Forum Vendor has Rear Fog Light and CF Front Emblem!

[Minicobra1]

Originally Posted by joeyz10

But I thought this is OEM from Japan? I called them and spoke to them today.

I don't think so, it sure didn't look OEM to me, I can't imagine them gluing the Z side marker (the actual side marker) to an irregular shaped piece of carbon and putting 2 strips of double sided tape on the back. very disappointing.

[wstar]

Originally Posted by Minicobra1

dont we already have this setup without the lens cover? Seams like we should should just be able to replace the lens cover. The box and the wiring harness already seam to be there.

Yes, I took mine apart today to look at it. Basically, in place of an actual rear fog lamp, we have a "reflector" (a very poor one) mounted on a box that's the same size/shape a real lamp. There's also already factory wiring coming from the same harnesses as the rest of the rear lighting. The plug is plugged into a dummy socket next to the reflector box, to hold it there in place. Presumably one could buy the real fog lamp unit from the JP/EU models and just plug this connector into it.

The big question mark is: where does the other end of that pair of wires go? I pulled out the little area in the center console that has the cup holder and heated seat switches (empty center switch bay there) - there's no "unused" connectors laying around anywhere obvious under there, so it's not pre-wired to that area. There are no unused control settings on our left stalk that might be prewired to it. I'm lost as to what they did with the other end of the wires.

Most likely, assuming the EU one is controlled from the stalk (can anyone confirm this?), it's probably wired to the harness connector for the stalk, but our stalk just doesn't use those pins, or those wires are simply cut off in the vicinity of the steering column.

[SoCal 370Z]

Originally Posted by wstar

Most likely, assuming the EU one is controlled from the stalk (can anyone confirm this?), it's probably wired to the harness connector for the stalk, but our stalk just doesn't use those pins, or those wires are simply cut off in the vicinity of the steering column.

Yes, it is controlled from a rotating inner switch on the turn signal stalk that is not on our cars:



When I installed the illuminated door sills I learned that the harnesses are not complete, but car specific. Mostly likely the dummy plug does go to a legit wiring part of the rear harnesses, but no farther.

[wstar]

Originally Posted by SoCal 370Z

Yes, it is controlled from a rotating inner switch on the turn signal stalk that is not on our cars:



When I installed the illuminated door sills I learned that the harnesses are not complete, but car specific. Mostly likely the dummy plug does go to a legit wiring part of the rear harnesses, but no farther.

Hmm that kinda sucks. So we'll need to find exactly where the other end of the existing wiring is, and figure out easy or hard it would be to route this to the center console's unused switch area I bet, and then find a matching switch. We could probably order replacement heated seat switches, figure out a pin mapping that works, and then carefully modify the labellling on them. I don't know why they left this off. I've never had a rear fog lamp, but after reading up on it, it sounds really useful to me in heavy fog conditions (which are very common early in the morning in TX, especially out of town).

[SoCal 370Z]

Originally Posted by wstar

Hmm that kinda sucks. So we'll need to find exactly where the other end of the existing wiring is, and figure out easy or hard it would be to route this to the center console's unused switch area I bet, and then find a matching switch. We could probably order replacement heated seat switches, figure out a pin mapping that works, and then carefully modify the labellling on them. I don't know why they left this off. I've never had a rear fog lamp, but after reading up on it, it sounds really useful to me in heavy fog conditions (which are very common early in the morning in TX, especially out of town).

Nissan has done a great job of routing the harnesses on the 370Z so finding the lead and getting to a user installed switch should be achievable without too much grief.

[wstar]

Originally Posted by SoCal 370Z

Nissan has done a great job of routing the harnesses on the 370Z so finding the lead and getting to a user installed switch should be achievable without too much grief.

Ok, I just did some preliminary research on this in the Service Manual and by digging around in the appropriate places in the car. It appears that the rear fog lamp circuit is fully wired all the way to the Body Control Module (BCM). The BCM is basically a small CPU unit separate from the main ECU that resides down at the bottom of the outer side of the passenger footwell that handles a lot of little body electrical things like wipers, map lights, flashers, headlights, foglights, etc. BCM is covered in the "BCS.pdf" section of the Service Manual.

Pin 24 on connector M120 of the BCM has an orange wire plugged into it which drives the fog light with a 12V signal directly (diagram is on pg 52 of BCS.pdf). I haven't confirmed this with a continuity tester or anything yet, but it's not likely that it's disconnected anywhere in the middle.

Odds are high that if you put a light back there and swapped in the Canadian version of the headlight/wiper control sticks module, it would Just Work, or worst case, would need some programming a dealer could do to enable the fog light.

Alternatively (more likely what I'll try to do), it would be easy to snip the orange wire near the BCM connector and run it to that unused center console switch area.

[SoCal 370Z]

Originally Posted by wstar

Ok, I just did some preliminary research on this in the Service Manual and by digging around in the appropriate places in the car. It appears that the rear fog lamp circuit is fully wired all the way to the Body Control Module (BCM). The BCM is basically a small CPU unit separate from the main ECU that resides down at the bottom of the outer side of the passenger footwell that handles a lot of little body electrical things like wipers, map lights, flashers, headlights, foglights, etc. BCM is covered in the "BCS.pdf" section of the Service Manual.

Pin 24 on connector M120 of the BCM has an orange wire plugged into it which drives the fog light with a 12V signal directly (diagram is on pg 52 of BCS.pdf). I haven't confirmed this with a continuity tester or anything yet, but it's not likely that it's disconnected anywhere in the middle.

Odds are high that if you put a light back there and swapped in the Canadian version of the headlight/wiper control sticks module, it would Just Work, or worst case, would need some programming a dealer could do to enable the fog light.

Alternatively (more likely what I'll try to do), it would be easy to snip the orange wire near the BCM connector and run it to that unused center console switch area.

This is exactly the area where you wire-in the illuminated doors sills. The issue is that pin 24 might be vacant. However, the harness run is through metal protecting clips with room to spare so even if there is no occupied pin or wire it is a straight shot to the block.

[wstar]

Originally Posted by SoCal 370Z

This is exactly the area where you wire-in the illuminated doors sills. The issue is that pin 24 might be vacant. However, the harness run is through metal protecting clips with room to spare so even if there is no occupied pin or wire it is a straight shot to the block.

It's not vacant, that's what I checked. As stated in the SM, there actually is an orange wire coming off of the body wiring harness plugged into pin 24 there.

[JoeyD]

This is interesting. Slightly off topic. I wonder if the same BCM controls the JDM heated mirrors, and if so is it pre-wired for those? For me not having to manually wipe down my mirrors is more important than a rear fog light. Although the fog light does cover the butthole.

[SoCal 370Z]

Originally Posted by JoeyD

This is interesting. Slightly off topic. I wonder if the same BCM controls the JDM heated mirrors, and if so is it pre-wired for those? For me not having to manually wipe down my mirrors is more important than a rear fog light. Although the fog light does cover the butthole.

There is already mention of heated mirrors in the North American Service Manual:

[rednek01]

Originally Posted by SoCal 370Z

The wires, are to be done by us since we have no fog light switch on our turn signal stalk. I was thinking about the vacant switch on the center console, but would like to get a factory, or factory matching switch to the heated seats switches, in order to activate the fog light.

Maybe I am over simplifying this but why wouldnt you just wire it inline with your parking lamps or brake lights? The wires are already ran you just tap into them! Seems a little easier to me and it wont run your battery down when your in a hurry and forget to turn of a switch mounted on your center console.

[wstar]

Originally Posted by rednek01

Maybe I am over simplifying this but why wouldnt you just wire it inline with your parking lamps or brake lights? The wires are already ran you just tap into them! Seems a little easier to me and it wont run your battery down when your in a hurry and forget to turn of a switch mounted on your center console.

Because a rear fog light is *not* supposed to be on all the time. You only turn it on when you're actually in very low visibility situations, like dense fog. With normal visibility it will annoy and confuse other drivers, it will be at least as bright as a lit up brake light, possibly moreso.

Oh and as for the switch, I'm planning to wire it to an ignition-controlled power source, so there won't be any concern about leaving it on to drain the battery.

[rednek01]

Originally Posted by wstar

Because a rear fog light is *not* supposed to be on all the time. You only turn it on when you're actually in very low visibility situations, like dense fog. I understand that and agree With normal visibility it will annoy and confuse other drivers, it will be at least as bright as a lit up brake light, possibly moreso. I figure that would be a plus, bringing more attention to the rear of the car and your brake lights possibly could prevent an accident

Oh and as for the switch, I'm planning to wire it to an ignition-controlled power source, so there won't be any concern about leaving it on to drain the battery.Good Idea thats typically how I have done all my add ons unless they required a constant source of power for memory functions

Either way yall decide to do it I think its a great idea and should have been left on all models regardless of where they are destined for. Hell Nissan could have toted it as another safety feature exclusive to them here in the US.

[Minicobra1]

Originally Posted by wstar

Because a rear fog light is *not* supposed to be on all the time. You only turn it on when you're actually in very low visibility situations, like dense fog. With normal visibility it will annoy and confuse other drivers, it will be at least as bright as a lit up brake light, possibly moreso.

I've only used the fogs (very bright) on my Cooper S about 1/2 a dozen times in the last year, mainly in the rain, don't think I've ever been in the fog with it.

So my thoughts with the Z is too put in a lower watt bulb (same strength as tails) so that it's on all the time. And if at all possible maybe wire it up into the brake assembly. This way it works just like a 3rd tail light. I think this is a unique signature of the 370, having it on all the time will offer the best rear visibility for safety on any night. Otherwise, I think I may just purchase the Nismo rear diffuser and do away with it all together.

[MightyBobo]

Originally Posted by rednek01

Either way yall decide to do it I think its a great idea and should have been left on all models regardless of where they are destined for. Hell Nissan could have toted it as another safety feature exclusive to them here in the US.

I almost guarantee there is probably a regulation that requires lighting to be a certain height off the ground or something, and this may break that regulation being so low...