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Missing those status-enhancing front foglights? We show you how easy it is to upgrade.

Youll need
Socket set Screwdrivers About an hour

Words: Simon Cooke

P H O T O G R A P H Y: D A V I D W I G M O R E

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wiring on all cars, but in around 1995 the accountants in Munich suddenly realised just how many Marks could be saved by not wiring non-existent optional extras, so later cars may not have the wiring. Broadly speaking, J registered and earlier cars are 90% certain to come with the wiring, while 92 (K) and later are less likely to have it. If your car hasnt got the wiring then the separate loom is available from your BMW dealer under part number 61129410398. Itll cost you 37.64 including VAT and its straightforward but fiddly to install. If you know your way around auto electrics you could of course make up the necessary harness yourself. The various connectors are available from places like Vehicle Wiring Products and Maplin, but thats a whole different feature in itself and by the time youve messed about, the BMW option is the most sensible. Poke around and find out whether your car is wired for foglights before you start. The wires will be tied back on the left-hand chassis leg and hidden behind the foglight on the right.

n dark foggy weather your standard rear foglight will save you from collecting 40 tonnes of Scania in the boot, but seeing where youre going is a different matter. High beam headlights are often no help at all, which is when front foglights are a very useful item to have shining into the gloom in front of your car. Unfortunately BMW, in its infinite wisdom, decided to make them an optional extra on the majority of the earlier models. Fine if you were buying from new, but its a bit late to be ticking the box now. However, the good news is that retrofitting a pair of lamps should be a fairly straightforward DIY job, since in most cars, the wiring is already in place. We used an E36 3-Series and a kit from Euro Car Parts (0870 150 6506), which includes two original equipment lamps with all the mounting brackets, plus the necessary relay and replacement switch you need for a factory job. It took us just over an hour, but we were lucky in having the wiring already in place. And heres where it gets tricky. In the early days of the E36 cars, BMW simply included the foglight

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The complete foglight kit costs 112 including VAT from Euro Car Parts and comes complete with instructions, lights, mounting brackets, a new relay and a new dashboard switch.

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Find out whether youre wired. The lamp connectors are white and youll find the wiring for the left-hand lamp will be tied back on the chassis rail. On the right-hand side, the wiring should be tied back in the area immediately behind the foglight aperture.

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To remove the access cover youll need to remove the four 8 mm bolts which hold it in place along the underside of the bumper. Then it just unclips.

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The next stage is to remove the brake cooling duct which is clipped to the back of the bumper and then has to be teased out through the wheelarch. Dont worry about damaging it as the plastic is pretty flexible, but youll have to use quite a bit of force to wrench it out of place.

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The plastic foglight blanking plate can then either be pushed out from the back of the bumper or prised out from the front using a screwdriver. But take care not to damage the paintwork on the bumper while youre doing it use a piece of cardboard under your screwdriver.

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The mounting frame for the lights is attached to the bracket in the bumper. The inside edge is held in place by two plastic lugs, while the outer edge is secured by two self-tapping screws. This step is a bit fiddly as the screws are inserted from behind, meaning you have to get your hand inside the space to tighten them.

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Youll have already found out whether your car is wired for foglights, so well assume that if youve got this far then it is. Simply pull the connector out and plug it into the rear of the lamp. It only goes in one way.

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The lamp unit itself just clips into the mounting frame from the front. Slide the mounting lugs into place and then push on the lens until you feel it click into position.

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Next turn your attention to the fuse box at the top of the engine compartment and check your owners manual to discover which relay covers the foglights. On most E36 3-Series its relay number five. Locate the right socket and simply plug the relay into place.

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The final part of the installation is fitting the replacement switch, but if the kits for a Compact, youll find that even cars without front foglights seem to have been supplied with the correct two-position switch. Strange.

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On the E36 saloons, youll need to fit the correct switch. The foglight switch is found next to the main headlight switch. To get to it, youll need to remove the whole mounting panel, complete with the air vent. Start by taking out the screw on the underside of the dash.

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The panel can then be prised out, but be careful not to scratch the dashboard. Again, a piece of cardboard under the screwdriver is a good idea or if you can stand the pain, just try using your fingernails to pull it out.

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Once the panel is loose, you can get a screwdriver behind it and unclip the original foglight switch to slide it out from the front of the panel. Heres what the clips look like so you know what youre trying to get at.

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Plug the replacement two-button switch into the connector, slot it back into place and youre finished.

The aim of the foglights can be adjusted by using a screwdriver on the adjusting screw at the side of the unit, which is accessed through the grille at the bottom of the bumper. Obviously itll be easiest if you wait until dusk and park in front of a wall or your garage door. According to the Chilton manual for the 3-Series, the vertical height of the beams should be 10 cm less than the distance between the ground and the centre of the lens.

CONTACT
Euro Car Parts 0870 1506506 www.eurocarparts.com Complete foglight kits including relay and switch E30 3-Series 112 E36 3-Series 112 E34 5-Series 187 Prices including VAT

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