Driving light issue - Its a weird one

[christofurry Member Find all posts View Profile Close christofurry]

Guys,

Strange thing I have come across with my Driving lights...

Lightforce XGT's
Dual Batteries - SBI212
Mk3 Diode booster
Toyota wiring harness for driving lights.

If the car has been left overnight, or is cold (not driven for a couple of hours) when I flick to highbeam the driving lights wont come on... After a minute or so (time varies) BOOM on they come.

There must be a relay behind the glove box somewhere, because when they are working normally if I flick the dash switch on and off I can hear one clicking. During the time when they are not on, the dash switch can be flicked on/off and no relay sound.

Toyota Coffs - Had no idea.

The sparkie that originally did the install has gone back to the mines, and I cant get hold of him any more, but his work was always A1 and I could never fault it.

I need to dig up where its drawing power from, the only thing I can think of is its pulling power from the battery isolator and once the batteries are linked we get power to the driving light relay. Problem with this theory is that when I manually link the batteries with the switch in the car, no driving lights.

Open to crazy theories as Im stumped.

Chris

[mjrandom Out of control poster! Find all posts View Profile Close mjrandom]

Bit hard to tell without looking to be honest but I would look for a dodgy relay. There should be a separate relay for the spot lights with a feed from the high beam to trigger the relay (it should run through a switch in the cabin). And a dedicated fused power supply to the relay. First thing is find the relay which is more likely to be under the bonnet than in the cabin (because you only need to run the trigger wire through the firewall rather than some 6mm2 or similar and shorter runs of the power wire are better). Check that you have +12V available to the relay power terminal (30) whether the relay is triggered or not. Check whether the relay is triggering when you flick high beam on and off.

Oh, just another idea, are the XGTs converted to HID? These take a little while to warm up and that is normal.

[christofurry Member Find all posts View Profile Close christofurry]

Yep its a hard one. The only relay under the bonnet isn't for the driving lights unfortunately. I can hear a relay clicking behind the glove box when they do work, so Im thinking time to pull the glove box out. Apparently they used a genuine harness for driving lights...

Re HID's - nope good old halogen

[mjrandom Out of control poster! Find all posts View Profile Close mjrandom]

Trace the wires back from the lights then and see where they go. I would be really surprised if the main relay for them is inside the cab. Could be a separate relay to provide trigger power but who knows. Sorry haven't heard about a genuine Toyota driving lights harness either and I build all my own from scratch. Trace the wires from the lights back and see where you go.

[Prado_The_2nd Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Prado_The_2nd]

I agree that the relay SHOULD be under the bonnet, but if you want to remove the glovebox to have a look, it isn't hard. Just did it the other day in my 2013 Altitude (to install driving lights) and I've been meaning to write up some instructions anyway.

To remove the glovebox and surround:

1) Remove the glove box itself (door and tray). Very easy.
- Open the glovebox.
- With a pair of pliers, squeeze the clips holding the hydaulic opener on the left hand side of the globebox to disconnect it (PHOTO1)
- Then it's just a matter of squeezing the sides of the globebox so that the padded gliders disengage.
- And then just lift the glovebox off its bottom rail.

(NOTE: This is how you get access to the cabin air filter ... just in case you want to replace it at some stage).

2) Remove the glove box surround.
- Pull the thin trim strip above the glovebox out - it's just held in with clips (PHOTO2). This exposes TWO of the four bolts/screws holding in the globebox.
- Under the glovebox in the footwell, remove the bottom plastic cover. It is just held in by one screw (PHOTO3). This will expose a THIRD bolt/screw for the glovebox on the bottom right.
- Finally, to get at the last (4th) screw/bolt, you need to remove the left side panel in the passenger footwell (PHOTO4). This is a little more involved:
--- Firstly remove the plastic nut at the back of the panel.
--- Then remove the kicker plate. (This has to be removed, as the clips for this plate connect to the side panel you are trying to remove). To remove the kicker plate, just grab it in the middle and carefully lift it up. It is only held in place with plastic clips and they should all come out safely.
--- With the kicker plate removed, you will be able to pull the side panel forward. There is one more metal clip holding it in place, but this should come away easily.
--- You will now see the last of the 4 glovebox surround screws/bolts.

Once you have undone all four glovebox surround screws/bolts, the glovebox simply lifts out. There is one cable running to the top of the glovebox for the glovebox light - easy to just twist this to remove it.

IMPORTANT NOTE: If using a socket set to undo that 4th bolt on the bottom left, DO NOT drop the socket head whilst removing the bolt. Murphy's law states that dropped socket heads fall down side panels of cars and take a long time to fish out!

With the glovebox and surround removed, you can also see the rubber grommet running into the engine bay, and any after-market cabling should be quite obvious.

Any questions, just ask.