Many thanks for your message.

I will keep you in touch to inform you of further developments. By comparing the ETACS-ECU (American) with the ETACS-ECU (European) I will say they are identical. The American ETACS-ECU has indeed a rear fog light relay and it is identified as "no used relay". However pin#14 of the American ETACS-ECU connector C-311 does not have any wire to go to the rear of the car together with the other ones that make the vehicle floor harness running to the rear of the vehice.

 

0k. One question, where do you obtained OEM stalk switch with rear fog function?

 

Hi,
I ordered the lighting switch (or stalk switch) from the UK (England). I have all the information somewhere (i.e. dealer email, price of the stalk, European part#, etc). The stalk switch is not cheap. I remember paying 110 pounds ($160 dollars). The European stalk switch has all the functionalities that the Outlander GT has PLUS the rear fog light functionality.

I have a spare European stalk switch (OEM) with all the functionalities.

 

I'm guessing, from looking at the service manual, that each stalk has its own tiny slave chip which communicates over the LIN bus. That probably explains why it is so expensive.
Perhaps you can modify the current "column switch" so that the front and back fogs are set at the same time? Perhaps soldering the current wire going from the front fog lights to go into the chip where the reverse fog goes in? Or maybe even drill in a secondary switch somewhere if you really need separate controls. Unfortunately, no circuit diagrams of what is inside the stalk is available.

 

Mitsubishi has adopted, as other car manufacturers (e.g. Mercedes, Audi, BMW, etc) have, the CAN-bus or Controlled Area Network to monitor and change settings to its computer system. The light stalk (or stalk switch) is controlled fully by the ETACS-ECU which resides just below the instrumentation cluster by the left front of the driver’s seat side. This device behaves like a big traffic cop.

I have the circuit diagram for the ETACS-ECU for the American and European Outlander. I will say that both are practically identical. However they are programmed to suit the vehicle market. The MUT-III is the equipment the Mitsubishi dealers uses in order to access the ETACS-ECU.

I am able to describe exactly what I did in order to use a European stalk switch to add to my GT rear fog light functionality. This was done but the rear fog light icon didn’t come on. I am afraid that to light the icon I will have to track in the ETACS-ECU what pin# and what connector# is responsible for this facility. The most probable event is that Mitsubishi didn’t attach any thin wire from the ETACS-ECU to the instrumentation cluster to connect the rear fog LED bulb. I found, to my despair, that this is what happened with the rear fog light lamps. Mitsubishi simply didn’t run any wire from the ETACS-ECU to the rear of the car as part of the bundle of wires that make the floor wire harness to the rear. This was a big challenge. I didn’t run any wires from the ETACS-ECU I just use one wire of the many wires already in connector C-311 as a means to carry current to the rear fog light lamps. This worked.

Inspecting the American ETACS-ECU circuit diagram I could identify that by triggering the stalk switch to rear fog light functionality a fraction of current, just before energizing the rear fog light relay, goes to pin#3 in Connector C-313. I must infer that this is for lighting the LED rear fog icon in the instrumentation meter (or cluster). According to JSRD who said that there is a rear fog LED bulb on the icon panel but not any wire attached to it, this may confirm my assumption that Mitsubishi didn’t run any wire from pin#3 (in connector C-313) to the rear fog LED bulb icon in the same fashion that Mitsubishi didn’t run a wire to the rear of the car to light a rear fog light bulb.

I must say that working or manipulating the ETACS-ECU box is relatively easy and wires may be identified following the pin diagram for the relevant connectors which are in the ETACS-ECU electrical circuit itself.

 

Ah, so it did work...just no rear fog light icon? So do you know what the original functionality of those wires in C-311 were? How did you "bridge" it from the ECU to run to those wires?
I am guessing you had to do major surgery on the rear bumper to get the lights into there as well. Do you have any pictures of the installation procedure?

Also, do you know if only one side of the car can have side market lights remain lit? I know most cars in Europe also have that, which helps people see your car when it is parked in the dark.

 

Ok, just had some time to look at the light housing, and it seems to be relatively easy to add the rear fog lights physically at least. It would require cutting out the big circle thing to fit the bulb holder.


The leftmost part is the positioning bulb...the thing on the right is not a light, but just holds the wires in place.
The pink thing is very interesting, as it is a hole for an extra light bulb right under the pink cloth. This pink cloth was covered with plastic cap, which I guess is to keep moisture out.

I took a bright light and put it directly over the big plastic circle, which resulted in a very visible cavern inside where the bulb goes. Likewise, the pink port is visible as well...I didn't take off the pink cloth as its glued to the plastic and would probably rip if forced off.

Here is a picture of the same part on a European Outlander (rotated 180 degrees from above)


So all that this would require for the rear bumper would be to dremel out the right sized hole for C. It may even be possible to use the same wiring, as there is no positioning light in the Euro model.

 

Yeah, is easy to modify the housing (post #29), but you need to run new wires, otherwise you turn on your rear fog lights at the same time that position lights. Another detail, OEM rear fog unit has an reflector lens inside, so, its light is more intense; finally, I bought to japanparts the rear fog units (left&right sides) and is evident the difference (batman 47, you were right about it ), and now I haven't position light, only fog function.

 

Way back in Aug 2009, that's exactly what I told you: http://townhall-talk.edmunds.com/dir...7bc38/12#MSG12 But I guess you forgot all about it.

 

batman47, can you tell me details from your contact? Or, can you obtain info about wiper stalk switch with headlamp washer push botton? What about taxes and shipping cost?

I have some ideas in my mind to use this parts