little clip on the inside must of been screwed. Went to Autozone, and picked up a new connector. Cut and spliced and made a new connector! Awesome. Went to put the matching passenger side in - the damn lightbulb didn't work! Tested the heck out of everything. Now I was on my 3rd trip to Autozone in under 2 hours. I got the bulb swapped, went home and put it in. No problems. All is good and looks really nice. They are actually brigher than the Nokya's at are 55 watts and not the 80 watt as I noticed some light golden burn marks here and there. Let's hope for the best!

On another note, here is my online FOG LIGHT swap:

http://www.rtekimports.com/mazda/index.htm

Scroll down and look for the link that I discuss.

- Brian

IMO, those hi-wattage bulbs were fishy from the start. I tried them at one point and I smelled something burning.

Then I read up on some knowledgeable posts and found that there are people burning up the lighting harness.

Many of these "performance" bulb distributors buy these bulbs in bulk from China, Korea, or Taiwan. Depending on what manufacturing plant it came from, the bulb quality varies tremendously even if it's from the same distributor. Even the Japanese ones don't last that long. They are for show purposes.

These bulbs are tested to light up, to not explode without good reason, and to burn for a certain life-cycle. They are not tested on our cars. The plastic covers on most crystal headlamps nowadays have different heat tolerances....

I'm rambling. You get the drift. I shut up now.

I had the Eurolite fusion crap bulbs or whatever they are called. I guess I had a little more luck with mine, they lasted about 5 months...horrible. I had the Cool Blue Sylvania's before, which I put back in now. The Eurolites where not brighter per se, just whiter. Sylvania's were not that much different from stock, a little whiter but no decrease in light like the Eurolites. I was thinking about getting Phillips Vision Plus or Sylvania silver star...not quite sure of any companies that ship these to Canada for a decent price.

As far as my fogs, I have a 2000 protege so my fog lights are a little different I think. I'm pretty sure it's a GE 886 bulb. Anyways, my passenger fog light kept burning out. Techs couldn't figure out why. I finally took them apart and discovered that it was missing a spring so it was probably bouncing around like crazy. Only thing is that it's almost impossible to install the fog lights (not the bulbs, the lights themselves) with the bumper still on the car so I had to take that off. At least it gave me a chance to install a grill. No problems now. I'm also thinking of getting some yellow bulbs for my fogs as well. Anyone know which companies make these bulbs?

one of the member from mpsport.net recently contacted sylvania about their silverstar bulbs.. apprently canadian distributors are going to be sent silverstars sometime mid novermber... so if you wait awhile silverstar bulbs should be in stores soon.. thats what im hoping.. but i recently just bought cool blues.. which i find are whiter.. but it seems as though im not getting the visibility that i was getting before.. something about our eyes being more senstive to yellow light i think... but ido like the whiter look to them.. cant wait to see silverstars..

i put 100WATT fog bulbs in my car almost a year ago and they are great. both of my factory H7 bulbs have burned out but my 2005 are fine(are they 2005 or 2006??) i'm gona replace them with cool blues soon so i need to know, i could just go look on the bulb, but i'm lazy!!!!

So when sylvania says "Canadian distribuotrs" does that include Crappy Tire (aka Canadian Tire)?. That's where I got the cool blue's from.

yeah i got my cool blues from cdn tire also...

a couple guys from mpsport.net had a discussion about that.. and we werent sure whether or not cdn tir would get them.. the silverstars are supposedly a much better bulb closer to piaa type. but street legal... so we dont know if cdn tire is going to get them or not...

if not.. most other parts store chain.. that sell performance parts should be able to carry them..

Can some one with a 2001-2002 sedan post what type of bulb is a replacement for the stock?
I've seen posts in past for changing the stock ones out...but never is there mention of model #.
Please help????

they should be just H3 bulbs

njaremka, a member of this post who has already done the replacement on the sedan, confirms that they are H3 (55W) bulbs.