E36 HID Fog Lights DIY

[BrodsterM3]

i purchased the HID Kit from www.xenonrider.com i got them through eBay for $150 shipped.
they are located in SoCal and have everything instock and ship priority for free! they also handle any warranty issues.
i went with 6000k H1 bulbs, to match my 6000k headlight hid's. rather than leave things "plug and play" like kit comes, i decided to clean things up a bit...



this is what the bulb and wiring looks like out of the box.




Step 1. cut the wires coming from the bulb, removing the connectors.






Step 2. remove the back of the oem fog light, disconnect the wires going to the oem H1 bulb and remove the oem bulb. cut off the connectors that go to the bulb, leaving the wires on the inside of the fog light connector for the next step.






Step 3. solder the wires coming from the bulb to the wires inside of the fog light connector. pay attention to polarity, and use some heat shrink or electrical tape to cover the connections.




Re-Assemble the fog light.





Step 4. cut the connectors off of the wire coming from the ballast that go to the bulb.






Step 5. cut the factory fog light connector off of the car, be sure to leave yourself some extra wire to work with.






Step 6. solder the factory fog light connector to the wires coming from the ballast that go to the bulb. The brown wire is negative, the brown/yellow is positive.







Step 7. use electrical tape to cover your newly made harness.






Step 8. both ballasts completed and ready.



Step 9. using the factory fog light wire that you cut the white connector off of, solder the wires from the harness that came with the HID kit that go to the ballast connector.







Step 10. all the wiring is completed and ready for hookup.






Step 11. Replace both of your factory Fog Light fuses in the underhood fuse box with 20amp fuses.

Step 12. hookup all the connections, turn on your fog lights, step back and be proud of your work.






now i get to wait for the body shop to finish painting my new front bumper...

[///M3Augy]

Awesome thanks for posting this, I might need it for future reference!

[mikese36]

Excellent Write Up!

[AndrewE46]

Sweet

My next mod for sure

[Bsaint]

I already did mine last year, but nice write up

[UltimateDrivr]

no projectors?

[Viper3812]

Great job. Projector fogs for the e36 are not great looking to me.

[DU09]

do you have to cut the harnesses up like that for headlamps??

[thbmwm3]

Great job and nice writeup! A lot of people just dremel out holes (ie, on the back of the foglight covers, etc) instead of cutting the HID bulb wires, but it doesn't come out as clean as your method. Hopefully, this doesn't affect warranty issues. However, the kit looks to be of great quality and it will hopefully last a long time without having to use the warranty.

Great job!

[Bsaint]

Just make sure to keep them sealed up and away from water thats why one of mine doesn't work right now So I run with no fogs.

[ZbmwR]

nice!! now i can get blinded by yet another person at night haha jk.. nice job man

[Mad Machine]

You know, with the voltage the HIDs pull when sparking.. they do not recommend cutting and splicing/soldering those main leads.

[M3@Apex]

Nice man......

You should heatshrink all the connections...

[RJ 325is]

Nice man......

You should heatshrink all the connections...

+1

[BrodsterM3]

do you have to cut the harnesses up like that for headlamps??

no, but you could. i just did this cause 1. i was bored today, and 2. it created less wiring and connections in the system.

You know, with the voltage the HIDs pull when sparking.. they do not recommend cutting and splicing/soldering those main leads.

i think soldered wire connections are better than the crimped on plugs that are used from the factory, have you ever taken apart one of the HID harness connectors?

Nice man......

You should heatshrink all the connections...

thanks for all the compliments guys,
I did use heat shrink for the solder connections, then electrical tape over to wrap everything up.

[M13]

Thanks for the write - up

$150 shipped for an HID kit.. Time for the other cars to get upgrades!

[Petrucci]

NICE! Excellent write up. Post some night output shots when you get a chance. Plan to do this sometime down the road.

[3literheater]

Looks great.

[bayareabmw]

Post....... So I Can Look Back When I Need This Thanks For The Info.

[BMWManiac]

For the question reguarding warranty, I am 100% positive that this eliminates the warranty. Any cutting of the original components that are not intended for the use of the product would immediately cancel any warranty...just a hunch.

[M3@Apex]

For the question reguarding warranty, I am 100% positive that this eliminates the warranty. Any cutting of the original components that are not intended for the use of the product would immediately cancel any warranty...just a hunch.

Apexcone was nice enough to still honour the warranty, even after I cut all the connectors to do HID fogs....

But I am not sure about this company.

[Jackoosh]

to the OP, i have the same set up

[raoke]

I have the exact same setup except 3000k. I also didnt use the stock connections but rather drilled a hole on the cover incause I need to convert back to stock.

I did try to use the stock connections in the fog itself but the metal pins are too close and short. So its either your way, or drill a hole.

[95 530i PIMP]

Sweet! i'll be doing mine pretty soon i think
BTW would anybody happen to have a part # for this white plug?

[Forged328]

Awesome job!