How To: Install Angel Eyes (TM3 edition)

[Gizzmo_jr]

Bumper
1. Remove the 11 8mm (or phillips) screws on the bottom of the bumper.
http://www.sok07.trapzerohosting.net/Mazda3s/FrontBumper/Mz3_sok07_Fbprrmvl_sm02.jpg (http://www.sok07.trapzerohosting.net/Mazda3s/FrontBumper/Mz3_sok07_Fbprrmvl_02.jpg)
2. Remove the two big phillips screws by the hood latch
3. Remove the two big plastic with rubber bumpers (use a small flat head to pop up the collar, then pull the entire thing out)
http://www.sok07.trapzerohosting.net/Mazda3s/FrontBumper/Mz3_sok07_Fbprrmvl_sm04.jpg (http://www.sok07.trapzerohosting.net/Mazda3s/FrontBumper/Mz3_sok07_Fbprrmvl_04.jpg)
4. Take off the two plastic phillips clips holding the mud shield back in the wheel well towards the front. (per side)
http://www.sok07.trapzerohosting.net/Mazda3s/FrontBumper/Mz3_sok07_Fbprrmvl_sm01.jpg (http://www.sok07.trapzerohosting.net/Mazda3s/FrontBumper/Mz3_sok07_Fbprrmvl_01.jpg)
5. Pull back the shield alittle and you'll see another 8mm screw by the bumper seam, take it off. (per side)
http://www.sok07.trapzerohosting.net/Mazda3s/FrontBumper/Mz3_sok07_Fbprrmvl_sm03.jpg (http://www.sok07.trapzerohosting.net/Mazda3s/FrontBumper/Mz3_sok07_Fbprrmvl_03.jpg)
6. Bumper is now free but still hanging in place. By the hood latch will be two big hooks that clip onto the sub frame. After you slightly pull these up the bumper is now in your hands.
http://www.sok07.trapzerohosting.net/Mazda3s/FrontBumper/Mz3_sok07_Fbprrmvl_sm05.jpg (http://www.sok07.trapzerohosting.net/Mazda3s/FrontBumper/Mz3_sok07_Fbprrmvl_05.jpg) http://www.sok07.trapzerohosting.net/Mazda3s/FrontBumper/Mz3_sok07_Fbprrmvl_sm10.jpg (http://www.sok07.trapzerohosting.net/Mazda3s/FrontBumper/Mz3_sok07_Fbprrmvl_10.jpg)
7. Remove the wiring for fog lights if applicable. And all other wiring. Set bumper aside.

Headlight
8. There are 3 10mm bolts holding on the headlight. One is ontop quite visible. One right infront (bumper) inside the black thatched part on the bottom of the headlight. Another is off to the side.
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a6/r2traps/angeleyes/HLremoval-1.jpg
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a6/r2traps/angeleyes/HLremoval-2.jpg
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a6/r2traps/angeleyes/HLremoval-3.jpg
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a6/r2traps/angeleyes/HLremoval-4.jpg
9. Pull towards the front (to clear the fender) and unclip the high/low beams and you can either unclip or remove the turn signal assembly (what I did, since its not halogen)

Baking
10. Take off all 4 rubber vent lines off the headlight.
11. Take off all the rubber surrounds where the lights plug in.
12. On the bottom of the headlight assembly is a large plastic 'frame'. One phillips holds it on, then there are pressure clips on either side.
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a6/r2traps/angeleyes/HLBremoval.jpg
http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d86/Blacksku11/Halos19.jpg
13. Pre heat your oven to 200.
14. Toss the headlight onto a baking sheet, and then into the oven. Make sure you HAVE the baking sheet, and that the light doesn't touch any of the sides of the oven if possible. If you can't close the door, that's ok. Mine worked just fine with the door open a crack.
15. Wait 15minutes.
16. MUCH MUCH easier with a friend, grab the headlight and work from the low beam side first. One person pull as another un-clips the clips with a flat head. Work 'semi' fast as the epoxy will start to cool and harden. Having a heat gun with you is beneficial in case.
http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d86/Blacksku11/TylerandTsHalos34.jpg
17. Remove the phillips screw holding the middle piece to the outside clear part.
http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d86/Blacksku11/Halos28-1.jpg
18. AVOID LIKE THE PLAGUE to touching the inside of the clear housing. Finger prints are your enemy.
19. Pop off the high/low chrome rings on the middle glossy part. Both are held in from the backside with plastic pressure clips.
http://img350.imageshack.us/img350/8407/IMG_2037Medium.jpg

Angel Eyes
20. Place the rings where you want them. The low beam is pretty obvious, but the high beam will seem it sticks out a little (thats ok). USE SILICONE AND NOT THE TAPE (clear drying kind. I used GE type2). Can't stress this enough, I've read peoples rings coming off cause the tape doesn't hold so save yourself the hassle please. Place a 1/8th inch bead where the ring will touch then use zip ties to hold it securely for about 30min. (silicone is tack-free in 30min, full cure in 24hours)
http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d86/Blacksku11/Halos38.jpg
21. Notch the spot where it's flat (between the high and low) to get the set of wires for the low beam to fit nicely.
22. Pop both rings back onto the housing.
23. Run the high beam ring wires in behind the high beam chrome housing and out where the rubber seal goes.
24. Run the low beam ring wires in behind the low beam projector housing and out where the rubber seal goes.
25. Clean off the chrome, black gloss, etc of all dirt and finger prints. Check 3 times cause it'll bug you to do this all over again.
26. Attach the black middle piece to the outside clear part with the phillips.
27. Set the two halves side by side relatively in place where they once were.
28. Oven again for 15min at 200.
29. Take out and press as hard as you can to fit the headlight into the grove. One corner goes in pretty deep, and catch all the clips if you can. If you hear popping thats good, your forcing out air bubbles in the epoxy.
30. (Optional) Apply a bead of silicone to the entire outside ring if you think the seal wasn't water proof.

Reinstall
31. Reinstall all rubber pieces, headlight bulbs, plastic frame bit.
(Note, the angel eye wireing should come out beside the holes for the stock bulbs, so the rubber cap still works just as it's meant to.)
http://img237.imageshack.us/img237/5316/lightsu7.jpg
32. Re installation of headlight is opposite to removal.
33. Repeat other headlight.
34. Re installation of bumper is opposite to removal. (Note, the mud guard on the car goes under and over along the bottom of the bumper. It's semi obvious how it goes together)
35. Pray no screws left over.

Wiring
36. Assuming you already checked that they work. My procedure is without a wiring harness. Just a 12v and Ground per ballast.
37. Secure the ballasts to the car using zip ties. Then connect the wires from the angel eyes (coming out of the headlights) to the ballasts.
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a6/r2traps/angeleyes/ballast-topview.jpg
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a6/r2traps/angeleyes/ballast-insideview.jpg
38. Connect the ground to any local frame/metal/something bolt thus it will ground to the chassis/frame. I grounded it to the spot below. Make sure to ground it to a spot which touches a metal part of the car. You simply remove the screw, place the round connector around the screw and then screw it back in. I did this for each ballast.
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a6/r2traps/angeleyes/groundingwire.jpg
39. The next step was to connect the positive wires from each ballast together. Cut one piece of the wire which was long enough to span the entire width of the car from headlight to headlight and add a bit of length just in case. Run it along the radiator upper frame.
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a6/r2traps/angeleyes/wireoverview.jpg
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a6/r2traps/angeleyes/powerconnectionrightside.jpg
40. Run the power wire to the top left empty fuse holder (when looking from the top, over the driver fender). Because of the size of the connector, you have to use scissors to cut a piece of the metal off so that it would fit properly in the fuse box. Start by cutting off only a small piece and then keep trimming it until it fit perfectly. Here is a picture of the original connector next to the cut one
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a6/r2traps/angeleyes/powerconnectorCU.jpg
http://img350.imageshack.us/img350/6972/IMG_2047Medium.jpg
41. Suggested you put in a switch in the power wire, and an inline fuse holder (5A i'm told. They don't draw very much)
42. Other suggestions would be wire into the fog light circuit or the running light circuit.
43. Await night time and enjoy

Took my post from another thread, and put it into the FAQ/tutorials section for easier finding. This is my TM3 edition because it's a full tutorial, not just headlight/bumper removal, just baking headlights, or just installing the angel eyes. Thus the words are my own, pictures taken from alternate sources.

Please post up questions if you got them. Hope I can help.


Threads pictures taken from (some)
Link #1 : http://www.mazda3forums.com/index.php?topic=41782.msg612207#msg612207 Thank you sok07 for permission to use the pictures.
Link #2 : http://www.mazda3forums.com/index.php?topic=69613.0;all Thank you No Clue for permission to use the pictures
Link #3 : http://www.torontomazda3.ca/forum/showpost.php?p=192788&postcount=27 Thank you rsquared for permission to use the pictures, and the addition to the "Wiring" section.

[JPAV8S4U]

Very nice! good write up Gizzmo! You make it look easy.... I aint touching this job with a ten foot pole though!

[Caz]

Nice job on the write up.

[3GFX]

Nice write up!

[WhiteSpeed3]

if it is the same kit for the speed does anyone wanna do it for me ill even pay them

[Gizzmo_jr]

IIRC the "Mazda 3 Angel Eye kit" will fit fine on any hatch/sedan/speed. The housing itself and sizing is unchanged between all of them.

[MPS]

fark i wanna do that to my speed i have the kit just lazy :chuckle

[Gizzmo_jr]

fark i wanna do that to my speed i have the kit just lazy :chuckle

Expect a good 6 hours at best. Just waiting time for cooking/silicone is one hour (15+15+30) per headlight.

[Jeff-TheBiz]

Expect a good 6 hours at best. Just waiting time for cooking/silicone is one hour (15+15+30) per headlight.

Took me a month... meh..:complain

[3GFX]

The baking is what totally turns me off. There are so many other mods to do first!

[Unoriginalusername]

cool but scary

[JPAV8S4U]

If this is a mod you truly want to do to your car..... Then go to lockdown and pay the 200 to have it done for you.. Liability on someone else....

[dentinger]

im thinking of doing this to my car...
BUT if i did, id buy a new set of headlights, and install the angle eyes on them.
that way i dont have to have my bumper removed until everything gets done...
but thats in the future..... maybe next summer if me and my friend ever get really bored... and i have extra cash on hand....

oh, and great write up! i'll def use it if i ever install angle eyes on my car!

[MattC]

I think I might do this one later in the summer.

the only thing I am ancy about is the wiring. which is strange, cause youd think putting headlights in your oven would be the scary part.

[WeatherB]

Hey Gizzmo,

Couple of questions for you... How did you achieve a nice clean silicon job? I am concerned about the portion which is shown when you open the hood.

Also, did you silicon the openings on the ballast or the connections?

Finally, in terms of attaching the angel eyes, I used epoxy for my low-beams before deciding to use silicon. Do you think they'll fall off come winter time?

P.S. 200 degrees did nothing for me. I had to boost up the temperature to 230 before I was able to take the capsule apart.

[Gizzmo_jr]

1.
Silicone around the outside of the headlight housing? I didn't need to put any, haven't had fogging issues. Yet...*knocks on wood*

2.
Devin's kit comes with heatshrink that goes over the connections between angel eye and ballast. What openings you speaking of?

3.
Epoxy will work just fine, if anything alittle over kill in terms of strength in the bond. Come winter you won't have any problems.

4.
I guess it's different from oven to oven. Old versus new. Did you preheat? :chuckle

[WeatherB]

Thanks Gizzmo.

1. I wanted to play it safe and decided to silicon the outside of the capsule. I thought it was going to be completely hidden. I didn't bother to double check. :(

2. Devin's kit did come with some heatshrink for the connections, but where the wires come out of the ballast, I see some gaps. It must be sealed from the inside, or at least I hope.

3. Perfect. I prefer over-kill then under-kill. :)

4. Our oven is one of the new digital types, I even tried 30 minutes at 200degrees. Still nothing. I preheated. Perhaps it was because I used a baking pan and some aluminum foil.

[Gizzmo_jr]

Ah I know what your talking about now in the gaps. Okay, I had this too but I thought it was because I pulled to hard on the wires during installation. Basically I could see the metal in the wires directly (~1mm) from the ballats (power/ground wires). SO I took some silicone, like your suggestion, and touched it up. To answer your question properly now, yes I'd recommend it.

[WeatherB]

Thanks. I just siliconed them. :)

Surprisingly, one of my ballast wires were also frayed, about 1mm from the opening. Maybe a defect with the manufacturing process?

[bubba1983]

currently following this walk thru at the moment, as i need to rebake my one light, so far so good, at the oven stage now!

[Gizzmo_jr]

Let me know if there are required additions/changes or notes to be mentioned.

[bubba1983]

jus came out of the oven, the light, literally, in no word of a lie, came apart in 2 seconds. jus needed a screwdriver to looken up the one end, and it practically fell apart, woohoo!!!

[ArManI]

great writeup! took me 10hrs roughly when i did this mod, cuz i was with a friend and baking the housing at his oven, but it got a little burn smells so his parent didnt allow us to continue to re-bake it to close the housing :P
we had to drive around to find another oven at midnight LOL

[dr1ft3r]

im thinking of doing this to my car...
BUT if i did, id buy a new set of headlights, and install the angle eyes on them.
that way i dont have to have my bumper removed until everything gets done...
but thats in the future..... maybe next summer if me and my friend ever get really bored... and i have extra cash on hand....

oh, and great write up! i'll def use it if i ever install angle eyes on my car!


I agree. Are there headlights with angel eyes already installed for sale? I don't like the idea of spending that much money and thent having to do all that labour. Great write-up btw.

[Gizzmo_jr]

So that knock on wood didn't work. As of last week I started having fogging issues on the drivers side. It was only after a wash and didn't last long. I popped out the turn signal, took off the top most vent pipe and waited 30min in the sun.

My fix was a bead of silicone on the top of the headlight, the part you see when you pop the hood. It helped, but I finished fixing it last night. The hole was in that last 3inches where the fender hangs over.

[WeatherB]

Someone on the M3F suggested that we purchase a "tube" of the stock glue to use while reassembling.

Anyone know where we can get our hands on it?

If we can get some, it should just be a matter of add some more during re-seal.

[rsquared]

Well thanks to Gizzmo and many others, I finally got around to this install! I'm not going to do a complete write up since most things are covered in the original post, but I'll add some info and photos on some things, in particular on the wiring, which was the toughest part for me since I am (er was) a wiring newbie!

Perhaps Gizzmo can add some of this to the first post:

Removal of headlights from car after bumper removal:

There is 4 screws to remove.

Screw #1 removed using a screwdriver (screw is held in by a plastic fastener, be careful to keep everything in a safe place where they won't get lost!):
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a6/r2traps/angeleyes/HLremoval-1.jpg

Screw #2 removed using a socket wrench
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a6/r2traps/angeleyes/HLremoval-2.jpg

Screw #3 removed using a socket wrench
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a6/r2traps/angeleyes/HLremoval-3.jpg

Screw #4 removed using a socket wrench
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a6/r2traps/angeleyes/HLremoval-4.jpg


Once you remove the screws you simply pull it off the car. Make sure you remove and 3 light bulbs/wires from the headlight (low beam, high beam and turn signal) before removing the headlight. To remove the bulbs simply twist them and then pull them out.

Once you have the headlight removed you will have to remove the bracket at the bottom before taking apart the housing. There's only one screw holding it in, as shown below:
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a6/r2traps/angeleyes/HLBremoval.jpg

Wiring:

I wired my angel eyes straight to the fuse box so they are on whenever I turn on the car. They stay on for a few seconds after the car is turned off.

Tools and materials I bought/used:
1) 10 feet of 22AWG car wire (Active Surplus - downtown Toronto) approx $5
2) Pack of butt end connectors (Canadian Tire) approx $2
3) Pack of grounding connectors (Canadian Tire) approx $2
4) Power connector (Active Surplus - downtown Toronto) approx 15 cents each
5) Lock wrench (already had)
6) Wire stripper/cutter (Active Surplus - downtown Toronto) approx $5
7) Roll of electrical tape (already had)
8) Pack of zip ties (Active Surplus - downtown Toronto) approx $5
9) Heavy duty scissors (that can cut metal, which I already had)

The first thing I did was to secure the ballasts to the car using zip ties. I then connected the wires from the angel eyes (coming out of the headlights) to the ballasts.

Here is a top view of the ballast secured:
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a6/r2traps/angeleyes/ballast-topview.jpg

Here is an inside view:
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a6/r2traps/angeleyes/ballast-insideview.jpg

The next step was to ground the (brown) negative wires. I stripped the wire using the wire stripper (but I'm sure you can do it by simply using scicssors). I then attached a circular connector (make sure to get the right size which will fit the width of the screw) and then crimped it on and taped it up with electrical tape. I grounded it to the spot below. Make sure to ground it to a spot which touches a metal part of the car. You simply remove the screw, place the round connector around the screw and then screw it back in. I did this for each ballast.
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a6/r2traps/angeleyes/groundingwire.jpg

The next step was to connect the positive wires from each ballast together. I cut one piece of the wire I bought which was long enough to span the entire width of the car from headlight to headlight and also added a bit of length just in case. I stripped all the end of the positive wires and long piece of wire. Then I used a butt end connector to make the connections. Simply insert the exposed wire on each side into the connector and then crimp using the lock wrench. See below for a pic of the positive ballast wire connected to the long wire (green):
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a6/r2traps/angeleyes/wireoverview.jpg

For the right side connection I also had to add another piece of wire which would be used to "power" the angel eyes via the fuse box. So, using a butt end connector once again, I inserted the exposed wire from the green long wire into the left end, but on the right end I inserted both the positive ballast wire and the "power" wire. I then crimped all 3 together, as shown below:
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a6/r2traps/angeleyes/crimpCU.jpg

Here's a wider view of this (with the power wire already inserted in the fuse box):
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a6/r2traps/angeleyes/powerconnectionrightside.jpg

The next step would be to add the proper connector to the "power" wire which will then be inserted to the fuse box. Crimp the exposed wire to the connector. Then, because of the size of the connector, I had to use scissors to cut a piece of the metal off so that it would fit properly in the fuse box. I started cutting off only a small piece and then kept trimming it until it fit perfectly. Here is a pic of the original connector next to the cut one:
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a6/r2traps/angeleyes/powerconnectorCU.jpg


Then, go ahead and insert the power wire/connector into the following empty slot in the fusebox:
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a6/r2traps/angeleyes/fuseboxCU.jpg

Then cross yur fingers, test it out, turn on the ignition and voila! Sorry for the bad pic, bad lighting in my garage :)

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a6/r2traps/angeleyes/aangeleyes.jpg

After I made sure to cover all connectors with electrical tape. Also, I used zip ties to secure the wire running along the car. There a few holes along the black piece ( I think 3 in all) which will allow you to hold this in place.

Overall, this was a gruelling, yet quite satisfying mod. I bought an extra set of headlight housings so I was able to open them up to install the angel eyes in the housings one day, and then do the bumper removal, headlight uninstall, reinstall and wiring on another day.

Now everytime I see those angel eyes shining I'm very proud I was able to do this myself. I actually bought the angel eyes last fall and only installed them now. :bang

It's only thanks to people like Gizzmo and numerous others that I was finally able to get the courage to do this. Thanks again to everyone and I hope my small contribution can help others as well! :bana2

[WeatherB]

Hi,

Looks good. I like the idea of grounding each ballast separately. I made the mistake of running two wires across the engine compartment.

Two suggestions. You might want to silicon the connections between the ballast and angel eyes. Also, add in a fuse between the fuse box and ballast connection. 5A should do.

[rsquared]

Thanks for the suggestions WeatherB! For the additional silicone, do you mean on the actual ballast were the wires come out, or where the wires from the angel eyes attach to the wires from the ballast? If it's the second one, it already has a heatshrink material on it to secure the connection, do you think silicone is still necessary?

For adding in the fuse, what exactly is the purpose, and how would I got about doing it? What does the fuse look like?

[WeatherB]

Hey. For added safety, you should silicon both places. Both Gizmo and I have done that. You have to keep in mind that you're talking about 20,000volts. The slightest amount of moisture will short out the ballast.

For the fuse, go to Walmart and pick up a pack of 5A mini-fuses. They are $3.97 for 5 of them. Then cut the wire you ran from the fuse box in half. Connect up the fuse in-between the wire you just cut.

The purpose of the fuse is that if anything shorts out, the fuse will burn out preventing damage to the car. I'm not sure whether the area in the fuse box that we are tapping into is already fuse-protected or not.

[Gizzmo_jr]

Congrats buddy, happy everything worked out for you. Your setup is identical to mine in terms of wiring. With your permission I'll append to my first post and give full credits.

[bubba1983]

so far no condensation for me after a wash already...miust say im proud of myself, and thankfull for the walkthru!

[rsquared]

Congrats buddy, happy everything worked out for you. Your setup is identical to mine in terms of wiring. With your permission I'll append to my first post and give full credits.

Permission granted :chuckle. I wouldn't have it any other way! This is a daunting mod, so I'm up for anything we can do to make it easier for others!

bubba, same for me, but that's with me washing it. I'm scared for the winter when I have to go through a car wash, that will be the real test!

[bubba1983]

for sure...but, it takes a whole of what? 15in to whip off the headlights? since w both have 2 pairs, thats what i may do this winter, whip them off and put them back on in the spring again
ive been thru 2 winters with my old setup, no problems

[Gizzmo_jr]

Okay rsquared, done and done. I had to URL tag 4 of the pictures since there is a 20 image limit per post.

[WeatherB]

Hey Gizzmo, did you have any luck removing the clips for the fog light wires? Both times that I've removed the bumper, I've been unable to figure out how to get them out.

These are the white clips which hold the fog light wiring to the bumper.

[Gizzmo_jr]

OMG NO !!! Faking annoying thou cause I wanted to get the bumper away from the car, not sit beside it bumping (bad pun) into stuff. I "think" they are like the one time "zip-tie" style clips.

Or you talking about the actual power plug's themselves for the fog lights? I can get those off, not the harness that goes to the car.

[WeatherB]

Phew. I thought it was only my incompetence. hehe

I'm tempted to just cut them and use zip ties next time. It's very annoying for sure.

[WhiteSpeed3]

is there a specific kit i should buy to do this mod or is any of the kits on ebay ok

[JonsMazda]

Get it from Devin...$80bucks for the Angel eyes kit. www.thexenonstore.com

[dentinger]

yea. i went to go order some yesterday, but he said he's out of them for the next 2 weeks.

with that being said, im installing angel eyes on my car in 2 weeks!! yay!
hopefully all goes well. also, i want to use the angel eyes as my dtrl, cuz that looks so good!!

[bubba1983]

practise makes perfect. i can whip the bumper and one headlight off now in like 7min flat! hahahah
finally makin the upgrade from 2 years of thinlines, to chromiums now!! today is install day, or attempted install day!! once again , refrencing to this how to!

[MattC]

I want to have eyes, but I dont want them to be automatic with my lights.

I want to be able to turn them on and off at will.

here is what I was thinking: Hook the lights up to something with a good output, say the cig lighter or dome light. keep all the wiring inside the car, just run the necessary wires out into the engine compartment. Use a inline fuse, hook it up to a custom switch somewhere.

anyone see any possible issues with this?

[Gizzmo_jr]

My set up is power is from the fuse box (live only when car is on or accessory mode). Wire into the cabin, through a switch, and to ground. I control when their on, with the assurance that I can't kill my battery.

[MattC]

I want to see your setup before I do mine I think, My fusebox is currently full of shit from my independant fog mod... it was a clean mod too.

any chance you can take a shot of your fusebox as it currently is setup?

[WeatherB]

You can also tie them into your independent fog lights and run both off the fog light switch.

[bubba1983]

mine are hooked up to a dedicated switch also. Can't rememebr how lockdown wired it, but i can turn them off and on wiht a switch whenever i want

[Gizzmo_jr]

Splice right into the same top left plug as the independent fog light mod. (viewing from over the drivers fender)

[MattC]

not a bad idea hooking them up to the fogs, that way you dont need an extra switch.

I just run my fogs all the time, so i would have to turn them off when i turn my HID's on!

[JonsMazda]

Go for it! u wont regret it....unless u screw up something majorly :)

[bubba1983]

here goes nothin, makin my final attempt at puttin these in, finally managed some spare time to get the passenger side in!!!

kinda sad tho after 2 years to see the old thinlines go, but as they say, time to move on to bigger and better!!

[Gizzmo_jr]

So I drive through the rain yesterday on my way to Wonderland and pull into parking lot and notice one of my rings (drivers low beam) isn't on. I figured it out from the reflection off the trunk of the car parked in front of me. Quickly pop open the hood and hear a sizzling noise. Upon closer inspection the noise is coming from the ballast to ring connection. Sure enough water had gotten itself in there and making an ark due to the high high voltage.

So I blow off the water after I unplugged the connections and turned the ballasts off. Looked alright (no burning or melting from anything), plugged it back in and turned them on for 30sec. Okay everything checks out and works fine. Some residual moisture causes the sizzling noise to happen again. Turn them off and leave it until home.

This afternoon I took apart all 4 connections and put dielectric grease to all of them and redid the heat shrink. Now I ask myself why didn't I do this before? I'm lazy and the heat shrink wasn't fully shrunk all the way around. Now I won't be scared to use the angel eyes in wet conditions again. Let this be a warning.

FYI, dielectric grease will prevent moisture to enter the area where it is (repels water), as well it isn't conductive thus water tight bond at the connection.

[WeatherB]

I actually siliconed the connections after putting on the shrink tubing for that very reason.

Make sure you also get the small openings on the ballast around the wire outlets.

[Gizzmo_jr]

Well aren't you smart! ha
Yeah we both had that 1mm gap in the wires at the ballasts problem, like you put silicone on that ASAP.

[WeatherB]

Hehe. I heard a lot of horror stories on M3F about fried ballasts due to exposed connections.

Luckily nothing got permanently damaged for you.

[rsquared]

WeatherB mentioned siliconing the connections after I did my install but haven't gotten around to it as yet. Thanks for posting, it's a good wake up call!

[seelsy]

Reviving the Dead here, but is there any extra steps when taping into that fuse box slot? I cut the spade connector to get it to fit snuggly but it won't power up the angel eyes. Am i missing something or is there a step im missing when taping into that empty slot. The lights work properly when i run it right off the battery and put in a switch, and they work off other slots on the fuse block, however the slots that work have constant power even when the car is off so it kinda defeats the point of connecting to the fusebox.

[Gizzmo_jr]

Unless Mazda changed something in your 09 configuration, I'm not sure. That plug is only live when the car is in the run/on position.

[seelsy]

ya but on the other slots there is a metal piece where the base of the fuse touches, but in that open slot its just fully open, like no conductiev surface and when i put the connector in and turn the car on, the lights don't turn on

[Gizzmo_jr]

Then something has changed for your 09 for your fusebox

[seelsy]

well thats just brutal :flaming thanks for ur help

[kLuMzi]

maybe a picture will help?

[seelsy]

http://www.torontomazda3.ca/forum/picture.php?albumid=131&pictureid=1188

[seelsy]

the bottom two have constant power and the metal conductive surface which is circled, the one on the top and to the left has no metal surface, and its the one all the DIY's tell you to tap into

[seelsy]

no ideas?

[cwp_sedan]

Weird. Not sure why they would have changed that.

Edit: I would have suggested this also but other look like they have done an add a circuit to get around it.
http://www.mazda3forums.com/index.php?topic=11730.msg2433702#msg2433702

[seelsy]

im not sure if they have changed it, or if im just doing something incorrectly. Can someone with an 08 or earlier take a photo of the front section on their fusebox so i may compare. Maybe im just doing something wrong with the connection at the fuse box.

[seelsy]

ok ya something has changed, my buddies 03 has that little metal tab in that slot, but my 09 gs does not have that little metal tab, so i guess they have removed something from the box from that slot, so i gotta figure out a different way to wire them up.

[FoXy]

03??

[cwp_sedan]

ok ya something has changed, my buddies 03 has that little metal tab in that slot, but my 09 gs does not have that little metal tab, so i guess they have removed something from the box from that slot, so i gotta figure out a different way to wire them up.

Well how do you want them wired up? On their own switch, auto on auto off all of the time, etc? I'm sure we can come up with an alternative depending on what you want.




03??

I wasn't going to say anything but you had to go and do it! lol. I'm sure he meant 04 or 05 or 06 or 07 or 08 :chuckle

[seelsy]

yes my bad lol its an 04. And i have them wired to a switch under the hood currently, but i kinda wanna have them wired up so they come on and turn off with the key.

[FoXy]

I wasn't going to say anything but you had to go and do it! lol. I'm sure he meant 04 or 05 or 06 or 07 or 08 :chuckle

Come on Ryan.... you know me... I can't help myself lol

[cwp_sedan]

yes my bad lol its an 04. And i have them wired to a switch under the hood currently, but i kinda wanna have them wired up so they come on and turn off with the key.

I don't know what most people think of those mini add-a-circuits but I used one in my old car and it worked fine. Basically it expands 1 fuse slot into 2 and gives you a power connection. All you would have to do is tap it into something that would shut off with the car. Kind of like in the link I posted earlier.

[seelsy]

ya i had that idea, but there are only three empty slots on my underhood fuse box, the one is missing the tab, and the other two have constant power, no matter if the key is in or not, so adding the mini circuit to those gave me the same outcome i have now.