Headlights staying on

Hey guys,
Loosing faith in my trusty Toyota. Had been so good for long. And now just being bombarded with problems recently with it.
Neighbour came over and told me my four ways were on...I walk outside and see just my headlights are on. Check the switches. All off. Turn the lights on and off, turn the fourways on and off. Start the truck, turn it off, went for a quick 2 minute drive. Parked it. All lights were off. Perfect. Weird.
45 minutes later I look out the window...just the headlights are back on. Too dark and getting to late to wanna mess with it, so pulled the left & right lamp fuses for the night.
Where the heck to start?
Never had this issue before. Do not have an alarm system or remote starter on this truck. (That I am aware of, they can be Sneaky hiding those boxes sometimes)

 

Do you have any additional lighting or anything hooked into the wiring of the headlights? Maybe any tinkering done with the fuses and such? Whenever I have had any electrical issues of those sorts I just unhook my ground terminal for 30 seconds and put it back on. Seems to "reset" anything electrical just like turning your wifi on and off.

 

Nope, nothing tied into my headlights. Fog lights are still independent and so is light bar.
Truck has had the battery unhooked for a week+ while I was waiting for my new starter. But good point.
I could unhook it for what it's worth.
Thanks.

 

Does your truck usually have day time running lights?

 

I don't know if it's a feature of earlier models, but my '06 has courtesy lights where it leaves the headlights on for like 30 or 60 seconds after the truck is turned off, and the last door closes. I've noticed in other cars (not necessarily the truck yet) that those lights will say on if a single door is not fully closed. Doubt it's the case, just tossing it out.

If I had to guess, I'd be suspicions a relay is dying on your truck. Virtually always, headlights and other higher-power devices which benefit from a more-direct-power-feed will have a relay nearby, so that more-direct-power-feed can be triggered on/off (open/closed) using a relay fed by a low-volt signal from another source (in this case, your headlight switch and/or the ECM/security system).

I'd check the lid of your engine bay fuse/relay box to see if there's a headlight relay there. Or consult the EWD for your truck. In the future, if this persists, you can just pull that relay to get everything to die, also.

 

Yes it does. As I was thinking about it last night, there was no tail lights. Only headlights. And only the lows (those were the fuses I pulled)

Hmm, okay that sounds good. I'll give a look and try to find the head light/DRL relays and replace em.
Thanks!

 

Maybe unplug the drl connector?

 

The parking light/turn signal lights were stuck on on my v6 tundra once. I think the diode dynamics relay stuck on. I just pressed the hazard lights button once or twice. Been normal after that.

 

Probably completely unrelated but now it won't start
I can hear the starter clicking and everything. Full charge. Had the battery maintainer plugged in, and checked it with a volt meter.
Anyone wanna buy a first gen?
I'm ready for a bigger cab with the bigger family anyways

 

Just pull the batt and run it to the store to be tested. Sounds like it's in the shitter, maybe not cell fail, but batt health is shit and not enough CCA. I've had it happen a couple of times before; having a full 12.4+ volts but almost zero CCA. Voltage is only one element of a healthy battery.

 

Jumper wires!

red to red/black to black

or whatever you wanna do, im not your dad.

 

Good call. Sometimes I get frustrated & fed up and don't stop and think. I'll jump it off the dodge and see what happens.

Hmm...sounds like something my real dad would say...
Daddy?

 

Before you pull your battery and run it somewhere, take the leads off and clean them. Many times it's corroded/bad connection, not the actual battery.

 

Can i get a @BubbaW wiring diagram of the integration relay/ headlight foglight circuit?

 

Jumping it didn't work.
I'm starting to think the clicking is just the relay. It may be a faulty starter that i just put in‍♂️

 

You put a denso in right?

 

Was it Denso brand starter, or other?

If 'other', I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if you got a faulty one. If so, don't feel bad, you're not the 1st person to go non-Denso and get bitten in the ass.

Still...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0jWouSQYTnU

 

Did these issues coincide with rain? Maybe there’s a leak onto some of the relays or other electronics, I don’t know where to suggest looking since I’ve done no electrical work on these trucks, but others might have suggestions; glovebox area?
Just a thought, not sure where you’re at in BC, but we just had the first good rains of the season around here.

 

You sir.
Were correct.
I got the missus to turn the truck over so I could pin point where the clicking was coming from (was the starter) but there was little arcing happening on the positive cables. Pulled those off. Cleaned with a wire brush and sand paper. Started right up.
Hopefully...the light gremlins don't come back now either.
Ha

 

Nope, got the denso. Was a reman tho
($1150 canadian from Toyota, $280 reman denso shipped to my door from a similar site to rockauto)

 

Now wash that truck and take a pic for your avatar. I respect the dirty, but you've gotta respect the truck

 

Now you should put some of this on your clean terminals.

 

I put anti-sieze on my terminals. Not real sure if it's a good or a bad thing, but I haven't seen any corrosion yet.

 

Ah, I remember this now. Sorry, so many threads, so few brain cells.

Di-electric grease user here, similar enough to anti-seize I guess. And felt washers around the base to catch offgass, curb corrosion.

​

 

Glad I could help and prevent an unneeded trip to an auto parts store. It's been a couple of days, any update on this? have you're light issues resolved?

 

I use a little grease and the red/green felt washers. OEM terminals seem to need cleaning periodically.