2010 3i Fog Light Installation Guide (with pics!)

[MikeOfAllTrades]

I finally decided to go ahead and install fogs on my 2010 3i. I'd been hoping someone would do a write-up first because I wasn't sure if I could do this, but got antsy and did it myself over the weekend.


All in all, the install went without a hitch and turned out to be a fun weekend project (and a good way to save $160 on installation costs). It's pretty much wrenching and plug 'n play, which anyone can do. If you're anything like me, you should set aside a few hours to do this -- but keep in mind I'm quite a bit slower and meticulous/organized than most when I do this sort of thing. Especially since I hadn't taken the front bumper off previously. It's less intimidating than it initially seems, and isn't difficult by any stretch with good instructions.


Below are some pics and (and words too!) regarding the install. Probably in more detail than is necessary. I hope it gives the more hesitant among you an idea of what to expect, to motivate you to give it a shot yourself, and to elucidate any issues one might encounter along the way.


But who am I kidding? Most of you are probably zipping around in your fancy GT model while I sob myself to sleep every night.


1) The Parts:


(Fog Lamp Enclosures, Lamp Hole Covers, Bumper Covers, Wiring Harness, Turn Signal Stalk, and Hardware).





Fog Lamp Enclosure backside


Amazingly, the fog lamp enclosure included some Sylvania bulbs already pre-installed, but I'd previously bought some whiter high temp ones without this knowledge. I'll keep the Sylvi's for spares, unless anyone here want to buy them off of me at an exorbitant price. Shipping is only $75. PM me for bids.



2) Before:






The poor filthy cover had no idea of its soon-to-be fate -- to be heartlessly discarded and never washed again. To live out its days enclosed within a cardboard box inside a closet -- soiled without the comforts of bubble wrap or packing peanuts.



More soon...

[MikeOfAllTrades]

3) The Install [Interior]:


Let's start with the turn signal stalk:

First thing you'll wanna do is remove that pesky upper cover on top of your steering wheel column. Unlock the wheel adjustment lever to telescope it completely out towards you, and also as far downward as it will go. Lock the lever back in place. It's a little hard to grasp, but try your best and yank the cover upward while holding it at the sides with both hands. It should snap off with some medium effort (reduce effort to "light" if your hands are less girly than mine), and pull it completely out, like so:






Your days are numbered, inferior turn signal stalk.



Next, you need to loosen, (but not necessarily completely remove), the lower cover. If you stick your head under the column you should see two screw holes. Remove them both, and then you can pull the lower cover slightly downward on the left side of the column to reveal the second screw connecting the signal stalk.





Just pull the left side of the lower cover down a bit. There's no need to do the extra work of completely taking it off.



Pictured below, are the (2) screws connecting the stalk. Remove them both with a fiery passion.


Screw #1



Screw #2


The entire signal stalk should easily pull out from there.
But what's that I see? Yep. The bane of my existence. The destroyer of skin cells . A hand model's worst nightmare. A Wiring Harness Connector.



Don't even get me started.


I hate 'em. They turn my weak girly hands into a bloody pulp. Do your worst (meaning your best), and disconnect it by pressing in that worthless removal button. It doesn't help that the inner part of the stalk is well-lubricated and makes your hands too slippery to effectively grab onto anything. A paper towel and a couple swear words are mandatory to complete this part of the process.


After that, do a reverse install with your new stalk. Plug in the harness, slide the stalk into its slot, replace both screws, and re-install the lower column cover (two more screws), followed by the upper cover (just snap it back in).



Voila!


This concludes the interior portion of the installation instructions for your career-furthering, happiness-inducing new fog lights. Stay tuned dear reader, to have the second half of your brain further blown.

[MikeOfAllTrades]

4) The Install [Exterior]:


Let's begin this second portion by removing the front bumper. It would be futile to attempt to reinvent the wheel by providing instructions to remove said bumper, as user ntechnic has done just that -- in his stickied thread Very detailed post on installing upgraded horns on 2010 Mazda3 with pics. Though I'll inelegantly summarize it with "it's about 30 screws and a tug." That sounds dirty.


If you've made it this far, you might as well work your way to the bottom of that page and actually upgrade to dual tone horns. It's really cheap, and is a far more pleasant (and quicker, at this point) process than doing it through the lower-right access hole like I foolishly did.


My pre-installed, yet completely unnecessary for these purposes, sweet sounding, Dual-Tone Horns as pictured below. Heck yeah:



Front bumper removed








With your noble bumper lying sorrowfully on the ground, take this opportunity to further strip it of its dignity by removing its bumper covers!. Remove the two screws pictured below and that goofy-looking metal clip that should pry off easily with a screwdriver. Do that same for the opposite end of the bumper.



Note the dummy plug in green, where you previously removed the power harness while taking off the bumper. That will soon be put to good use.


Continue the job by removing both upper bumper covers . Remove both screws, as pictured below. Then, press in the 3 tabs on the opposite side. When facing the inside of the bumper, this should allow you to press the once-proud cover away from you and off of its stylish and mighty pedestal. The tabs were a little tricky, and began to approach my innate hatred for wiring harness connectors. Use a screwdriver to depress them instead of your fragile and precious fingers.



Push the cover forward after valiantly dealing with the 2 screws and 3 pressure tabs.



The front bumper, now lacking a soul. Every eye penetrating the black hole in its vacant heart.


Now, you can begin to install the hardware for your new fogs. Begin by placing in the new lamp hole cover. It will slide into the obvious slots, and with some pressure, will engage those tabs that we had previously removed. Don't make the mistake of installing both tapping screws. Do only the upper screw -- the bottom one will come later.





Next, screw in the new lower bumper cover. Again, don't re-install all of the previous screws just yet. Just do the one closest to the interior of the bumper, and also replace that goofy looking metal clip you removed from the other bumper cover.


Don't mess with the X'd out screw hole just yet.


Slap on the actual fog light enclosure. It should be placed such that all 4 pictured screw holes line up, which will overlap the 2 previous screw holes you had declined to use when installing the upper and lower bumper covers. Install all 4 tapping screws and marvel at the beauty.


The 4 screw hole locations, 3 of which are actually visible from this angle.



Beauty



More to come. Almost done.

[MikeOfAllTrades]

5) Putting It All Together


Commence the end by installing the wiring harness. Begin by plugging in the narrowest end of the harness to the driver side lamp harness connector.



Driver side lamp harness connected. So fun to slide in (click!). So horrible to remove. I think Michael Scott, of The Office, has an applicable catchphrase that eludes me.


Continue by securing the harness to the bumper with clips or hooks in the 11 different designated areas. They're pretty easy and obvious to spot.



One of many of the harness -> bumper clips and its insertion point.


Next, (1) Connect the passenger side lamp to the harness, and (2) affix the bumper->vehicle power connector in its appropriate downward position by placing its clip in the slot. This will soon be attached to the vehicle's power supply. (3) The relay will also soon be mounted on the vehicle, except it will attach to 3 distinct points behind and around the windshield washer reservoir. You'll see that later.



Take off that blue tape btw. It's just part of the packaging materials and shouldn't have been included in this picture.



Now you will be re-attaching the bumper. I found this to be the hardest part of the entire process. Specifically, I had some trouble lining up some of the bolts on the bottom part of bumper. Just be patient, make sure the sides of the bumper are snapped into place, and don't fully tighten any of the bottom screws until all of the other lower ones are in place.


Before you screw the bumper on, the relatively long relay cable from the bumper needs to be secured to the vehicle, though it won't explicitly plug into any other power supply or circuit. It will attach to 3 points on or around the washer reservoir. These were a little difficult to spot, so the next three pictures should be helpful. Just snap in the connectors on the relay cable, in order, when you find each location:


Relay Connector Point #1 (Above and behind the left of the reservoir. It's farther back than it looks. Hope you have small hands)



Relay Connector Point #2 (right behind the reservoir)



Relay Connector Point #3



Then, attach the downward positioned power connector from the bumper to the free power cable that previously attached to a dummy slot when you removed the bumper. This will juice up your sweet new lights!



Connect us!


Now you should be good to fully reattach the bumper. Snap it back into place and replace the 30 or so screws/bolts. You didn't lose any, did you?

Reconnect the negative terminal on your battery and give the fogs a test.


Results:


Lumos!



The front bumper, now beaming with wrathful vengeance.



Note: I also did this along with the H11->H9 conversion for my low beams. If you don't already have HIDs, and want a far cheaper, safer alternative to the questionable eBay offerings, I can't recommend this inexpensive simple-to-do mod enough. If you're the type of person to be browsing these forums, you're the type of person for this mod. Do it!

[n4rwhals]

Great installation guide!!!!

so where'd you get those fog lights from?!

[BSUBigMac]

Great write-up!!! I can't wait to get some extra money to do this mod!!!!!!!!!

[MikeOfAllTrades]

Thanks for the kind words guys.

Originally Posted by n4rwhals

so where'd you get those fog lights from?!

I actually shopped around for quite a bit, and was shocked to find that my good old dealership parts department had the best price out of everyone. It's not exactly cheap, but I picked it up for $215 for the fog kit (bulbs included), and $46 for the new turn signal stalk. One could do worse, especially considering there were no shipping costs.

[Derrick_B]

Great write-up! Thanks for contributing to the forum. I'm sure a lot of people are going to find it useful

[Anderfrank]

nice write-up. Very funny comments

[2010mazda3]

damn nice write up. it i didnt already have fogs id be using this guide