Daytime Running Lights?

[nzoliver]

That's interesting info, thanks!
Also, I've never heard of the rear fogs....what sort of a setup is that? Are they red lenses, but brighter bulbs?

One thing I noticed last summer about DRL's and motorcycles is the pulsating lights some of them run during the day. Very noticeable from afar.

Hi,
Mine has front and rear fogs. The rears are activated by pulling the end of the switch when in the 'fog' position. The bottom section of my tial lights light up (25w lamps).

My Jeep is an '02 and has just been imported from Japan.

 

[Ry' N Jen]

Hi,
Mine has front and rear fogs. The rears are activated by pulling the end of the switch when in the 'fog' position. The bottom section of my tial lights light up (25w lamps).

My Jeep is an '02 and has just been imported from Japan.

Rear foglamps seem to be in every country except Canada and the USA.

 

[JeepJeepster]

Here in Canada where Day time running lights were invented by somebody working for GM. All vehicles in Canada have to by law have day time running lights.
It is proven to save lives.
Befor Day time running ights I drove with my lights on all the time. It doesn't cost anymore fuel. Just shortens the life of the bulb.

Idk if youve ever noticed but almost every single GM vehicle I see has at least one DRL light out. Thats probably the single most destracting thing there is so it actually makes driving more dangerous for me. Ill see that crap and focus in on it then I start thinking about how cheap GM must be to use crappy DRL bulbs, then I dont know where Im at b/c I missed my turn.

 

[Ry' N Jen]

Idk if youve ever noticed but almost every single GM vehicle I see has at least one DRL light out. Thats probably the single most destracting thing there is so it actually makes driving more dangerous for me. Ill see that crap and focus in on it then I start thinking about how cheap GM must be to use crappy DRL bulbs, then I dont know where Im at b/c I missed my turn.

And it's always the drivers side!

 

[Lou48314]

Idk if youve ever noticed but almost every single GM vehicle I see has at least one DRL light out. Thats probably the single most destracting thing there is so it actually makes driving more dangerous for me. Ill see that crap and focus in on it then I start thinking about how cheap GM must be to use crappy DRL bulbs, then I dont know where Im at b/c I missed my turn.

Four GM vehicles. Three GM divisions. Over 300,000 miles on all three cumulatively. No problems. No problems at all. Nothing with the DRL's and nothing with anything else other than normal wear and tear.
On the other hand... three Dodge trucks. Three different model years. Two replacement transmissions, two oxygen sensors and 6 recalls all in the first 12 months of ownership on all three of them. I never owned the 3.7L and I have been in the plant that builds the engine on Mack Ave. I have been to the transmission plant too. A big difference in how they make them now compared to ten years ago.
I love my KJ though. If it did not look so cool and do so much I would have a Pontiac Torrent AWD. The KJ is just too cool.
I believe GM, Chrysler and Ford make great vehicles now. I have witnessed it firsthand over a period of 18 years. Best built out of any of them now.

 

[Atrus]

I don't know what the deal is, but newer GM vehicles do seem to chew through the bulbs. I've noticed this too, but so far no issues on my wife's '05 G6 w/67k on it, and my '99 Grand Prix had 130k on it when I sold it. I had replaced a handful (literally, like 2) OEM bulbs in the time that I owned it. Never replaced one in the G6 yet. I don't know what the deal is, but I have noticed it too.

That being said, it's a minor thing and I wouldn't call GM cheap. My KJ already had multiple problems and it was 1 year old and had 20k on it. How can the terminals on TWO ABS sensors corrode so badly they failed within one year? Truthfully, I think they far surpass Chrysler in quality. I've owned vehicles from each of the Big 3 and given a choice I would choose GM, although I don't mind owning the others.

 

[Ry' N Jen]

Four GM vehicles. Three GM divisions. Over 300,000 miles on all three cumulatively. No problems. No problems at all. Nothing with the DRL's and nothing with anything else other than normal wear and tear.
On the other hand... three Dodge trucks. Three different model years. Two replacement transmissions, two oxygen sensors and 6 recalls all in the first 12 months of ownership on all three of them. I never owned the 3.7L and I have been in the plant that builds the engine on Mack Ave. I have been to the transmission plant too. A big difference in how they make them now compared to ten years ago.
I love my KJ though. If it did not look so cool and do so much I would have a Pontiac Torrent AWD. The KJ is just too cool.
I believe GM, Chrysler and Ford make great vehicles now. I have witnessed it firsthand over a period of 18 years. Best built out of any of them now.

Where as my family has had nothing but problems with GMC!
Works both ways I guess.

 

[Lou48314]

I don't know what the deal is, but newer GM vehicles do seem to chew through the bulbs. I've noticed this too, but so far no issues on my wife's '05 G6 w/67k on it, and my '99 Grand Prix had 130k on it when I sold it. I had replaced a handful (literally, like 2) OEM bulbs in the time that I owned it. Never replaced one in the G6 yet. I don't know what the deal is, but I have noticed it too.

That being said, it's a minor thing and I wouldn't call GM cheap. My KJ already had multiple problems and it was 1 year old and had 20k on it. How can the terminals on TWO ABS sensors corrode so badly they failed within one year? Truthfully, I think they far surpass Chrysler in quality. I've owned vehicles from each of the Big 3 and given a choice I would choose GM, although I don't mind owning the others.

Amen brother!
I do not care if you buy a GM, a Chrysler or a Ford. Just keep in mind that the money eventually goes to Detroit, Dearborn or Auburn Hills. In turn, that money gets spread around the U.S. of A. It does not wind up in Korea, Japan, etc...
My neighbors are all, (quite literally all of them), tied directly or indirectly to the Big Three. One neighbor on one side is retired Chrysler. The other side is retired Ford. There are five others that currently work for the Big Three. I work directly with GM, Chrysler and Ford. I have done work for Toyota, Nissan and Honda. Not by my choice.
If it isn't UAW/CAW built it does not reside on my driveway or in my garage.
On-topic... DRL's have been proven to save lives in other countries.

 

[vlonjati]

Success

I did this exactly how he instructs and it worked.

I now have factory day time running lights working on my 03 Liberty LE.
I found out how to make it happen in the troubleshooting section of the Factory Service Manual under "DRL not working". The factory system sends a low voltage to the high beams when ever the engine is running. No other lights are affected. To make them work you need to get the DRL Relay. It is a different pin arrangement than the high beam relay and has cooling fins on it since it uses a voltage dropping resistor to send the low voltage. There is a MOPAR number which I do not have but I was able to get mine from Rockauto Parts on line for about $40. Part # is 1R1676. You must remove the High Beam Relay (keep it for a spare) and insert the DRL relay into the labeled position. The trick to getting them to work is to have a setting in the Body Control Module (BCM) changed. That setting is the country setting and yours should say USA. It must be changed to Canada. I was lucky and got to speak with the technician (Paul) at Lithia Chrysler Jeep in Anchorage AK, that does all their diagnostics. He had never heard of doing it, but was willing to listen as I described what the Service Manual said. He asked if I had the Liberty with me and offered to give it a try. Plugged the DRM 3 in to the data port and found the BCM menu and moved through it to find the country setting, looked at that menu and selected Canada. Since it was about -10F at the time we had the engine running for heat and as soon as he completed the change, bingo on come the high beams only at reduced brightness. They work just like the owners manual says they should and nothing else has been affected that I have found. I suspect that menu might be available with a OBD 2 scan tool also but do not know since I do not own or have access to one. My next step is to investigate the Rear Fog Light Option. It is only available in countries that require it but it is covered in the Service Manual. We get bad ice fog and heavy snow here and a brighter light of some kind on the rear would be a help. There are quite a few other "options" addressed in the Service manual that I may try also. Good luck!

 

[Billwill]

I did this exactly how he instructs and it worked.

The rear fog lamp comes on when the light stalk on the left side is turned all the way forward ie. from OFF to Low Beam to High beam and then one more position to rear Fog.


Your Jeep may not have this type of switch so you could wire in a seperate switch if needed and the rear bulb cluster probably does not have a position for the fog lamp as well.

So you would need to do a bit of extra wiring to get this to work...if you have the circuit diagrams then it should not be too hard to do.

 

[bwflorida]

Hey al7fi, I hope it's OK but I copied your instructions, and gave you credit, in response to a question on the Jeep Forum dot com site from someone who wanted to set up his DRLs.
I haven't done my 03 yet, but I intend to soon by asking my local Jeep dealer to do it . . . fully expecting them to say it's not possible, at which time I'll hand them your instructions and watch them squirm.
They try to steal money from me every time I go there, so this will give me a little pay-back for all their service up-sales crap.

 

[al7fi]

Hey al7fi, I hope it's OK but I copied your instructions, and gave you credit, in response to a question on the Jeep Forum dot com site from someone who wanted to set up his DRLs.
I haven't done my 06 yet, but I intend to soon by asking my local Jeep dealer to do it . . . fully expecting them to say it's not possible, at which time I'll hand them your instructions and watch them squirm.
They try to steal money from me every time I go there, so this will give me a little pay-back for all their service up-sales crap.

No problem. Be aware that there seems to be some differences in later model years. My 03 had places for a high beam relay and a DRL relay. I think later years only have one spot and all you do is swap relays.

Mine still work as advertised and the plus is that I have not burnt out a low beam on the headlamps since I made the change. We have roads here that require headlights on at all times and the DRL satisfies that. With the DRL using the high beam elements but at reduced voltage, who knows how long they will last.

Glad it helped someone else!

 

[al7fi]

The rear fog lamp comes on when the light stalk on the left side is turned all the way forward ie. from OFF to Low Beam to High beam and then one more position to rear Fog.


Your Jeep may not have this type of switch so you could wire in a seperate switch if needed and the rear bulb cluster probably does not have a position for the fog lamp as well.

So you would need to do a bit of extra wiring to get this to work...if you have the circuit diagrams then it should not be too hard to do.

I pulled the the rear light fixture to do some checking. Seems the lighting lenses for non EU etc vehicles are different form the US and Canada ones. There is no place to put in the higher wattage bulb, and I could not find a pigtail to power it either.

Based on the original posters comments, the switches are different also and thus I suspect the wiring harness 's are not the same.

So that change is not gonna happen up here it seems!

 

[bwflorida]

al7fi, I said my Liberty is an 06, it's an 03.
I just received the RY457 relay, ordered it from Amazon for $39.00.
I'm hoping to get the local dealer to set up the DRL this week.

 

[u2slow]

I'm sure they can still see forward reasonably well with their headlights only 50% as bright (recent DRL's only run at 50% brightness, old DRL's ran at full brightness)

The old DRLs (i.e. sealed beam lamps) run off the high-beam filament exclusively, at a reduced voltage. First thing you usually notice when you have a burnt out DRL is you can't get highbeam on that lamp either :anitoof:

Not sure what regime they are using on newer domestic products... although it is probably a quick'n'dirty mod because only about 10% of the vehicles sold in north america require the feature (i.e. Canada). :hmm:

 

[bwflorida]

I just received the RY457 relay, ordered it from Amazon for $39.00. I'm hoping to get the local dealer to set up the DRL this week.

Went to the dealer to get the DRL activated, and they quoted $89.00.
$89 to pull out one relay, insert another, and then access the BCM seems way out of proportion to me.
Sure wish this was DIY project.

 

[profdlp]

Do the relay yourself and see what happens. I installed a pair of the OEM fog lights and took it in for the programming. Long story, but the mechanic wasn't even sure that the reprogramming part was even necessary. (And he didn't charge me, bless his heart.)

Can't hurt to try. :icon_wink:

 

[XWrench3]

I am all for it on ALL vehicles in the U.S. It should not have to be a law, it should just be done.

Unfortunately, if it isn't law, they will not do it most of the time. the only reason they will, is they think it will increase sales enough to offset the extra cost. we all know that the real cost (at the manufacturers level) is only a couple of bucks. but a couple of bucks times a couple of hundred thousand vehicle is a lot of money. and they pay people to find ways to cut costs. My personal feeling is that when it comes to safety items, they should just make it standard equipment and include that in the base price. its not like a couple of hundred dollars is going to make ANY difference on something that costs $30 to 70 thousand dollars.