2001 Escort van.

Noticed that my fog light switch was lit. Thinking I’d caught it, tried to turn the fogs off and they didn’t. Bloody things are stuck on all the time that the headlights are on.

Fog light switch is permenantly lit when the headlights are on, took the switch out, disconnected it from the multi plug and the fogs are still on.

Any ideas ?

Thanks

get a priest in

May go to a relay in the fuse box, is my theory . Maybe try passionford for a better answer on this.

(Not so) interesting fact: many rear fog lights are switched earth, presumably they have a 12v feed whenever the sidelights are on, and the fog switch gives the fog light bulb a return earth path when you want them on.

So if there is any corrosion or damaged wires near the rear lights this could provide an earth to the fog light and allow it to come on. Might also be possible due to corrosion/mud/snow in a towing electric socket.

(You’ve already proved the switch is not at fault so time to move to the back of the car!)

REMOVE THE FOG LAMP FUSE.

Do you want to buy a heavy duty roof rack for an escort van, wirral chester area, got one in the garage off my old escort van

Perhaps we’ve been too harsh on people leaving fog lights on when the weather’s cleared. On newer fords with automatic headlights it can be a problem turning fog lamps and lights on. Because first you have to go past the off position if they’re on automatic to get to the lift and turn motion for fogs. If you’re not quick enough, you’ll have momentary darkness.

It’ll more than likely be an earth problem.

Well I couldn’t work out which fuse was the fog light one as the cover on the fuse box must have been changed at some point as it is off a 1997 and the van is a 2001 so nothing matches up. So I took the relay out.

Left it without a relay for an hour or so, just been and put the relay in and the lights are working correctly now….

Guessing it’s either a damp relay that’s now dried out whilst indoors, or general damp / earth problem caused by the weather.

get a priest in

😀