Help! Can't remove 1st gen Fog Lights!

[secondspassed]

I've seen all the threads about installing protective film on your 1st gen fog lights but have not seen any good instructions on how to remove the fog light from the car.

I've pulled off the screws holding the housing into the bumper and the housing barely starts to come out before it runs out of slack on the wires. I can barely fit my ****ing hand in the hole that is made and can't figure out for the life of me how to unplug the fogs in order to bring the housings inside and apply protective film to the lenses.

What I can't figure out is where to apply pressure, or to use a screw driver, etc. to the actual plug. Anybody have any help to give?

[vtecfit1]

twist the bulb out of the light itself if you have to, just try not to get the bulb dirty and don't touch it with bare skin the oils on your hands will make the bulb burn out sooner due to the oil heating up when it's turned on next time

[secondspassed]

I finally finished this job a few minutes ago. I had to twist the bulbs out of the housings like you said, which even that was a true, royal pain in the ass. My fingers will be hurting for a couple days I think. I hope those bulbs never burn out! This mod, while seemingly very simple, is not for the faint of hand strength.

[trancedsailor]

it's not easy if you have big-ish hands either. I scraped the shit out of my hand on the passenger side one when I swapped bulbs

[secondspassed]

You know what they say about big-ish hands. Yeah, the passenger side was by far the more difficult of the two. I'm sure I scratched up the bumper plenty, it's hard to avoid the fog light housing knocking around a fair amount during all the grunting and cursing.

[Shaggs2Dope]

Just pull the whole bumper next time if you have big hands. It's a hell of a lot easier. Just like 2 screws, and a bunch of push snaps. I have to pull my bumper anytime I remove the fogs, because the black billet grille covers the two bolts that hold the fogs in. So I have to cut the zipties that hold in the grille.

BTW, if you haven't broken a fog light, don't worry, you will. And cover your front grille before your AC condenser is dead. AC condenser is 700 to replace. You do clear or yellow lens coating?

[secondspassed]

My passenger side fog is broken but I put the lens coating on, anyway. I don't really give a shit what it looks like, I just want to know it won't completely shatter and I don't want debris and water coming inside the housing. I went with the clear film.

It seems like after taking the bumper off it still would be a bitch to get the bulbs out since I don't know how to disconnect the wires first, but if you say it's easier I might try it if I go ahead and install the gutter guard I have lying around in the lower grille.

[trancedsailor]

weird, my car has been slammed for 8k miles and I've never broken a foglight, even driving on shitty roads and behind huge trucks spitting up rocks.

[secondspassed]

Yeah I dunno, mine happened within a few weeks of buying the car. Since it happened so quickly I kept expecting the driver side to get busted too, but these things seem to be really, really random and it is still okay a year later.

[MNfit]

I just took my fogs out it was pretty easy. when your reaching back behind the light you can feel on the plug there is a flat spot on the top side. If you push down on the back of that flat spot on the plug and push back it should disconnect. Hopefully that makes sense.

[Shaggs2Dope]

I have broken my fogs 3 times in the first year. Once, a chunk of particleboard actually rocketed the whole housing inside the bumper, later both were hit by rocks and cracked the glass. I simply fixed the housing with some gorilla glue, and then coated them with rubberized vibration dampening and undercoating, and then covered the cracked lenses with yellow laminx and replaced the one broken light bulb. They have been better than ever since I laminXed it. BTW the car has over 30k miles, and its just over a year old.



And you can't really see the billet grilles at all since they are black. But they DO save your AC condenser, which is much more important than the fog lamps

[secondspassed]

I want a black billet grille but I don't have the money to shell out right now, hence the gutter guard lying around waiting to be installed.

You know, I should have tried messing with the plug after I got the bulbs out, just so I could understand how they're supposed to work. I wanna know that I know how to use them, but I don't think it's worth taking back apart right now to find out.

MNfit, your directions *sound* like they make sense to me but I'm not sure if I really get them. I believe I tried pushing on that area but in general my hands had so little room and nothing was seeming to budge so I gave up. Maybe I'm just slow, meh.

[koolkevin1107]

Another option is to go the back way (that's what she said!) but seriously, what u can do is work on the driver side. turn the steering wheel all the way to the right and pull out the fender liner. That way it gives u easy access to the back of the foglight to remove the clip. The first time u remove the clip from the bulb, it's EXTREMELY difficult because it's fresh plastic from the factory and it has bulb grease keeping it together. Once u remove it, anytime after that is SUPER easy. The same procedure goes with the passenger side, just turn the wheel all the way to the left.

[secondspassed]

Thanks for the tip, that's a great idea. I'll have to try it next time I have to remove the fogs.

[secondspassed]

I just went out and looked at my fogs and the one that's broken has some condensation trapped inside the housing from when I washed it. Some water had gotten inside of the housing through the hole in the glass. I thought I had gotten it all dry with a blow dryer but apparently there's still water in there.

Should I leave it alone and it will eventually dry up, somehow? I can't imagine since it's sealed pretty tight how the water molecules will ever make their way out. I was thinking I may have to poke a tiny hole in the protective film with a needle, over the big hole in the glass but this would potentially allow moisture back in later.

Anyone have any thoughts?

[kenchan]

you should remove it, clean the inside, seal the crack using some 3M clearbra or laminex sheets.

otherwise your electrical contacts, etc can potentially rust.

[Shaggs2Dope]

If there's condensation inside, use a hairdryer to get out as much as possible, and put the fogs up lens up for the night, it should be fine by morning, then do the Laminx and cut the edges with a razorblade. I haven't had any issues at all since I did mine. I should make bulletproof fogs for the fit, I'd be RICH!

BTW, Kev, when did you do your hood? Shit makes me trip out whenever I see it. Is it the Lakers logo? And where the hell do you find lakers vinly?