Lights Auto Off Malfunction

Having an issue where my lights are not shutting off after locking the doors by double pressing the key fob. Always worked until a day last week when we had some cold, below freezing, weather. Yes, I know I can manually shut the lights off, which I have to do now, but not sure why the feature went away. Several times I have come out of a store or restaurant to have my lights on. I believe that the first two times they initially came back on after they were off, but I have been using the key fob to shut them off since 2016, so I may have assumed they were off. They do not turn off by timer either.

Guessing this is a relay or ground or moisture issue. I did go through some fender deep water offroading on Black Friday and a few weeks before that I added some lights. However, this all occurred at least a month later.

Has anybody else had this happen?

 

High beams on?

 

Nope

 

After a few weeks of the issue remaining, I am ruling out cold weather/moisture issue. Any "electricians" on here that can tell me which relay to replace? I read in another post that somebody had the same issue and it went away - I'm not going to be that lucky. I also looked at some OBD programmers but they do not appear to program the lights turning off by fob.

 

It’s the headlights staying on or the interior lights?

If headlights (low beams) check the H-LP LO RELAY in the engine fuse box. It may be stuck On.

 

Headlights only. DRL will actually shut off.

 

Let us know what you find out with the relay. Good luck.

 

Ordered on Amazon.....I'll let you know. Thanks!!

 

Swing and a miss....replaced the H-LP LO RELAY and it did not fix the issue.

 

The Main Body ECU controls that relay. It seems it’s not controlling the relay as it should. I checked my Carista app, and there’s no option to customize that headlight function.

But in my owner manual Customization section it lists a function “Time elapsed before headlights automatically turn off after doors are closed” that can be set to 0, 30, 60, or 90 seconds. By a dealer. Maybe that setting is related to the lock-and-headlights-off feature also and would be worth talking to a dealer service department to see if they can reprogram that ECU function.

 

Thank you - I almost bought the Carista app before posting here originally, but it it did not appear to be a function it controlled - thanks for the confirmation. I hate to consult the dealer but that may be my only choice. 7 years of double-clicking the remote is a hard habit to break, even last night I forgot to turn on my lights when leaving a lit parking lot and then again forgot to shut them off.

 

One more thing to check:
This function seems to be tied in to the opening and closing of the driver door.
Do the interior lights go on when you open the driver door?
Then go off after the timeout value (usually 15 seconds)?

If not, maybe your driver door jamb switch is bad. Take that switch out and test it, look for any corrosion.

 

Interior lights go on/off. Scheduled a visit to the dealership for next week. I'm sure it has something to do with a setting, but could also be a ground issue. No clue why a setting would have changed though. The only event was single-digit temps on the day it started which made me think of a sticking relay. And it still worked fine after installing new LEDs and foglights, so thinking it is not a grounding issue.

 

After 3hrs at the Toy dealership, the reported reason is that I have aftermarket foglights. Ok, doesn't explain why everything was good for the first month of the lights or why it happens with the foglights on or off. Fortunately, they only charged me $155, one hour of diagnostics, for fixing nothing. Lesson learned.

 

I’ve seen this problem reported in other Toyota forums (not only 4Runner), but I haven’t seen if anyone has reported how or if it was ever fixed.

As an experiment you could back out any electrical modifications and see if that resolves it.

 

Yes, easy to do on the light bar, but not so easy on the foglights. I had to hard-wire them, so I need to cut the wire to test. I'll start with the light bar even though it is not connected to anything ECU or headlight related. Foglights certainly seem like the culprit, but worked fine for a month after installation. I really thought it was the relay. I'm not opposed to putting them on their own switch though since I don't turn them on while driving on the road.

 

What aftermarket lights were installed? And how were they wired in? If you tapped any fuses, which ones? The LED install might have worked fine, but water problems can show up months later.

 

Baja Designs Squadron Sport LED Cubes were hardwired into the foglight wiring. OEM foglights removed with a new bumper.

Baja Designs S8 30" LED Light Bar with Baja Designs S8/IR Wire Harness - direct to battery and push buttons in spare spaces in dash

 

Did you use any relays for light bar or the fogs?

Did the dealer give you any idea of wha the problem might be, or did the just see the fogs and give you a bill? Lol

 

The dealer probably couldn't figure it out and just passed the buck. Electrical problems are tough to narrow down, especially if any water entered any of the computer modules. Start with the easiest checks and work your way to the most difficult. As others have stated, I would start with disconnecting the aftermarket lights and checking all of your fuses. You can pull any relays that may be affected and test them. Does anyone have the wiring diagrams for this?

 

Light bar has a relay. I had already checked all fuses and the primary relay was replaced to play it safe. The dealer said the computer is confused by the aftermarket foglights and keeps the lights on disregarding the request to time out or shut off. They are wired exactly like the oems without the factory connector. I don't think I've gone in water deep enough to submerge the heat-sealed butt connections, but I could be wrong, because it was close. This all worked for another month after the potential submersion.

 

If they are wired using the OEM fog wiring, then just pull the fog light fuse and test the lights with the fuse pulled.

 

Great idea! Tried it.....Swing and a miss. I really would be surprised if it was the foglights because the foglights are always off, and the problem happens. Next, I'll disconnect the lightbar from the battery.

 

Baja Designs, my foglight manufacturer, has never heard of this happening before either.

I also tried:

high beams on, fogs on (but they shut off on high as they are supposed to do)

Low beams with fogs on and off

 

Found trhis on 4runner org with a google search:

Originally Posted by abusch13 Well I hate it when people don't update when they fix an issue so here it is. A year after my headlight issue has killed my battery a dozen times I've figured it out. The driver's door closed contact switch was intermittent... I noticed the dome light not coming on, swapped with passenger side and all good. Computer is looking for you to get out of the car before the headlights will follow their normal off cycle. 14 dollar switch and 5 minutes, who would've thought. Hope this saves someone a headache!!

I wish I had found this before going to the dealership for a three-hour $155 cruise. It would explain why I had the problem when the weather dropped to 5 degrees. Just checked and the Inside lights do not come on when the door is opened.

 

Just the driver door?
Or any door?
Is the dome light switch in the Door position?

 

Just the driver's door. I just swapped the passenger and driver-side switches. Took almost two minutes

Started the car and turned on the lights manually. Shut off the car closed the door, and double-tapped my keyfob lock and lights shut off.

I also noticed that my doors locked while I was doing the swap. This had happened a few other times, like when I was pulling the foglight fuse. I thought it was because I leaned on the fob, turns out the door never registered as being opened so the locks re-engaged.

 

The metal base of the switch assembly and the screw into the body metal provide the ground return for the switch. Check for corrosion at those points and the screw threads. You may be able to just clean them up so you can re-use it and install that switch in the passenger side.

Or if you test the switch itself it may just be bad internally and you’ll need a new one.
Good find.

 

@BazookaJeff I’ll second the suggestion to check for corrosion. Before, you had mentioned the lights turned on/off with the door, and now they didnt. Really sounds like a bad ground.