Illuminate this blue light issue

[dekeman]

2014 Limited.
With headlights on during daylight (always on for safety), the blue light illuminating climate control dims. Clock light also dims.

Dimmed light means I can't see climate settings/clock in daylight.
Dash-light control dial only illuminates instrument cluster, not fan/temp/clock.

Don't believe this a unique fault to my truck.
Has anyone found a way to correct this? (Other than turning headlights off.)

First pic shows headlights ON.
Second shows headlights OFF.

 

[flyinhawaiian01]

Here you go:

http://www.toyota-4runner.org/5th-gen-t4rs/198776-brighten-data-display.html

 

[1engineer]

I just leave my DRL's on during the day. Does not dim the clock or anything.

 

[dekeman]

Here you go:

http://www.toyota-4runner.org/5th-gen-t4rs/198776-brighten-data-display.html

Thanks for that! (And would have posted in that thread, had I seen it.)

Still doesn't solve the issue though; wondering, as [MENTION=65614]Antman[/MENTION] suggests, if anyone has gone deeper to find a solution, other than just running drls.

 

[flyinhawaiian01]

Only other way to correct this and keep them on full brightness whether the lights are on or off, I think, is going to be to find the ground wire on the lighting circuit (assuming its a normal dimming negative wire to the light circuit), trimming that wire, then either going straight to ground if its switched on the power side, or running a relay to swap positive output from your parking lights to a negative output to that wire you cut.

Easy enough for me to see how to "correct" it, but the theory is usually much easier than actually doing it! And, if its anything like some of the other circuits in the 4runner, it could prove to be impossible in the end if that light circuit is tied into the CanBus system!

Turning up the dimmer on the left side doesn't brighten it up enough? I thought for sure that would bring it back up to daytime brightness.

EDIT: There's one other way to "fix" it, tint the windows really REALLY DARK!!!!

 

[dekeman]

The dimmer dial, oddly enough, doesn't affect these specific lights, even though it should.

 

[vjack]

Why do you leave the full headlights on when you have DRL? The whole point of DRL is to provide safety visibility during the day.

Also I believe your vehicle has automatic headlights? You can just leave them on auto and the DRL / headlights will switch automatically (including the corresponding interior lighting).

 

[dekeman]

Yes, has auto. Maybe I should start using it!
I've always driven all my life with ALL lights on, believing the more visible lights on, the more likely someone else will notice the truck - especially out back when it's easy to get rear-ended by someone looking at their phone. (Happened in a different truck last summer).

 

[vjack]

Yes, has auto. Maybe I should start using it!
I've always driven all my life with ALL lights on, believing the more visible lights on, the more likely someone else will notice the truck - especially out back when it's easy to get rear-ended by someone looking at their phone. (Happened in a different truck last summer).

This is not my area of expertise but my opinion is that DRL are designed to be visible during the day and regular driving lights are designed to be visible at night. I trust the Toyota engineers to get the lighting right. I have been happy to leave my Limited lights on "Auto".

 

[rigtec]

"...Dash-light control dial only illuminates instrument cluster, not fan/temp/clock. 'Don't believe this a unique fault to my truck.' Has anyone found a way to correct this? (Other than turning headlights off.)..."

Hi dekeman,

Let me first start out by saying that I do understand what you would like to achieve regarding the headlights/accessory meter illumination system. But in your above post you say... "Don't believe this (is) a unique fault to my truck."! Well, this is not a fault at all but rather a Toyota design safety feature! The courtesy circuit dashboard lighting dims (at night) when the headlights are on to avoid the possibility of creating a blinding glare in the driver's eyes to prevent causing an accident!

I realize that you cannot control this using the 'Dimmer dial' as that's not the dial's intended purpose. There is however, an accessory meter illumination adjustment (ILL-1, ILL-2) to change display output settings. If you turn the Parking/Head-lights to the off position and hold down the MODE button, the ILL-1 and ILL-2 output settings will appear... for further instruction refer to your 4Runner year/model/trim manual; pg 2 (index) will direct you to the actual page where your truck's accessory meter settings are located!

The other thing that I wanted to explain is that all of our interior lighting systems are completely managed by the 'Main body ECU compu netwk' which includes, energy consumption (current) monitoring, 'soft start//power-down' ramping, Ground-side switching mode control...etc! So since our lighting systems are, for the most part, 'HOT AT ALL TIMES' and the ECU controls them internally by manipulation of the grounds, there are few things that can be changed in these systems without network malfunction/consequence!

If you feel that you need to use the headlights for extra safety during the day, then you might consider installing some sort of an 'Auxiliary' lighting system for that purpose and then only using your headlights for night time driving; thus allowing the proper use of the accessory meter & courtesy lighting systems, I hope you'll find this helpful,

Cheers!

 

[dekeman]

Thanks Greg, but 2014 and up LE models don't have the accessory meter that allowed the mode/adjust for brightness. Would be nice if it were that easy.
I liked that meter too, wish Toyota had kept it, much better place for the outside temp and compass than the little square in the instrument cluster.

Going to try and use auto headlamps and see how that goes.
Thx!

 

[dsimonl]

My wife has been complaining about this as well. There are times when it is raining heavily and she needs to turn on the headlights - mostly so other people can see her from behind.

I looked at the programmable settings in Carista. There are two that involve instrument lighting. Anyone know if either of these will solve the problem?

Instrument lights dimming sensitivity
DARKEST / DARKER / *NORMAL* / LIGHTER / LIGHTEST

Instrument lights restoring sensitivity
DARKEST / DARKER / *NORMAL* / LIGHTER / LIGHTEST

 

[Ellis_McPickle]

I have a Limited, when running lights during rain, etc, when it's still light outside, I turn the dial left of the wheel all the way up until it clicks in. This usually brightens up most of the panel to the point I can see it a lot better.
You might have tried this or not, but hopefully it helps.

 

[rigtec]

"Thanks Greg, but 2014 and up LE models don't have the accessory meter that allowed the mode/adjust for brightness..."

Really... "I've got to start getting out more!" hwell: