Automatic headlights

M

MacLaddy

New member
So I purchased Gunner, my 99 limited, about a week and a half ago. I'm trying to get myself up to speed on all things 4runner, but these headlights are confusing me. Most of the time they are simply on, and always on when the switch is on, but sometimes with the switch off they are off. I've had people driving in front of me asking why I was flashing my lights at them during the daytime.

Any thoughts? Is there a light sensor on these, or something similar?

Much appreciated,

Mac
 
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MacLaddy said:
So I purchased Gunner, my 99 limited, about a week and a half ago. I'm trying to get myself up to speed on all things 4runner, but these headlights are confusing me. Most of the time they are simply on, and always on when the switch is on, but sometimes with the switch off they are off. I've had people driving in front of me asking why I was flashing my lights at them during the daytime.

Any thoughts? Is there a light sensor on these, or something similar?

Much appreciated,

Mac
Click to expand...

well if you haven't just started cutting wires your head lights should work like this:

you have day time running lights or DRL's, they should always been on unless you have them off the e-brake on and start the car up, that is the only condition that they should ever be off. what your doing on teh freeway was simply switching from high beams to low beams, so yeas you were flashing everyone on the freeway.

the only difference in DRL's and your low beams is the dash becomes illuminated and slightly higher out put from the low beams.


if this is annoying you go to the general faq and look for the DRL mod, with a few simple clips of a wire and about 10 mins later you should be able to operate your head lights as your used to.
this can also be good for saving you a bit of money on head lights as they will burn out faster with your DRL's running the whole time.


hope this helps.
 
Sounds to me like you have a problem with the wiring, like a loose connection somewhere that is turning the lights on and off with bumps in the road. You will need to inspect as much wiring as you can to look for issues.

There are no light sensors on our 4Runners, they do not turn on automatically as daylight levels decrease or vise versa. As theizzardking was saying, some 4Runners have daytime running lights, but some do not. The systems turns the headlights on but at only 80% power. The headlight switch must be turned on to achieve 100% power(and make the tail lights work).
When your lights are 'flashing', are they flashing on and off, or just low to high power?
 
I believe DRL's in US started in 2000, unless the Limited's got them earlier. My '99 SR5 does not have them. Wiring, connector or relay issue is my guess. If only one is doing it, a bulb on it's way to death can do funky things.
 
my 1999 limited has the DRL's..... i don't like them but i got them!
might have been one of those highlander things as well, i have a limited highlander if that makes a difference...
 
I'm not sure if it was switching between hi and lo beam, or flashing on and off. I'm guessing on and off since I didn't have my switch turned to the on position.

Not sure how the e-brake is supposed to function with the DRL, but it doesn't turn them off when engaged, or atleast not always.

I think I'll make things easy on myself and do the mod to bypass these.

Thanks all for your input.

Mac
 
Drl

Im kinda new and I have tried a search for the DRL mod and cant find it, if someone could point me in the right direction that would be great, i really want to get rid of my day time running lights.......Thanks!
 
FIRE74 said:
Im kinda new and I have tried a search for the DRL mod and cant find it, if someone could point me in the right direction that would be great, i really want to get rid of my day time running lights.......Thanks!
Click to expand...

http://www.toyota-4runner.org/3rd-gen-t4rs/71091-drl-disable-question.html#post605990

I just did this a couple days ago on my 01 and it works great.
I cut the black/yellow wire as shown and taped both ends.
DRL are disabled and lights only come on by the switch.
 
Do the 99 limiteds have DRL? I can tell you that my 99 SR5 does not.

It does, however, have a very slick "auto off" feature that means if you want to treat it like it has DRL, you can.

It works like this: If the lights are on, and you turn off the ignition, the lights stay on. But as soon as you open the driver's door, the lights turn off and stay off until the ignition is on again. This keeps you from accidentally running your battery down when you forget to turn the lights off.

Basically you can switch the lights on and leave them on all the time if you want. Or, you can switch them off.

For safety reasons I tend to run with my lights on all the time, but the Toyota system seems to me to be the best of both worlds.

Incidentally, my 2004 Taco was the same way.

Also, don't know if the OP is in the US or Canada, my understanding is that Canadian 4runners got DRL earlier than US models.
 
The 99-00's you wont have to cut any wires.. There's a relay in between your battery and the fender. Unless you've got small hands you'll need to move the battery to get to it, but all you have to do is unplug it.
 
Automatic headlights 2001 4 runner

So on my 2001 when i turn the truck on only the passenger side light comes on but not the driver side. They both work when I turn the switch on. This didnt happened until I replaced the headlights. Any tips?
 
ColtinV said:
So on my 2001 when i turn the truck on only the passenger side light comes on but not the driver side. They both work when I turn the switch on. This didnt happened until I replaced the headlights. Any tips?
Click to expand...
Do both work with the high beams?

-Charlie
 
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