Daytime Running Lights Again

[QMuzikDirektor]

After searching through a lot of informative posts, I'm still (almost literally) in the dark: my daytime running lights, which are mandatory here in The Great White North, are not working. My low beams are fine, but only the driver's side high beam works. What I do understand from all those informative posts is that the daytime running lights are actually the high beams on low power.

 

I'm kind of leaning towards the notorious cracked solder on the DRL module as being the culprit, but I'm not quite clear on a few things:

 

Are there separate bulbs/filaments for high and low beam? If so, would that account for only one high beam working?

Can a bad DRL module be responsible for no daytime running lights AND only one high beam working?

Am I right in assuming that this is probably not a fuse issue?

Aside from getting the battery out of the way, how much of a pain is it to get the DRL module out and popped open?

If I accidentally trash the module while I'm using my admittedly rusty soldering skills on it, am I going to end up with no lights at all?

Should I just forget all that and find one at a junkyard?

 

Thanks for any help, eh

Edited February 21, 2019 by QMuzikDirektor

[micahfelker]

I'm pretty sure that the high beams are a different filament in the same bulb but I could be wrong. Honestly I'd just try replacing both bulbs first and go from there. It's cheap and who knows maybe it'll solve the problem.

[QMuzikDirektor]

Thanks for that. I'm going to start by swapping the bulbs and we'll see what happens.

Well, so far I have a bulb connector socket which is falling apart. So far, not so good.

Edited February 21, 2019 by QMuzikDirektor
Add info

[RainGoat]

The headlights are H4/9004 which are a dual filament Hi/Low beam (60w/55w) in the U.S. Spec. I was unaware of DRLs in any R50s until your post. Our 4Runner just runs its 9005 high at a lower power & our MDX has a dedicated DRL but its also a 9005 at low power. I suppose there’s no reason the high filament in a 9004 couldn’t also be wired with a lower power for a DRL but that’s purely speculation on my part.

 

[QMuzikDirektor]

Hmm. I'm coming up with H4/9003 when I do a bulb search. Of course I am, because if the numbers on the two designations matched, that would be too convenient for everyone  Your confirmation about the dual filaments is going to be helpful, though, so thanks.

[Riviera57]

I bought my Canadian 03 Pathfinder in S California at a great price, because it had issues with the problematic Daytime Running Light module. 

Someone had already used a cutoff wheel to open my sealed module, and tried to repair the circuits.  Didn't work, at least not when I bought the Pathfinder. It had one headlight, and one working daytime running light on the other side at night.

At the bottom of the circuit board, the pins are numbered. Using a schematic, I determined that jumping the following would effectively eliminate the function of the module.

Using 20 ga wire jumpers, I soldered the following locations together:

15 to 11

8 to 12

10 to 13

9 to 14

Stuff the modified module back into it's case, and tape it to prevent moisture. The daytime running lights are effectively bypassed, and now the headlights work perfectly. For those that need daytime lights, this can be reversed by simply plugging in a working running daytime light module.