How do I turn off the DRL's on a 2006?

[DanoHB]

How do you turn off 2006 Explorer DRL's?

Just like the title states. I am trying to find a way to turn off the Daytime Running Lights on a 2006 Explorer 4x4 RSC. As soon as you put this thing in drive, the headlights come on. I do not want to have to take to dealer as they told me it is a minimum of $135 to do it if it is easy or $250+ if they have to take apart the dash. Can anyone help?

 

[DanoHB]

Just like the title states. I am trying to find a way to turn off the Daytime Running Lights on a 2006 Explorer 4x4 RSC. As soon as you put this thing in drive, the headlights come on. I do not want to have to take to dealer as they told me it is a minimum of $135 to do it if it is easy or $250+ if they have to take apart the dash. Can anyone help?

 

[justin146]

There are instructions in the manual to deactivate it. Why would you want to? It is a safety feature.

 

[FROADER]

Is there an "auto" choice on the switch? I imagine that if you don't have it on that, they shouldn't come on? I haven't seen the inside of an '06, so I might be talking out of my ass.

 

[Dan Whitaker]

I'm just currious.

Would this not pass a safety inspection if it was disabled? Or does CA not have them.

I live in Missouri and mine failed the other day because I forgot to put one of the washers on the swaybar links after relacing darn near the whole front suspension last weekend.

 

[FROADER]

I merged your thread BTW.

DW, we don't have Saftey inspections.

Dano, I'm guessing your in Huntington Beach?

 

[Dan Whitaker]

DW, we don't have Saftey inspections

Colin,

Then how do they enforce the new lift laws I was reading about in ETUS

 

[FROADER]

Who knows, CA is all jacked up, in every respect.

The cops will just use their judgement whether a truck looks too high or not. So they'll pull us over, and break out the tape measure (seen it done) and then give us a ticket for something anyways.

 

[DanoHB]

Cool. I will try and check the manual, but I don't have one. It is a work vehicle and I need them to turn off at night sometimes for the type of work I do. I am looking for a temp to permanent way to do it. It does not have the "auto" feature on the '06. It only has "off, P, and on". There is no way to just turn a switch. Thanks for the info. Next question would be does anyone have an '06 manual they could check or a link to one?

 

[Lt.Jim]

I had a late 90s chevy p/u that had the drl. To shut them off you pushed the e-brake down one click

It's worth a shot if you can't find an owners book.

 

[BWilliams]

Unless they changed it between 05-06, I don't think that it can be disabled. There is nothing in my '05 owner's manual that says it can be turned off (looked to see, in case the procedure might be the same).

Lt's suggestion would be worth a shot, but that might cause other problems if one of the computers senses the e-brake is set.

 

[Anime]

For most vehicles with DRL, to disable them, you just locate the DRL fuse, and yank it. Usually it's seperate from the headlights.

As for the question about why, not everyone wants their headlights on during the day, or even seperate running lights. The DRLs that are just the headlights staying on usually need long life or normal bulbs to last, and using any kind of improved bulb gets expensive since they burn out faster being on all the time. It would be tough for a safety inspector to tell if a vehicle with headlight DRLs had them disabled or just didn't have them to begin with.

 

[DanoHB]

The e-brake thing didn't work either. I am going to try and locate the separate fuse as suggested. Wish me luck.

 

[DanoHB]

For most vehicles with DRL, to disable them, you just locate the DRL fuse, and yank it. Usually it's seperate from the headlights.

I can't figure out which fuse it would be. There is a left and right headlight fuse, but none marked DRL or anything like it. Does anyone know which fuse it would be? Any help is appreciated. The DRL's are the headlights, so I definately don't want to screw with the headlight fuses or relays.

 

[Bill Kemp]

www.lightsout.org has some info on disabling the DRL.
What you might try is to open the hood while a helper turns on the key/motor and shifts into gear so that the DRLs will come on and find the relay. Listen for the relay clicking when the DRLs go on. Find that relay and pull it out. Then see what else, if anything, is run through that relay. If your lucky the only thing will be the DRLs. If not.........?

 

[DanoHB]

www.lightsout.org has some info on disabling the DRL.
What you might try is to open the hood while a helper turns on the key/motor and shifts into gear so that the DRLs will come on and find the relay. Listen for the relay clicking when the DRLs go on. Find that relay and pull it out. Then see what else, if anything, is run through that relay. If your lucky the only thing will be the DRLs. If not.........?

Thanks for the info. I will try it.

 

[Anime]

You could try pulling the headlamp fuses one at a time and see if perhaps one fuse is for the headlamps and the other is for the DRL. If there is indeed a seperate relay for the DRL, then yanking that would work as well.

 

[BWilliams]

DanoHB,

I just looked in the Service information DVD, and, unfortunately, there is no quick way for you to turn off the DRL. The DRLs are controlled by the Smart Junction Box, which is basically a computer. You would have to have reprogrammed by a dealer if you want the DRL off.

Here's a copy of what I'm looking at, if you want to know where this is coming from: http://members.aol.com/resolvingchaos/explorer/DRL.pdf

 

[box986]

There is no fuse for the DRL. The only easy way (unless Ford can do a reprogram) would be to put a double pole/double throw switch in line with the left and right headlight fuses. You could even go as far as putting in a photocell sensing switch w/relay up on the dash so you would not need to turn the dp/dt switch on every time you need to put your headlights on.

 

[wd4ity]

The reason I want to disable my DRL, I am an amateur astronomer and frequent "star parties" and other group observings at which people are taking astrophotographs of objects in the sky. Also, any "white" light will destroy your "night vision". If I wish to leave the gathering before some of the other photographers are finished taking their photographs, I don't want to destroy their picture or ruin their night vision. Satisfied?