I know abosolutely nothing about electrical wiring. The subject of circuitry is a total mystery to me.

I have a 1996 Ranger super cab XLT. Fog lights were an option from the factory, which I did not get. Some time ago, I bought a set of Hella fog lights thinking they would be easy to install. However, looking at the instructions and all the wires, etc., I knew it would be dicey at best for me to attempt installing the lights. They have sat on my garage shelf ever since.

I read on these forums how Ford has basically one wiring harness which they use for many vehicles. So now I'm wondering if my Ranger already has wiring for fog lamps pre-installed.

If so, can I utilize any of it to make the Hella light installation any easier? Thanks in advance for any and all helpful replies.

 

Not trying to discourage you, but adding aftermarket fog lights is not what I would consider a simple project. It calls for some basic wiring and electrical know-how, at a minimum. You need to be able to read a schematic and figure out how you are going to get the non-stock fogs to tie into the system properly, even if the existing wiring harness can support them.

 

Point taken, but once upon a time I installed some on another car of mine. I used the wires which came with the lights that time. It's been 15 years, though, so I really don't remember much about the whole bidness. I think I just made a simple circuit between the lights and a separate (from my headlight switch) rocker switch attached to my dash.

What gave me pause to think with these Hellas-- they're Hella 550's-- was the instructions, which seemed kind of vague to me. I'm looking at them now for the first time in five or six years and they *still* seem kind of vague. For example the Hellas came with a bunch of wire connectors in a bag and it wasn't totally obvious from the instructions what I was supposed to do with all of them, exactly.

Anyway you didn't quite answer my question: does it seem likely that my '96 has wires for foglights already "in there" somewhere? If so, would it be smart or dumb to use them?

I work at a college with a pretty bigtime auto tech program, so once I know a little bit more about what I'm doing, I think I can go there for hands-on guidance if necessary.

 

I don't know whether your '96 Ranger already has the wiring harness connectors for the fog lights.

This thread has information with regard to installing fogs lights on a '98 Ranger/B-Series. If you read through it, you might get an idea as to what is involved:

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/s...hreadid=113174

 

Thanks for the pointer on the thread.

I looked and it would appear that the foglight connectors *are* installed.

Now to figure out what to do next.

 

That's a good start that your Ranger has the connectors.

FWIW, I was always under the impression that all wiring harnesses were the same for a particular year, and that they all came complete with the necessary connectors for any options available that year (whether or not the truck was actually equipped with the options), but I know that Kevin (katdaddy) from that other thread never did find the fog light connectors on his truck, so now I'm not so certain about that.

 

Rockledge,

You're presumption would be correct, but my 94 XLT did not have fog light wiring and I used a pre-wired Pilot light kit from Autozone for mine....

Of course, mine is really a base model with the minimum XLT equipment, but I'd have thought fog light wiring was there, too. Maybe someone left for a coffee break who was supposed to be installing fog lamp harnesses that day....who knows.