Headlights and Dash Lights

T

tweak

New member
OK, call me at the very least inattentive. I have now taken off in my '04 SR5 (two months old) twice at night with my headlights off. Last night got stopped by highway patrol and given a warning. So, I guess the thing that's fooling me are the dash lights. I really like the dash light always on feature, but it's deceiving. I looked at another thread that points to an after market auto on/off device. Anyone have other suggestions for this problem?
Thanks
 
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Just leave your headlights on all the time?
Click to expand...

Rando's comment is not as far fetched as it may at first seem...

Fourth Generation 4Runners are equipped with auto-off headlamps (about 30 sec), so you can leave the light switch in the ON position all the time. When you start your truck, they'll turn on, when you shut it down, they'll go off after the delay.

If you want to turn the lights off without waiting the entire delay, use your remote and press the lock button TWICE...

--Dan
 
I believe that Toyota had anticipated this and has placed a headight on indicator lamp on the dashboard display. Check your owners manual or turn on your headlights when it gets dark to see what and where the indicator is.....
 
Or follow my posts here to add the auto-on feature from the Limited. BTW, was that the post you referred to originally or did you find an actual 'aftermarket' solution?
 
My opinion is also to leave your headlights on. My other suggestion is either have the dealer re-program that lights to go off when you open the drivers door or just hit the lock button twice each time. I have a friend who leaves his lights on all of the time in his 2004 Sport so it is not uncommon.

I do not mean to sound funny but do you have DRL's? When I sometimes forget to put the lights on at night, I usually realize it when the road is a bright orange!
 
The only thing I do not agree with is that he is saying the dash lights are deceiving. If it's dark, and your lights are not on, I do not ever recall seing my dashlights on till I turn on my lights. Has anyone seen otherwise?
 
Iman74 said:
The only thing I do not agree with is that he is saying the dash lights are deceiving. If it's dark, and your lights are not on, I do not ever recall seing my dashlights on till I turn on my lights. Has anyone seen otherwise?
Click to expand...

they changed it on the 2004 4runners so that the dash light is always on for better visibility. as you can see with our dashes, under certain lighting conditions, you can't see shit. in the 2004 dashes, there's a little light bulb indicator (similar to the fog light on indicator but in a different color) that comes on when you turn on your headlights. what he's trying to say that, sometimes he doesn't notice whether it's on or not at night.
 
Because of complaints of the gauges being hard to read Toyota made the gauge lights stay on all the time on the 2004's. The only way you can tell if your headlights are on is if the green indicator light is on. That is why the dash lights are deceiving, you get in and turn the truck on and the dash lights come on and you think your headlights are on because of this.
 
I'm one of those people that leave my headlights on all the time. There is a green icon that tells you your lights are on. When your high beams are on a blue icon comes on.

People have said that leaving your headlights on wastes the life of the bulbs. I don't particularly care about that. If the fact that my headlights are on saves me from a fender bender than they have more than paid for a $35 set of Silverstars...

July
 
Mark86 said:
My opinion is also to leave your headlights on. My other suggestion is either have the dealer re-program that lights to go off when you open the drivers door or just hit the lock button twice each time. I have a friend who leaves his lights on all of the time in his 2004 Sport so it is not uncommon.

I do not mean to sound funny but do you have DRL's? When I sometimes forget to put the lights on at night, I usually realize it when the road is a bright orange!
Click to expand...

I do have DRLs. On a fully lit expressway, I can't tell if the headlights are on or off. And the highway patrolman was fortunately very understanding.
Thanks!
 
rando said:
Or follow my posts here to add the auto-on feature from the Limited. BTW, was that the post you referred to originally or did you find an actual 'aftermarket' solution?
Click to expand...

I did find your thread on installing the Limited auto on/off feature - Looks too complicated for me since the sensor is not in my vehicle.

I would be interested in what you think about the aftermarket unit. The price is right and looks to be simple to install. Thoughts?
Thanks!
 
It looks like it does the trick. What I do not understand is where you leave the light switch, on position or off position? Otherwise it looks like a simple installation. If I was planning on doing this though, I would go the way rando went. I think it looks very complicated too. I would have to find someone to assist me with this!

I live in a rather rural area, so if my lights are not on, you will notice very quickly. If you close your eyes, that is about how dark the roads around my area are! :jester:
 
I totally agree that the factory install would be the best. I'm fairly good at the electrical work, but the photo of the instrument cluster removed scared me off.
 
It's not complicated to do the upgrade, but it is a bit pricey. IIRC, there are only a handful of screws to remove and everything is else is attached with clips. You could do it in an hour.

You just need 2 parts and 3 wires.
 
Last edited:
Mark86 said:
What I do not understand is where you leave the light switch, on position or off position?
Click to expand...

It looks like it could be wired up to work either way but most likely it's meant to work when the switch is in the OFF position. That way you can still force the lights ON when you need to (for instance in California we have sections of road where lights are mandatory at ALL times).

I thought about building (or buying) something like this before I went with the (near) factory solution. Ultimately though, I needed the 4 position dimmer switch since there are times when I want to force the lights ON and other times when I want them OFF. 99.99% of the time though, it will be set in AUTO mode. It works great.
 
Design Tech

Well, I installed the Design Tech Lights On module and it wont work. Now the techs tell me the unit wont work with a ground system such as in the 4 Runner. Not sure what they are talking about. The unit works fine on the parking light but leaves the low beam on all the time even if the engine is off. May need to get some detail instructions on the factoryu install from Rando.
Thanks
 
It works

Check that last message.
It works! I plan to complete the installation, but if it goes the way I believe it will, this should be a very inexpensive ($50) easy install solution to auto lights on/off.
I'll post more later.
 
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