Adding Fog lights part II (NCV3 Vans)

[Chandlerazman]

Okay, So today was a beautiful day and my wife wanted to go out shopping. My criteria for the day was to get home early to have plenty of time to convert my van to fog lights. Before you know it, it was 4:30pm when we got home. I was going to get these lights in no matter what. I've never taken this van apart before so I had no clue what I was going in for. Aside from that, the daylight was growing short and this project had to be done as the van was needed for tomorrow mornings busy schedule.

Before I begin, let me say that all the parts were collected in advance with much research. There are no wires available to connect into the fog lights if your van didn't come with them from the factory. In a post I wrote a while ago, I had pre-wired the fog light circuits into my van using an ignition key controlled relay and 14 gauge wiring fused and tapped from the under seat power tap. I can run my fog lights independently of the headlights so long as the engine or key is in the run position.

Now to the fun stuff. The grille took four torx screws and four lock tabs at the base to remove. It literally came out in under 3 minutes flat. (Mind you, I've done no studying up on this!) Next to be removed were the torx screws that hold the bumper step hole to the chassis (Front of van over license plate) Next remove the chrome license plate surround and finally two large bolts under the chrome plate surround. The rest gets easy...Pull the push pin retainers out of the outer perimeter of the bumper and at the bottom edge. There are about 10 (five per side) I then removed the torx screws securing the grille trim pieces from the body. With a helper (wife in my case) pull the bumper cover away from the van. There are plastic snap clips securing the fender to the trim pieces which broke off in my case but had little if any structural deviance.

Here's the nose after all of the above are done. This took about 20 minutes as I made sure everything was removed to pull the cover off.






The old bumper has no provisions to secure the fog lights and no hole in the cover to allow for access to the adjustment height screw on the fog light assembly. Here you can see the difference between the two.

Old bumper cover (non-fog lights)


New cover with fog light provisions



An all important part forgotten is the clips and screws to secure the fog light assemblies to the bumper cover.




Here is the fog light assembly installed in the bumper cover




Here is the bumper with fog lights and trim pieces installed and ready to go back on the van.





I bought H-11 pigtails from an online supplier. Google H-11 pigtails and see what you get. I grounded one leg to the chassis and the other is my power feed.

Here are the tails you will need to get. Don't try to get them from the dealer unless you want a second mortgage! They can be had for about $20 a pair with shipping from online sources.





All wired up and bumper reinstalled following the reversal of removal. The side of the bumper cover needs to slide over a retaining "track" in each side just forward of the wheel wells. Best down with the aid of another person on the opposite side.





The magic starts with the amber lit toggle switch on the left next to the headlight switch... (file photo from another day) The other switch is for the fluorescent cargo lighting.



Here is the fog lights in operation with just the parking lights on. The reflection is of red tape on my gate...



And finally the front view after I washed "Huey"




The whole process took me about two hours since I had to solder my H-11 pigtails to the wiring I had previously ran a month ago. Remember, the van had no fog light wiring from the factory.
Total cost for this project....
Bumper cover with fog light provisions - $307.00
Pair of factory fog lights - $ 186.00
Fog light retaining hardware - $17.40
Wire, pig tails and misc. stuff - $32.00

This was my grand total - $542.40
Your pricing may vary due to tax rates, dealer pricing and so on. I wanted this to look factory and not as an afterthought. My wife didn't mind my craziness as the cost of this was done over a period of two months. I am sure this would have cost alot more If I let the dealer do it. Aside from that, it is rewarding to do it yourself, do it right and not leave any "extra" screws laying around.

[Hikinginpdx]

Very good write-up. Looks good

[mean_in_green]

Looks good.

Out of interest Euro5 Sprinters ordered with front fogs (option L16 here) are now being built with them in the bumper rather than the prior arrangement of in the headlight unit (-yes I know, it was always supposed to have been this way...)

[OrioN]

Ummm.... Simon? You live in Phoenix. Fog? I just counted the recorded days of fog in the last century on one finger.


Perhaps, you meant Smog lights?


PS... I got a cravin' for Italian again! Week after next sound good?

[Chandlerazman]

Just had some awesome pizza today with scrumptious garlic knots. Mmmm f'in good!

With our dark roads here at night, I need all the light I can get. Helps to not run over the illegals running away from the law at night

[drron]

That is an amazing post. Great info. I have a 2008 3500 as well. Love it. I would love to have a little more light on the road especially down low. I was thinking about installing fog lamps. I was unable to find the first part of your post. Is there a trick?
Thank you

[dtroyt]

Got mine finished today(almost) BIG thanks to Chandlerazman still waiting for pigtails to arrive from US could'nt get them over here

[Chandlerazman]

I love that red color! Sharp looking van.

[dtroyt]

Originally Posted by Chandlerazman

I love that red color! Sharp looking van.

What it stated it's life as (not eco start tho) I just wasn't sure about color when i bought it but its grown on me.... and how it is now a few months after i got it

Only problem with color is on a sunny day the reflection through windows turns the inside of my house PINK but hey don't have too many of them in UK

[jessejames49us]

My question immediately after looking at this project would be did you try and find the fog light mounting bracket instead of buying the whole replacement bumper?

I would think that this would be available in Germany at a parts supplier if you can't get it here in the States. I had a VW Jetta TDI and at that time there was a US serviceman stationed in Germany would would buy VW parts there that could not be gotten here or were extremely expensive here and cheaper there.

Jesse
2007 Sprinter