Headlight Problem - Advice Please

[james t kirk]

Ok, so first off, I'm in Canada - so we have manditory Daytime Running Lights. (A damn good idea by the way.)

But one of my DTRL is not working. (So replace the bulb you say, well, not so fast.....)

You see, the DTRL are simply the fog lights (which come on during the day automatically). When the Head Lights are manually switched on, the Fog LIghts function as normal. So if the bulb were burnt out, this should not be the case


And also strangely, the one DTRL that does work (the left one) is powering up the high beam elemant. (So this is scewed up too.)

So in other words, when I should be running with both DTRL, I only have the left luminaire illuminating and it is the HIgh Beam.

Headlights work as normal

Auto works as normal

HIgh Beams work as normal

Fog Lights work as normal.

Just the DTRL (right) is dark and the left one is the High Beam.

Any ideas?

Relay Module? If so, where is it located? I can hear the relay tripping around the glove box when I hit the High Beams.

Any testing ideas or tips would be appreciated.

By the way, my car is a 2005 G35x. (I recently had a front marker bulb out and the dealer noticed it when I was in for an oil change - they wanted $37.00 to replace it. I almost choked when I heard that. Took 2 seconds (seriously) to swap out the bulb.)

[Infinitiguy19]

Check out the service manual: http://www.nicoclub.com/FSM/

Sorry I can't help more.

[james t kirk]

Well, I actually own the manuals for the car, so I did some reading.

It seems that the DTR lights are just the highbeams, only they operate at about half power by wiring them in series (instead of parallel).

Now, there are 2 components to the circuit which could be suspect (who knows, there could be more).

There is a "Daytime Light Control Unit" and there are 2 relays. (They are located in different parts of the car, the former being located in the Engine Compartment, close to the Wiper fluid reservoir, the latter being located beside the battery.)

Now, bear in mind that both high beam elements work. So there is no broken element (which would put both DTR lights out since they are wired in series)

But when the malfunction occurs (and it is intermittant), only the left luminaire functions and it functions at full intensity.

My natural inclination would be to suspect the Daytime Light Control Unit over the relays.

What I'm wondering is how to check it out.

[james t kirk]

Just a quick update....

It was indeed the control module. I have seen a few G35's running around with one DTRL on full bright and the other off since I had my problem.

$200.00 for the new module.

Problem solved

[audtatious]

Awesome. Thanks for the update. Hopefully it will help someone else.