Disable DRL's

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naladude911
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I have a Canadian 2001 QX4 that came with DRL's. How do I disable them? I did the fog light mod but it looks dumb with the DRl's/


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fueler
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is the DRL the same bulb as headlight ?

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Empty V
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naladude911 wrote:I have a Canadian 2001 QX4 that came with DRL's. How do I disable them? I did the fog light mod but it looks dumb with the DRl's/
I say you either tint your headlights like your tails or just remove the lamps.

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Pwnin O'Brien
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You can disable the DRL's by grounding pin #17 (the blue wire with the green stripe) at the daytime light control unit. You would need to ground it as close to the unit as possible and just tape up the other side since it controls the instrument cluster brake warning lamp.
Modified by Pwnin O'Brien at 7:48 PM 2/5/2010

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naladude911
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il just take the bulbs out, there go my highbeams w.e

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Pwnin O'Brien
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naladude911 wrote:il just take the bulbs out, there go my highbeams w.e
It really only takes five minutes (if even) to ground the wire at the DRL module. This will also let you keep full functionality of your high beams. If you want your DRL's back, you just patch the wire back together and it's like it never happened.

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JonathanPrem
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Thanks Pwnin for the tip. I'm planning on doing this to the pathy and adding switch back signals. Gonna look so sexy

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funnyman82
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where is the DRL unit located? and how do you go about grounding it?

thx

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naladude911
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yea, I can't find it.

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Pwnin O'Brien
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Ok, so by request, here is a short tutorial on how to disable the DRL's on Canadian R50's. I apologize for the crappy Photoshop skills.

So first you may want to know what it is you are doing. The daytime running lights do not operate when the parking brake is applied (upon startup of the vehicle, it doesn't work if you already have the vehicle running and you apply the parking brake). So a simple test to see if the following procedure will work on your vehicle is to (with the vehicle off) apply the parking brake and then start the vehicle and see if the daytime running lamps are on or off. If they are off then great, this procedure will work for you! If they are on then you have a much bigger problem.

What the following procedure will do is it will make the DRL module believe that the parking brake is always applied, thus keeping the daytime running lights always off. Don't worry, if you follow the procedure correctly then the parking brake lamp on the cluster will not always be illuminated and it will operate properly (only turn on when you actually apply the parking brake).

You can complete the following procedure in a matter of minutes and you do not need to disconnect the battery (just don't try this with the keys in the ignition).

The first step is to locate the DRL module. It is located in the engine bay on the passenger side quarter panel toward the front of the vehicle (probably between the battery and the quarter panel). You can see in the following picture the exact location. The red rectangle indicates the location of the DRL module and wiring harnesses. The harness you will be working with will be the larger of the three (harness #E45 in picture below) and it will have seven wires (the smaller harnesses should have six wires and four wires). You can unplug the harnesses to make it easier to work with the wires.

Also note in the picture below the body ground circled in blue right next to the red rectangle. This is a good location to ground your wire. You will probably want to add some extra wire to make it long enough to reach the body ground in the picture. You could always ground it somewhere else if you prefer, such as patching it to the black wire in the larger (seven-wire) harness.



The next step is to actually cut the BLUE wire with the GREEN stripe (it is the wire in the harness which is between the empty spot on the harness and the GREEN wire with the RED stripe). You can see in the picture below how to cut the wire. You want to cut the wire and then ground the DRL module side of the wire to the body ground in the image above (or any body ground you prefer). The parking brake side of the wire needs to be taped or capped off to prevent accidental contact with the body or another wire.

NOTE: It is very important that you isolate the parking brake side of the wire since it still needs to be functional. This wire dictates the operation of the instrument cluster parking brake lamp. You need to make sure you tape it or cap it securely so it doesn't touch any metal on the vehicle or any other wires. Any accidental contact with either the body or another wire could cause erratic behavior of the instrument cluster parking brake lamp.



I did not color the other wires because they aren't important. The blue wire above is the BLUE wire with the GREEN stripe which you will need to cut. The location of the wires in relation to the harness is not accurate either, I just showed them in the picture so you know how many wires each harness should have.

If you try this out take some pictures and let us know how everything works out. I think this is HOW TO worthy if we get some good pics.

Modified by Pwnin O'Brien at 1:32 PM 2/7/2010
Modified by Pwnin O'Brien at 10:04 PM 2/8/2010

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naladude911
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I cant reach the module, or the relays.

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Pwnin O'Brien
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naladude911 wrote:I cant reach the module, or the relays.
What relays?

Do you just need to remove the battery to get to the DRL module or is it completely out of reach? If it is inside the quarter panel then you may need to remove the black plastic wheel well trim to get to the unit. There's a thread on NICO somewhere where another member had no problems replacing the DRL module.

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naladude911
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it slides on to this bracket but its been glued to the bracket lol. Il figure something out. The wires are all taped together tho

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Empty V
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naladude911 wrote:it slides on to this bracket but its been glued to the bracket lol. Il figure something out. The wires are all taped together tho
Well pry it off and then cut the tape. Seriously dude this is starting to get ridiculous.

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sc2nr
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Pwnin O’Brien wrote:
What relays?

Do you just need to remove the battery to get to the DRL module or is it completely out of reach? If it is inside the quarter panel then you may need to remove the black plastic wheel well trim to get to the unit. There's a thread on NICO somewhere where another member had no problems replacing the DRL module.
I am about to attempt this mod right now, I will be taking pics as I go.

From your description, is the DRL Module the clear plastic box attatched to the fender? If so it looks like there is 3 harnesses going into it. not the 2 that was mentioned in your tutorial. is this the correct module?


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Pwnin O'Brien
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sc2nr wrote:
I am about to attempt this mod right now, I will be taking pics as I go.

From your description, is the DRL Module the clear plastic box attatched to the fender? If so it looks like there is 3 harnesses going into it. not the 2 that was mentioned in your tutorial. is this the correct module?
Yes, you are right, my mistake. There will be three oval-shaped (the smallest one is more round than oval I suppose) gray colored harnesses going into it (one with seven wires, one with six wires, and one with four wires). Everything else is still the same. Sorry bout that.

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sc2nr
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Ok good to know for sure...so I got busy on something else after my last post, I will be doing this mod in the morning and will be doing the fog light mod as well. I will post pics for the DRL mod when I'm done.

To Naladude. It looks like if you move the battery a bit you will have more room, I had un-screwed the bolt with the battery still in place, but will move it to unplug the harness for the mod.


Modified by sc2nr at 12:35 AM 2/9/2010

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naladude911
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which of the three did you unplug? Did you unbolt the box from the fender?

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sc2nr
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naladude911 wrote:which of the three did you unplug? Did you unbolt the box from the fender?
Like Pwnin said... it's the largest of the three. I just finished the mod and will be posting pictures.

Pwnin should I just post my own or did you want to add them to you tutorial? let me know, I'm just running to get the relays for the fog light mod.

Nick

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Pwnin O'Brien
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sc2nr wrote:
Like Pwnin said... it's the largest of the three. I just finished the mod and will be posting pictures.

Pwnin should I just post my own or did you want to add them to you tutorial? let me know, I'm just running to get the relays for the fog light mod.

Nick
You can just post your pictures in this thread and I'll make a dedicated tutorial with your pics.

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sc2nr
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Ok so here are the pictures I took. Step by step intructions as best I could and Pwnin will add info from his original tutorial.

First test that the parking brake eliminates the DRL from coming on. Pull the lever up before you start the vehicle.

Next locate the DRL Module seen here, bolted to the inner fender beside the battery.



Next I removed the battery, so that I could get closer to the harness and work with the wire easier.

Locate the largest of the three harnesses, if still attached to the module it is the closest to the front of the vehicle. Use a flat head screwdriver to help the harness out of the module.

Find the BLUE wire with the GREEN stripe (it is the wire in the harness which is between the empty spot on the harness and the GREEN wire with the RED stripe)

Cut it with enough room to attach a patch wire on the harness side so that you can run it to the new ground spot. make sure to tape or cap of the other side so that it doesn't touch anything.

Next attach the patch wire to the harness side, I chose to solder mine. then attach the other end of the wire to the new ground spot.

I then plugged the harness back into the module and attached the battery back and tested the mod...SUCCESS! Make sure to go back and tape up the connection spots before you tighten everything back up.





Here is the finished product.



Hope this helps and thanks to Pwnin for the tutorial.
Modified by sc2nr at 2:59 PM 2/9/2010

noside85
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Hello, your write up is very detail, however i have one concern. for my 2001 3.5 pathfinder, on the module i only see two harness, and i dont' see any BLUE wire with the GREEN stripe. can anyone please help? thx alot in advance

Bluewulf73
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noside85 wrote:Hello, your write up is very detail, however i have one concern. for my 2001 3.5 pathfinder, on the module i only see two harness, and i dont' see any BLUE wire with the GREEN stripe. can anyone please help? thx alot in advance
Hey noside85,

I agree with you on the fact that the write-up is very detailed. Great work Pwnin O'Brien!

Unfortunately, I also have to agree with noside85. I have a 1998 Pathy with the 3.3l. It ahs two harneses, as you stated in your write-up and after much searching for a Blue with green wire, I have come to the conclusion there is none in my Pathy's DRL wiring harness. There is a sloid blue wire in the smaller of the two harnesses and a blue with red wire...well, I'll just let thephoto do the talking.

Image

Any suggestions?

What PIN number (on the harness) did you cut? Is it always the same PIN on every Pathy? maybe we can go at it that way...

I don't have an ohmmeter, volt meter or ampmeter... :confused: but if I were to borrow one, what would I be looking for? Would I be looking for low voltage with the DRL's on and an increase in voltage once the lights are on?

Would I be measuring this at the DRL plug?

Any help would be extremely helpful.

Thank you.

Juan

BTW - I already cut and ground the following wires (as test, looking for the right wire)

Blue - no change :frown:
Blue and Red - No DRL :cool: and no high beams :facepalm:
Yellow and red - No left high beam :nono:

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Towncivilian
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According to page EL-31 of the factory service manual you're also looking for a blue/green wire. Are you sure you've got the correct harness?

Welcome to NICO.

Bluewulf73
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Bluewulf73 wrote:
noside85 wrote:Hello, your write up is very detail, however i have one concern. for my 2001 3.5 pathfinder, on the module i only see two harness, and i dont' see any BLUE wire with the GREEN stripe. can anyone please help? thx alot in advance

Unfortunately, I also have to agree with noside85. I have a 1998 Pathy with the 3.3l. It ahs two harneses, as you stated in your write-up and after much searching for a Blue with green wire, I have come to the conclusion there is none in my Pathy's DRL wiring harness. There is a sloid blue wire in the smaller of the two harnesses and a blue with red wire...well, I'll just let thephoto do the talking.


Towncivilian wrote:According to [url=<A class=vglnk title="Link added by VigLink" href="http://www.nicoclub.com/FSM/pathfinder/ ... der/el.pdf]page" rel=nofollow vglnk_1344547178050="1"><SPAN>http</SPAN><SPAN>://</SPAN><SPAN>www</SPAN><SPAN>.</SPAN><SPAN>nicoclub</SPAN><SPAN>.</SPAN><SPAN>com</SPAN><SPAN>/</SPAN><SPAN>FSM</SPAN><SPAN>/</SPAN><SPAN>pathfinder</SPAN><SPAN>/</SPAN><SPAN>1998</SPAN><SPAN>_</SPAN><SPAN>Pathfinder</SPAN><SPAN>/</SPAN><SPAN>el</SPAN><SPAN>.</SPAN><SPAN>pdf</SPAN><SPAN>]</SPAN><SPAN>page</SPAN></A> EL-31 of the factory service manual[/url] you're also looking for a blue/green wire. Are you sure you've got the correct harness?

Welcome to NICO.
THank you for the welcome.

I am sure, it is right beside the battery, on the passenger side.

I purchased a multimeter and was not able to make heads or tails out of the current volume in most of the pins of both plugs. So, in a moment of frustration, I ended up unplugging the smaller of the two plugs and it worked!

Leaving the smaller ofthe two plugs unplugged , yet capped (and capping the unused plug lead in the DRL module seems to have worked perfectly.

I have:

NO DRL
Low beam
Low beam with fogs
High beam
High beam with driving lights
No brake light or DRL light on the dash. :laugh: :woot: :mike
I'll let you all know if any issues come up.

Now, to find a better, more secure way of weather-proofing these male/female plugs other than just with electrical tape.

Bluewulf73
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Just an update...

Unplugging the smaller of the two plugs has workde for me without issues. Everything still works. Took the truck on a 5500km roadtrip after unpluggin and all's good.

noside85, you might want to give this a try if you are still hankering for no DRL's.

Thanks Towncivilian.


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