Help: Disabling DRL

[Mick Purewal]

Is this just a simple matter of replacing the switch or does one have to
modify the electrical system to disable the DRL?

btw, the car is a 1991 VW GTI (8V).

--

Mick S Purewal
pur...@mdd.comm.mot.com

[SELAMI]

According to the dealer, on VW's it is simply a matter of replacing the
headlight switch.

[Andrew McClurg]

Why would you want to disable the DRL? I'm trying to get my dealer to
get the DRL on my car working!

=Andrew McClurg=

[Patrick Stadter]

ca...@globalone.net (Bob Reardon-NSS 30244RL) wrote:
>In article <46ujsq$4...@news.vcnet.com>, amcc...@mail.vcnet.com says...

>>
>>Why would you want to disable the DRL? I'm trying to get my dealer to
>>get the DRL on my car working!
>>
>>=Andrew McClurg=
>>

>Maybe he's a private detective or stalker who would like to be a little less
>visible!
>

Or maybe they are just an annoying pain in the ass and he really doesn't
need a better reason than that.

pas

[Ken Lawton]

I have only one beef against the DRL system on my Canada-spec A2: when I
switch on the ignition, ALL the lights in the car (except the dome light)
come on. Even the trunk light (How do I know? Don't ask:). I have one dash
light out already. The DRLs don't bother me one way or another. The real
annoying pain in the ass is the difficulty of relpacing those bleedin' dash
lights.

So, does anyone have any ideas about how to keep the DRL feature, but
shut off all the other lights when they are not needed?
Cheers,
Ken Lawton

--

[Dent Harrison]

Ken Lawton (aa...@FreeNet.Carleton.CA) writes:
>
> <snip>

>
> I have only one beef against the DRL system on my Canada-spec A2: when I
> switch on the ignition, ALL the lights in the car (except the dome light)
> come on. Even the trunk light (How do I know? Don't ask:). I have one dash
> light out already. The DRLs don't bother me one way or another. The real
> annoying pain in the ass is the difficulty of relpacing those bleedin' dash
> lights.
>
> So, does anyone have any ideas about how to keep the DRL feature, but
> shut off all the other lights when they are not needed?
> Cheers,
> Ken Lawton
>
> --
>

You must have a 1990 or 1991. After that, they put the trigger switch on
the hand brake. I wrote VW Canada when I got my 1990 Jetta and mentioned to
them that turning on all the lights, then the glow plugs at -35degC might not
be such a great idea. I suggested to them that using the parking brake
switch would be a better solution, since the law required that the lights
only had to be on when the vehicle is actually moving. Do you think they
might have listened?

That said, I have no problems starting with all the lights on in the cold.
I have also found that the lights last much longer on DRL equipped cars,
compared to those which run with full lights on. I have not blown a dash
bulb in 6 years, 4,400hours of being on. There is a voltage reduction
circuit which drops the lighting voltage to 10-11 volts, which does not
seem like much, but makes all the difference to bulb life. I think you
were probably unlucky with your one dash light. My brother's 88 Jetta has
gone through 4 dash bulbs as a comparison, and he drives with his lights
on continuously as well. Another benefit of having the lights on all the
time is it keeps all the light housings warm and dry, drastically reducing
connector corrosion.

As for having all the lights on versus only the headlights, the rest of the
lighting load is insignificant. It is simply easier to maintain the
standard wiring harness and just modify the light switch.

--
Dent Harrison, P.Eng.
Chelsea, Quebec, Canada
cn...@freenet.carleton.ca

[Bob Reardon]

I've got the DRL's in my '95 Jetta and I love them, but as Ken Lawton said, why
the hell do you need the dash lights on in the daytime. Maybe VW could could
change the dashboard lights to something like a LED which would last the
lifetime of the car. Any electrical engineers got any ideas on this?

Bob Reardon

[Arthur Emerson III]

In a previous article, Ken Lawton (aa...@FreeNet.Carleton.CA) said:

> I have only one beef against the DRL system on my Canada-spec A2: when I
> switch on the ignition, ALL the lights in the car (except the dome light)
> come on. Even the trunk light (How do I know? Don't ask:). I have one dash
> light out already. The DRLs don't bother me one way or another. The real
> annoying pain in the ass is the difficulty of relpacing those bleedin' dash
> lights.

> So, does anyone have any ideas about how to keep the DRL feature, but
> shut off all the other lights when they are not needed?

I have two gripes with VW's DRL's, one being the instrument lights coming
on with the ignition, and the other being using Z-beam (non-blinding)
headlight lenses to attract attention during the day. Number 2 is hard
to solve.

To disable the instrument lights (every one but the headlight switch and
sunroof button), just cut the wire on pin 1 of the headlight switch. Of
course, you'll want to be able to see them at night, so you can splice a
relay into that wire, and grab a wire on the switch that does switch on
and off as a signal for the relay. I'm guessing from my notepad here that
pin #2 may do the job.

When you have the switch out, you'll notice what electrical engineers
like to call an "engineering revision" on the back of the switch.
Everyone else calls it a hack, but whatever you call it, pull the little
metallic jumper out and your left-side parking and tail lights will be
switched by the headlight switch. If I remember correctly, the pin next
to the jumper on one end was the parking/tail lights for the passenger's
side. Either a relay or just removing the jumper and pulling the other
wire onto the jumped connection should take care of the other side.

My gripe was with the instrument lights being on, and I just bought the
relay yesterday to fix that. The other stuff I found with my meter while
pinning out the headlight switch. If it looks vague, it's because I had
no interest in modifying it, so I never wrote it down. It might be pins
14, 6, and 7.

This info was gathered on my 1995 GTI VR6 with the US DRL's, BTW. Test
yours out thoroughly before use. It may be different. I'll post
schematics and part numbers on my "instrument bulb saver" package when I
finish it....

-Arthur

[ran...@indirect.com]

In <47dlbv$s...@service2.uky.edu>, Rgraham <mgr...@nic.uky.edu> writes:
>All states should pass law requiring DRL's it really safe

Would you like to cite the study you are basing this conclusion from?

It's gonna be just like ABS, airbags, and 3rd brake lights anyway. They'll
either get abused, ignored, or too heavily relied upon, and any supposed
advantage will be nulled or more. The best safety device is a skilled, sane
driver.

You can't make things fool proof. Fools are too ingenious.

Mark

[Neil Danylczuk]

ran...@indirect.com wrote:

>In <47dlbv$s...@service2.uky.edu>, Rgraham <mgr...@nic.uky.edu> writes:
>>All states should pass law requiring DRL's it really safe

>Would you like to cite the study you are basing this conclusion from?

Study?
Just open your eyes. A car with lights on is easier to notice than a
car with lights off.