Fog Light Switch? Defrost Switch?

[coloincaalpine RIP 2021]

Price: $35

Location: Colorado

Description:

 Can't remember if this is a fog light or defrost switch. Tested good and in nice condition.

[coloincaalpine RIP 2021]

[Driv3r]

That’s e21 rear foglight.

[coloincaalpine RIP 2021]

Yes For Sale.

[adawil2002]

Fair price too!

[bimmerwork]

have you sold the fog light switch ?

[HBChris]

Yellow is rear defroster switch in 2002, e3 and e9.  Unscrew the center and switch colors if needed.

[Conserv]

1 hour ago, HBChris said:

Yellow is rear defroster switch in 2002, e3 and e9.  Unscrew the center and switch colors if needed.

Maybe a rear defroster switch for an e3 or e9, Chris. I thought, however, that the earliest ‘02’s with heated rear windows (1970 models?) used the dual function switch (1.) blower motor speed, by turning the knob, and (2.) defroster switch, by pulling and pushing the knob. I owned my early 1970 for six months before I figured this out, as we didn’t have Internet forums to share such knowledge, and the feature wasn’t described in the May 1969 Owners handbook that came with the car. That switch was next to the instrument cluster (within the binnacle). It later (1973?) became a standalone rear defroster switch after blower motor speed control moved to the lower slide switches. But it stayed next to the instrument cluster. And the square taillights continued the standalone rear defroster switch adjacent to the instrument cluster.

 

Best regards,

 

Steve

 

[02Les]

It's for the rear Fog Lamp accessory kit that replaced the dummy switch in the console.

Front Fog/Driving Lamp kit included a switch that replaced the dummy switch in the dashboard (modell 73 for sure).

[Conserv]

2 hours ago, 02Les said:

... It's for the rear Fog Lamp accessory kit that replaced the dummy switch in the console...

 

When I was buying fog light buttons in 1973-76, green was the only color available at dealerships in our area: Pennsylvania. I usually distinguish early from late versions of this button, however, by the presence (early) or absence (late) of a chrome-ish ring around the button. This was, I believe, designed to match the emergency flasher button, well, the emergency flasher button used on late ‘02’s. Below is my ‘76, showing the “matching” flasher and auxiliary light buttons.

 

Following the photo of my car is my receipt for the flasher switch you see in the first photo, dated August 18, 1976. The green button is part number 61-31-1-353589. And the description is “FOG LIGHT SWITCH.” So my switch has a clearly-demonstrable provenance, to 1976, as well as a stated use! ?

 

The yellow button listed here has the chrome-ish ring around the button. That says ‘02 era to me. My question is: were colors other than green available during the ‘02 era, possibly in different regions or markets? Chris clearly believes the yellow buttons were rear defroster buttons, on a range of BMW models. Were green buttons fog light buttons and yellow buttons rear defroster buttons? (I suspect all these buttons could serve both functions, regardless of what BMW intended.) 

 

School me! Obviously, a one-owner car with an other-than-green auxiliary light button and a receipt from the period, saying it is a “light switch”, would be most compelling. But, if we can’t find that, what evidence do we have? Clearly, e3’s, e9’s, and e12’s may play a role in the answer.

 

Whatever this yellow button is, it is priced very reasonably. and should be sold before we get to the bottom of this mystery!

 

Thanks, as always, and regards,

 

Steve

 

 

Edited February 19, 2020 by Conserv

[HBChris]

16 hours ago, Conserv said:

Maybe a rear defroster switch for an e3 or e9, Chris. I thought, however, that the earliest ‘02’s with heated rear windows (1970 models?) used the dual function switch (1.) blower motor speed, by turning the knob, and (2.) defroster switch, by pulling and pushing the knob. I owned my early 1970 for six months before I figured this out, as we didn’t have Internet forums to share such knowledge, and the feature wasn’t described in the May 1969 Owners handbook that came with the car. That switch was next to the instrument cluster (within the binnacle). It later (1973?) became a standalone rear defroster switch after blower motor speed control moved to the lower slide switches. But it stayed next to the instrument cluster. And the square taillights continued the standalone rear defroster switch adjacent to the instrument cluster.

 

Best regards,

 

Steve

 

Steve, My 69 didn’t have rear defrost and my other 02s were all 74/75.  In every other BMW of the period the yellow is rear defrost, the green dummy was for a green fog light switch.  Purple is e21, maybe for fogs I don’t know.  I own an e3, e9 and e12, all yellow for defrost.

[Conserv]

1 hour ago, HBChris said:

 
... I own an e3, e9 and e12, all yellow for defrost...

 

That works for me, Chris! It would explain:

 

(1.) Why I don’t recall yellow buttons in 2002’s during the period — they had their own switches (non-colored, dual-function, and whatever) for rear defrost.

 

(2.) Why coloincaalpine’s switch has the chrome-ish surround — it is, indeed, an ‘02 era piece but probably first served in an e3, e9, or e12.

 

(3.) Why green was my only color choice when I bought two (three?) “fog light switches” during the 1973-76 time frame.

 

I’m guessing the innards aren’t much, if at all, different, if you compare the various colors and their different intended functions. I’m pretty certain the switch I installed in my ‘76, for front fog lamps and in the front fog lamp location, was originally a defroster switch! ?

 

Thanks and best regards,

 

Steve

 

 

 

Edited February 19, 2020 by Conserv