Disable Daytime Running Lights ?

[Vortical]

Hello,

I recently aquired a beautiful 2000 model LS 400. It of course came with factory DRLs, which I absolutely loathe. They use the same bulbs as my high beams, but with reduced intensity. So, I'm looking for any help/information on how to disable them, and still retain my high beam function.

I did a search and was unable to find anything useful in general on this topic, and nothing at all regarding this for my specific year/model. I would very much appreciate any input on this.

Thanks!

P.S.

I'm glad to be a new member to this forum, it looks very good. With that said, please respect my opinion regarding DRLs and do not post replies that contain arguments or opinions stating that DRLs should not be disabled. I hate them because they make the car look bad, period, and you won't change my mind. I completely disagree with car manufacturers putting in mandatory factory DRLs. I believe it should be up to the customer, and thus they should be a switchable/selectable function of the car (to have them on or off). Every other vehicle I have ever owned did not come with DRLs, and I would be driving a car without them right now if it wasn't for a deal that fell into my lap that got me this lexus.

[SW03ES]

Apparently many Lexus owners feel the same way we do (I agree with you) because on my ES300 there is a "DRL OFF" setting on the light switch stalk. Only problem is the AUTO setting retains the DRLs. BUT, figure this one out, on my dad's 04 LS there is only an "OFF" setting, DRLs are always on.

There is some way to defeat them but it involves complex wiring and rewiring of the lighting circuit. Try running a search on this board and see what you can find. I gave up on trying to defeat these things a while back and have tried to get used to them.

[1990LS400]

Being in the insurance business for the past 30 years, I can't respect the argument of someone wanting to defeat an important safety system like DRL's. DRL's have a provided a dramatic reduction in crashes particularly in winter months, early morning and late evening time periods, northern lattitudes and in heavily forested areas.

I am not responding in this way to disrespect your wish to not hear any arguments supporting DRL's. I am responding to ask others to not deactivate their DRL's and to give other drivers the extra margin of safety that DRL's provide.

[SW03ES]

My question though is if they're such an important safety feature, why can I turn them off?

[VBdenny]

you can! they go off with the key...

Check with someone that works at one of those drive through light shows like they have at Christmas. There IS a way, something to do with turning on the parking lights before you turn on the car or something weird like that. Anyway, those dudes would know because they won't let you drive through them if your lights are on so they know how to get them off.

You might have to wait but a lot of places have those drive through shows at Halloween

[GRAND_LS 4]

strange, im LOOKING for DLR's, and to seperate my fogs and lights... what a small world.

Good luck.

[Lexusfreak]

All vehicles in Canada from 1990 have this feature as standard equipment to this day & Canadian studies have shown they have a good track record overall of reducing crashes especially in bad weather conditions. I agree the feature should have a 'cancel' switch to turn it off should one want to but I wouldn't disable the feature totally in case you need it down the road. Just my 2 cents. B)

[1990LS400]

It does seem odd that the DRL's can be turned off on the ES330. Is this a feature or is there a malfunction? Regardless, DRL's have not been required in the U.S. thanks to the lobbying of U.S. auto companies. There may be some legal/economic reason for Toyota to do it this way - maybe it allows them to reduce the number of configuations for the various sales markets. The ES is sold in very few countries compared to the LS,GS,IS,LX,RX models which are sold almost everywhere on earth where Toyota/Lexus sells cars.

[Vortical]

Sorry I'm late in replying to this... I thought I had the setting turned on to email me when there is a reply to my thread, however I never got any emails so I assumed this thread had no replies...

Thanks for the input, however I'm still pretty much where I started -- no idea how to disable them.

Regarding the opinions presented that are against disabling, you are certainly entitled to that stance, I just simply disagree with it. I will refrain from saying any further, to avoid turning this thread into a discussion about anything other than how to disable them on my vehicle.

Anyways, has anyone tried actually asking their dealer (one of the mechanics) if they would do this unofficially in their spare time or something for under the table pay?

[Lexusfreak]

Why don't you contact the service manager of the Lexus dealer you deal with to ask the question? Let us know what he/she says. You are certinally entitled to your opinion & it is after all your car so if you want them disabled, go for it. B) I'm sure your not the first person that does not like them & want them taken off so only you control the headlights.

[TallTimber]

For what it's worth, you can turn the Running Lights "On" and "Off" on my wife's '02 Toyota Camry. It can not be done on my '04 LS430.

I'm not the least bit interested in disabling the Running Lights on my Lexus, but I sure wish I could turn the Fog Lights on with the Parking Lights instead of ONLY with the Headlights. Does anyone know if that can be done?

I live 110 Miles from my Dealer. I do plan to ask them about those Fog Lights, when I take it in for the 5,000 Miles Service.

[digital_b]

a lot of these responses are pointless when regarding the original topic. I am pretty sure that you can go to the dealer and have them turned off. the info I have been given [i have not confirmed it yet with a dealer] is that if you do have them programmed off you then lose your fog lights as well which doesnt make sense to me but thats the info I have been given. I will ask a dealer soon since I hate them too but I cannot see them when I am driving so its not that bad.

[TallTimber]

I'm wondering why anyone would pay so much money for a car, if the ONLY thing that concerned them was the way it looks.

[bartkat]

There is a transformer that reduces power to the high beam headlights when the DRL's are on.

I don't know where that part is on a ES but on a IS300 it's on the fender well near the main fuse/relay box near the battery.

There is a snap-in plug going into the black box and all you need to do is pull that plug and your DRL's will stay off.

Here's a link to a pic of the transformer box.

[1990LS400]

TallTimber,

I have to assume that the foglights are hooked to the low beam curcuit because it is required that way in at least some European countries - front fog lights are considered to be auxilary lights. Certainly in theory, it should be possible to attach the fog lights to the parking light curcuit. Similarly, the cars I have had with a rear fog light have always had the rear fog light wired into the front fog light curcuit so you could not turn on the rear fog light without the front fog lights already on. I have been a little surprised that Lexus doesn't equip its North American cars with a rear fog light but of course the rules for rear lights are very different in the U.S. that in some some European countries where, for example, at least two rear brake light bulbs can not also be tail lights).

I've installed manufacturer's optional front foglight kits on several Hondas and a Volvo and, when I followed the installation instructions, the front foglights always worked only with the headlight low beams.

[SW03ES]

Please guys. There is a tech question asked in this thread. Why trash it up like they do on IS300.net?

I cleaned the thread out.

Lets keep it on topic.

[TallTimber]

Thanks.

My last three Cars before I retired were Mercedes S Class. The last one was purchased New in 1986.

They all had "Factory" Fog Lights that would work with Parking Lights OR Head Lights. The Switch for Head Lights and Parking Lights, on all three was a Rotating Switch. For Fog Lights, the Switch was pulled out. If you turned the other Lights off, the Fog Lights would also be turned off.

[Vortical]

Thanks for cleaning the thread and keeping it on topic SWO3ES.

Once again, I'm only after the answer(s) to my initial quesiton, not people's opinions on DRL's or the "whys" for buying a nice car or other such banter, so if you disagree with me or have other indirectly related thoughts, please keep them to yourself. I do not mean to sound rude by saying this, btw, its just to avoid the thread becoming a useless mess.

Anyways, back to the topic. So far it seems that we have two main "leads" so to speak:

1) The lexus dealer/service-center might disable them.

2) A mechanic at the dealership might disable them "off the clock" if its against dealer policy to disable them officially.

3) There might be a transformer plug that can be pulled by the owner (me) under the hood that will disable them.

Now, I'm going to start with exploring option 3, and will report back once I have done so.

To whoever mentioned that they planned to ask their dealer to disable their DRLs, please report back when you have do so.

Thanks [most] everyone :)

[Vortical]

Okay, I just looked through the entire owner's manual and as much as the electrical system under the hood that I could easily access without tools.

I have a fuse in the fuse box under the hood labelled DRL that is (according to the manual) a 10 amp fuse that is part of the DRL system alone (nothing else is coupled to this fuse). Well, when I pull out the fuse, it doesn't change anything -- the DRLs and the entire light system functions EXACTLY the same. So I can't figure out what in the world this fuse is supposed to do.

I also think I have located the transformer that was mentioned earlier that reduces the power sent to the high beams to yield the DRLs. When I have some time, I'm going to remove a bracket that is holding a piece of plastic over this box and attempt to simply disconnect the plug going in to it, and see if that does the job.

[MadMax96]

I thought I'd revive this thread in hopes that someone has an answer to disable the DRLs on a 98-00 LS.

Anyone? Bueller? Bueller?

If not I might even disconnect the highbeams - I hardly use them anyway.

[oohryry]

Does the 98 have drls? They don't come on in the daytime on my vehicle. I noticed if I put the parking lights on that the regular headlights, well one of them comes on very dim, shaded like.

[GRAND_LS 4]

Does the 98 have drls?  They don't come on in the daytime on my vehicle.  I noticed if I put the parking lights on that the regular headlights, well one of them comes on very dim, shaded like.

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98's dont have DRL's.

One of your parking lights are burned out. They are W5W, and can be found in any auto place. But you have to dissemble the headlight housing from the car to change out the bulb.

[highlander]

strange, im LOOKING for DLR's, and to seperate my fogs and lights... what a small world.

Good luck.

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JAJA me too i want DRLs. precisely.. people see you and notice you and are less likely to bump into you... specially in an island filled with wild and crazy people!

[91L3xus]

On both my 4Runner and my dad's 2003 Land Cruiser, I found that pulling the DRL fuse in the engine bay disabled my DRL's, without any extra lights showing on the dashboard indicating a problem.

[dfkd]

Not to be obvious but anyone ask the stealer about this? :whistles: