LED hedlamp install

[XfireZ51]

Originally Posted by secondchance

First two Zs - mine and dregeguy's - I located fog light ground wire (light green, I think), cut and grounded. Third Z, Phil's, I pulled the fog light relay, bent the ground leg, soldered about 8-10" long wire and grounded it. Both methods worked fine. The latter, relay leg mod, avoided cutting any factory wiring.

Yun,

Are u saying you grounded the fog lamp at the front of the engine compartment?

[secondchance]

Originally Posted by XfireZ51

Yun,

Are u saying you grounded the fog lamp at the front of the engine compartment?

least intrusive method I found is to remove fog lamp relay under the passenger side dash, bend the grounding leg sideway and up (so that ground circuit is defeated), solder a wire on the ground leg and finally ground this new wire by hooping it under a 10 mm nut close to bottom of passenger side A pillar/front edge of passenger side door.
Soldering on to relay leg is pretty easy because most, if not all, relay legs have a hole where you can thread a wire before soldering.

[XfireZ51]

Originally Posted by secondchance

least intrusive method I found is to remove fog lamp relay under the passenger side dash, bend the grounding leg sideway and up (so that ground circuit is defeated), solder a wire on the ground leg and finally ground this new wire by hooping it under a 10 mm nut close to bottom of passenger side A pillar/front edge of passenger side door.
Soldering on to relay leg is pretty easy because most, if not all, relay legs have a hole where you can thread a wire before soldering.

Yes but u also mentioned grounding at the fog lamp. Did u do that? If so, how?
Any chance u have pic of where relay is on passenger side?

[Paul Workman]

Originally Posted by XfireZ51

Yes but u also mentioned grounding at the fog lamp. Did u do that? If so, how?
Any chance u have pic of where relay is on passenger side?

Noooo.... I think you misunderstood, Dom. The COIL portion of the fog relay has to be grounded - either at the relay (modifying the relay (bending it out and attahcing a ground wire to it) OR the harness between the relay and the dimmer switch has to be cut and the wire portion connected to the relay has to be grounded somewhere.

Nowhere does the stock wire between the dimmer switch and the relay come close to the area of the fog lights themselves.

When you look at the schematic, it all becomes clear.

OR, if you don't want to permanently disturb the stock wiring, NOR change the operation of the fog lights (turned OFF when the Hi beams are activated), the LOAD RESISTOR option is about you only option.

However, anytime you use a load resistor to maintain original control of the lights, you are not reducing the load on the alternator. Aside from operating the fans, the headlights are a significant load.

So, if you don't mind isolating the fog light operation from the (stock) headlight operation/configuartion, you CAN reduce the load on the alternator by grounding the (coil) portion of the fog light relay.

P.

[XfireZ51]

Originally Posted by secondchance

least intrusive method I found is to remove fog lamp relay under the passenger side dash, bend the grounding leg sideway and up (so that ground circuit is defeated), solder a wire on the ground leg and finally ground this new wire by hooping it under a 10 mm nut close to bottom of passenger side A pillar/front edge of passenger side door.
Soldering on to relay leg is pretty easy because most, if not all, relay legs have a hole where you can thread a wire before soldering.

Yun,

Would u have a pic of the relay u are talking about? Where exactly is the relay?

[XfireZ51]

So here’s an update on my installation of the OSRAM SYLVANIA projector LEDs.
They installed easily like any other headlamp. I decided to go the route of enabling the foglamps operation via wiring modification rather than introduce a resistive load defeating part of the value of LEDs, ie less current draw, brighter light.
Couple of items for the install. My ZR is a late 92 #454.

1. The 92 FSM INDICATES that the foglamp relay is the one closest to the radio and center console. At least on mine, it is the one closest to the door. You need to identify the relay by looking for the light green wire going to the correct relay.

2. In addition, the relay terminal to be modified is terminal 86. Unfortunately, using Yun’s method is not possible, ie bending the relay leg back. That’s because that leg would interfere w the relay next to it. My modification involved drilling a hole at the bottom of relay leg 86. Then soldering a wire to the bottom of that leg. I used a Dremel cutting tool to cutoff the leg leaving about 1/8” stub along w the soldered wire. Put a ground ring on the other end and ground that wire. I used a firewall stud closest to the door opening and which retains the instrument pad. Plug modified relay back into its socket after taping over remainder of stub for Terminal 86.

It worked.

[secondchance]

Originally Posted by XfireZ51

Unfortunately, using Yun’s method is not possible, ie bending the relay leg back. That’s because that leg would interfere w the relay next to it.

Sorry. I missed your earlier post asking for a relay pic and location.
Perhaps I did not make it clear - relay leg can be bent sideways first followed by another bend "up" to clear the adjacent relay - double bend.

[XfireZ51]

Originally Posted by secondchance

Sorry. I missed your earlier post asking for a relay pic and location.
Perhaps I did not make it clear - relay leg can be bent sideways first followed by another bend "up" to clear the adjacent relay - double bend.

Yun,

Thanks for chiming in. I don’t recall u mentioning a “double bend” but I am glad u took the time to clarify it here. I mentioned my “solution” to Marc H at lunch last week, and he was suggesting the same approach. I also took down some of the outer perimeter to the relay so the now soldered wire would not be pinched when the relay is positioned back in the harness connector. The error in the FSM cost me $15 for a new relay.

Turning the headlamps on in the garage showed a crisp cutoff. Need to look at high beams also. I’ll try taking pics either in a dark garage or outside in the night.