I was outside earlier this evening and found my cars headlights on. I ran to the car to shut them off. It was odd since I haven’t driven the car today.
When I got to the vehicle, I found that the headlights were turned off but the daytime running lights had switched themselves on. I flipped the lights on and off and that shut them off.
A couple hours later I went outside and the lights had turned themselves back on. So I flipped the switch on and then off and that turned them off again.
I just checked and the lights were on again. So right now I am sitting in the car and letting idle to charge the battery back up a bit. I am worried when I get up in the morning though that the battery will run down.
My gf’s Aveo had this same thing happen recently. It was something wrong with the electronic thing-a-ma-bob that controls the daytime running lights. Turned out to be way cheaper to pull it out completely and just re-wire the car to have lights work with the switch only.
The DRLs are connected to the parking brake, do you set it when you park the car? That might “fix” it for tonight, although your permanent problems are elsewhere. DRL relays are in passenger side dash. You can test them or take them in and see if something’s wrong.
I’m not going to tear my car apart to check, but it looks like the DRL relay is a big box, and Gary might be talking about replacing the whole thing. 1999 to 2002 has one box while 1993 to 1998 spreads it out across 3 or 4 or them in the same area.
Yes. There is a DRL relay, which is probably what you’ve found here. But it performs a relatively minor function, and I don’t see how it could cause the symptom you’ve described. The DRL MAIN relay is an electronic “black box,” and while I don’t have a price on it I’d be shocked if it was less than $100, and not shocked if it was two or more times that.
what are the odds the car has identical relays that could be swapped out to test for failure? If I remember correctly my Saturn had a number of identically numbered relays in the fuse panel in the engine compartment and I’ve seen the same thing in other cars. In my limited shade tree experience, relays tend to be somewhat common within a model or car make.
The term “relay” is leading you astray here. The DRL relay, which is not causing your problem, is probably a basic relay like the ones you’re thinking of, might sell for ~$15. The DRL main relay, despite having the word “relay” in its name, is a whole nother beast. That word “main” transports it into a different dimension. It has 20 wires going to it and is not really a relay – it’s more akin to a microprocessor (aka “computer”). It is large compared to a basic relay. There is exactly one in the vehicle, and it’s costly. Sorry.
Really? I’d be interested in knowing why not, but I guess you have your reasons. I’ve heard of people in really cold areas (e.g. parts of Canada) not setting the parking brake in the middle of Winter in case it freezes “on,” but I’m guessing that’s not the case here (and now).
My car sits on a flat driveway. If anything, the car would roll very slowly toward the garage. I wager that if I regularly set the parking brake, I would forget to disengage it about 5% of the time. I think I would have done more damage to the vehicle over the last ten years than by not setting the brake.
I have never set my parking brake. If I’m driving a stick I turn the wheel into the curb and leave it in 1st gear. With an automatic I put it in park. I’ve had parking brakes freeze up and damage brake pads and rotors.
Fair enough. I guess I’m overly cautious and like as many levels of redundant safety precautions as I can get. That, and the mild weather here means frozen brakes are not an issue.
You can disable the DRL relay completely by cutting the wire at pin #23 on the daytime running light relay. The relay box is located inside the dashboard directly above the glove box. Doing this will give you full manual control of the headlights. As it stands now, you do not have control over the lights. If the car is running and has been put in drive, the lights are on, day or night, and you cannot turn them off without putting the car in park and shutting off the engine. Cutting the wire at pin #23 also disables the automatic headlight function.
It drove me nuts: I would pull up somewhere at night, put the car in park, yet I could not turn off the headlights while I let the car idle for a minute while waiting to pick someone up. With the DRLs disabled, I can now actually use the headlight switch to control the headlights! Much better this way.
I might still have the pictures I took when I did this to a 2001 Corolla. Remove the glove box, remove the relay, locate pin #23, cut the wire, tape the wire ends, put it all back together. Simple. Also, that DRL control is pricey.