Daytime Running Lights Won't Work

Racerx29 · October 16, 2011

Ok, here's a change of pace for you...

Usually, when it comes to DRLs, most people are trying to disable them. Well, I'd like to get mine back. Don't know what happened to them, made a basic (at least I thought so) maintenance repair, and now they're gone. Here's the background.

I've got a 2000 Chevy Suburban 2500 LT, and recently replaced my headlight switch because the dash light control was failing & frequently went completely dark. Swapping the switch was very straightforward - pop off the trim ring, slide out the switch, unplug/replug, slide in the new switch and replace the trim. The problem is, I no longer have DRLs and my headlights are on all the time. I don't have to turn the control for them to come on - the auto on headlights seem to have taken over. I can manually disable them but hitting the dome override button 4x's, but that doesn't do anything for the DRLs & that trick only lasts till I turn off the truck.

Any ideas? Is there some special code I need to update b/c I swapped the switch? Thanks for your help.

txab · October 16, 2011

usually it's the ambient light sensor in the dash.

Repair

Gryphon · October 16, 2011

Yep the ambient light sensor will do that. I've actually pushed mine down into the dash when cleaning, seems like it's spring loaded for some odd reason. If it's disappeared stick your finger down through the hole and see if you can dislodge it, it's probably just stuck on the underside and will pop out.

I don't know why people are so averse to DRLs. They're mandatory in Canada and are a great idea because they indicate that a vehicle is in drive and closing speeds may be a lot quicker than you anticipate. I've gone to pass vehicles and nearly had head-on collisions with oncoming traffic that looked like they were parked because they had no DRLs on, or their color just blended with the road.