DRL (1 Viewer)

[Naples Cruiser]

Hi, i did a search on disconnecting the DRL's , and found the thread started by : hrc0105. (in the FAQ for 100's)
on my 2003 i cannot find the connector where that red wire with the blue stripe is located.

i was wondering if the procedure had changed for that model year and how to locate the connector.
thanks (happy fourth).

 

[1loudLX]

look next to the airbox on the passanger side fender in the engine compartment. Thats where it is on the LXs, i guess its the same for TLCs.

 

[Naples Cruiser]

1LoudLX , thanks , i have located the DRL relay next to the air box just like you said....however i tried to unplug the relay and of course no DRL but that action takes out the High beams also...!

i tried to replug one of the 2 connectors into the relay and the high beams came on with the low beams ...! , i then switched to the other connector and at that time one of the high beams was not working...

so i re-installed the relay and its 2 connectors until i can find out if cutting one of the wires going to the relay will disable the DRL's ...thanks anyway . Erick.

 

[Jim_Chow]

I took a look at the DRL schematics. There appear to be two plugs going into the DRL relay, one has 4 prongs, one has 6 (of which, I believe only 4 wires are being used). The 4-prong plug, call it connector "B," needs to be plugged in since w/o it, there's no way the relay can every close. The other plug, call it "A," supplies power to one of the high beam lights when the relay is closed (high beams "on"). So if plug A is unplugged and plug B is plugged in, you can trip the DRL relay, but there will be no power going to one of the high beams. OTOH, when the relay is in the normal "off" position, you should still see both DRL high's illuminate. The reason is when the DRL's are on, the highs are in series. There's a junction in between the two lamps. When you turn the highs on, there's a power signal from the low beams to trips the relay. There are also two high beam relays, one of which powers one high beam (or both when the DRL' s are on while the other powers nothing) while the second relay only powers the other high beam when the highs are on (in this case, the relay triggers and closes the path from the second high beam relay to the second high beam light, while the junction between the two high beam lights gets a new and different path to ground, allowing both high beam lights to illuminate at full intensity.

Anyways, that said, I think the only way to disable to the DRL while keeping the high beam function is to cut the path to ground for the DRL while not altering the path to ground for the high beams. The magic lead that I think will do the trick is pin 3A of plug "A." Which one is that? If you pull the relay out and orient it so the group of 4 pins (for plug B) are on the left while the 6 pins are on the right (for plug A), pin 3A is the left-most pin on the top row of the group of 6 pins (white w/ black stripe, but careful, as there are two of them for plug A). Better yet, wire this to a manual switch in the cab so you can enable/disable the DRL's manually.

BTW, the info above on the DRL schematic is for the '03 LX. If you attempt the mod, do it at your own risk; I take no responsibility.

 

[Naples Cruiser]

Jim_Chow....thanks for the very detailed explanation , i will look into it , i don't want to mess up anything however and i'll be really careful.

the switch is the way to go , maybe a OEM type that would fit next to the mirror switch.

by the way in order for me to access all this information such as diagrams , schematics and parts ref numbers is the toyota field manual the way to go or is there some CD/DVD available that has all this info specifically for the 03 L-C.

thanks again . Erick.

 

[Jim_Chow]

You can pay $10 for one day of access online to toyota tech manuals or just buy the factory manuals from Toyota material distribution (maybe $350 for vol 1-2+electrical)

 

[NMuzj100]

Updated the FAQ thread to link to this thread.

 

[Jim_Chow]

Here's what I mean. When the DRL's are on, the power goes from the HEAD HI relay through the 20A HEAD LH-UPR fuse to headlight LH to headlight RH to pin 5A to 3A to ground. Power also goes from the 20A HEAD RH-UPR fuse to pin 2A, but that switch is an open circuit.

When you turn the high beams on, the low beam signal trips the DRL relays at 3B. Power goes from the 20A HEAD RH-UPR fuse to 2A , goes to 5A since that switch is closed, then goes to headlight RH to pin 1B to 2B (since switch is closed) to ground. Also, power goes from the 20A HEAD LH-UPR fuse to headlight LH, then to pin 1B to 2B to ground.

Notice that pin 3A closes the loop to ground only when the DRL's are on, but when the highs are on, pin 2B closes the loop to ground. This is why I think one should cut pin 3A if you want to disable the DRL's.

 

[Naples Cruiser]

Jim_chow...my DRL's Are Now : OFF...........
thanks a lot for the great info ......it is indeed the A3 wire (white and black) , did it this morning .

one more question though when i turn on the high beams the low beams stay on , is that the normal way?

thanks again.

Erick.

 

[Jim_Chow]

Jim_chow...my DRL's Are Now : OFF...........
thanks a lot for the great info ......it is indeed the A3 wire (white and black) , did it this morning .

one more question though when i turn on the high beams the low beams stay on , is that the normal way?

thanks again.

Erick.

For vehicles with DRL's, yes. For vehicles w/ no DRL's, no.

Notice that in the schematic, the DRL relay is triggered by the low beams, so the low beams have to be "on" for the highs to remain on. This is good news if you are retrofitting HID's into your vehicle, as you don't want your HID low's to flick off when you flick on the highs...bad on the ballasts.

 

[Naples Cruiser]

that's a good point (lows stay on while the highs are on) indeed ...unless you had a BI-xenon equiped headlights such as a range rover , i'll probably do the HID thing in the near future..... tonight i am wiring a switch for the wire that i have cut but i am leaving the switch next to the relay (for now)...
thanks again...Erick.

 

[Naples Cruiser]

Pic of the switch.

 

[Fourrunner]

Just a dumb question, but why would you want to deactivate your DRL's?

 

[NMuzj100]

So that you can control the lights on the vehicle.

- approaching people at night who you do not wish to blind (friends, guard shack, DUI checkpoint)
- warming your vehicle without sending a signal to the entire street that the truck has the keys in it
- pulling into the drive or starting the car w/o shining headlights into a neighbors window
- driving into a campground late at night and trying to disturb as few people as possible
- starting the truck to leave at a stargazing event
- trying to spot a wild animal from the vehicle at night

These are just a few times I've wished mine were disconnected or at least I could turn them off when I wanted. I'm sure others have many other reasons. They also waste gas, at least theoretically.

 

[Naples Cruiser]

NMuzj100....you are right 100%....
its all about you controling your vehicle .....however i use my low beams most of the time but its my choice...
Erick.

 

[2k2s2k]

I know this is an OLD thread, but...
Anybody know anything about the DRL Resistor that's listed as a Toyota part for 06-07? Would this make them work or disable them? On the 07 Tundra you can swap out the Toyota relay if you do/don't want them. And on the 06 4Runner they can be turned off via techstream. Why are the LC's such a pain!

Any new info about disabling the drl's?

There's a thread somewhere in here where somebody said it could be turned off via techstream for the 06's, but I was told it's not an option by the local tech.

 

[1loudLX]

the resistor was to make the DRLs dimmer than they came factory. Parently there was a safety concern that the DRLs were TOO bright.

 

[pman]

Hi, i did a search on disconnecting the DRL's , and found the thread started by : hrc0105. (in the FAQ for 100's)
on my 2003 i cannot find the connector where that red wire with the blue stripe is located.

i was wondering if the procedure had changed for that model year and how to locate the connector.
thanks (happy fourth).

look next to the airbox on the passanger side fender in the engine compartment. Thats where it is on the LXs, i guess its the same for TLCs.

Im confused......I have a LX and i found the wire that was in the thread by hrc0105, i never did anything under the hood. Are there two different ways of disabling DRL?

 

[2k2s2k]

the resistor was to make the DRLs dimmer than they came factory. Parently there was a safety concern that the DRLs were TOO bright.

thanks

 

[2k2s2k]

I finally gave in and went for the wires at the relay under the hood today. On my 06, it's a red wire w/blue stripe at A3. I didn't want to cut the wire, so I unplugged the relay and managed to get the red/blue wire plug out of the connector. Worked like a charm and can be plugged back in if anybody wants them in the future.