Night time headlight start issue
 

Hi all,
1999 es300

in one of our recent cold snaps, I’ve had cylinders 1 and 6 coils fail. Replaced them. All is good.

However, after several jumpstarts and using the car charger….when I start the car at night, the headlights do not come on. I’ve checked all the fuses, found two that had popped,replaced. I pulled the battery cables and let it sit.

still the same result.

when I start the car during the day, the lights come on. When I turn the lights from
auto to on, they come on.

is it the sensor? Another fuse r relay I missed? What’s going on here?

Are the fuses still blowing? Did they blow when you hooked up the jump pack? Why are you boosting the car bad battery?

No, the fuses are good now. The battery is fine. I had to jump to get the car started to find that cylinders 1 and 6 were bad.

Hello,

Which fuses popped?
Do High Beams and Fog Lights turn on?
During the day, is it Low Beams or DRLs that come ON during the day?
When you turn the Headlight stalk from Off to Head, does the HEAD Relay engage?

Here is a thread going into details on the general operation and diagnostics of the system, see if there is something you will find useful. You can check the Light Sensor by going into the Self-Diagnostics mode for the Climate Control - when the car is under direct sunlight, press the Recirculation and Auto buttons together and turn the Ignition to the ON position while holding the buttons, if you will get a Code 21, there may be a chance the Light Sensor is bad.

Hope this helps and best of luck!

Ok, ran the code check, 21 and 23 came up.

when I put a bright light over the sensor, 21 and 23 remained.

I’m guessing a bad sensor or a short for the solar sensor(?)

A little off-topic, but does your AC work at all?

The light sensor will only give you issues in the Auto mode, it should not prevent the headlights from coming On when the Stalk is switched to the Head position. Try resetting the codes by pulling the ECU-B fuse for a few minutes, put a bright light on the sensor and only then put the fuse back in, see if that will get rid of the Code 21, if not, the Light Sensor is pretty easy to check by comparing its resistance while with and without a light source applied to it.

P.S. Code 23 means there is abnormal pressure in the A/C System, hence the question in the beginning.

Hope this helps and best of luck!

Did not write down the fuse list.
At night, when the car is started and switch is on Auto, I get no driving lights but orange side lights come on. If I hit the high beams, they will come on.

Fog lights come on if I turn the switch. Driving lights only come on if I turn the switch all the way down to 'ON'. Then high beams don't work.

During the day, I can't tell if it's driving lights or low beams. To be honest I don't know what the difference on this car.

I did not pay attention to when I turn the switch to HEAD for the relay

Well, let's clear up a few terms, so that we are talking on the same language. In Red, it is a High Beam Light, which also duplicates as Daytime Running Light, or DRL, it is supposed to be on at half-brightness the moment you release the handbrake. In Yellow, it is a Low Beam Light, which is only supposed to be on when the Column Stalk is turned to Head Position, two clicks from Off. I call the amber lights on the front corners of the vehicle Corner Lights, they are supposed to be On only when the Column Stalk is switched to the Tail position, one click from Off, neither Fog Lights nor High Beams are supposed to turn on at that point.

https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.clu...301958f5e0.jpg
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.clu...c962ddd709.jpg


Below is what my car looks like with Corner Lights, Fog Lights and DRLs On. Fog Lights are not supposed to come on at this point, but I messed with the circuitry a bit to make them come on, I described the process here.

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.clu...1a8bb627cb.jpg

This likely means that the HEAD relay is active, so the Headlights are supposed to be on, since the High Beams can only be turned on (not flashed) when the headlights are on. Check if you have power on Headlight fuses at that point, I described the process here.

Not sure if I follow here.. What do you mean by "Driving Lights"? Only the Fog Lights have ON or OFF position.

Hope this helps and best of luck!

Sorry for the delay. Too damn cold to be working on a car.

Ok.
At Night
Switch set to auto No lights High beams work (side orange lights only)
Switch set to Head - no lights, high beams work
Switch set to Tail - low beams work appear dim, no high beams
switch set to off - - low beams work appear dim, no high beams

During the day the lights seem to be working correctly. I will have to verify that later since I work when its dark and leave when its dark

I can feel the relay engage when I turn the switch or at least something near there is engaging.

The Low beams that appear to be dim are likely your Daytime Running Lights, or DRLs. Below is the comparison between DRLs and Low Beams on my 2000 ES300 with HID headlights - on the Left is DRL, on the Right is the Low Beam.

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.clu...2b887fc460.jpg

The fact that High Beams come on when the switched is at the Head position means that the HEAD Relay does engage, which is one step closer to solving this. Check your Headlight Fuses, if they are good, check that there is power coming and leaving each Headlight fuse when the stalk is at the Head position, or the HEAD Relay is shorted. If so, check your light bulbs, not just visually, but actually power them from the battery to see that they work. If there is no power at the fuses and the HEAD Relay is engaged, then there is an issue in the wiring between the HEAD Relay and the Headlight Fuses.

Hope this helps and best of luck!

Hi, I wanted to ask about the headlights. Mine seem to flicker at night. Do you think it's my alternator? My battery dies if I don't start it every other day or so (It's a new battery late 2020, don't remember exactly, receipt is in car). It is very annoying but I have to do it.

Does anyone have any ideas about my flickering lights? Also, they seem very dim. I love my car, I do not want to get rid of it. She performs so well having 313+K miles.

Any ideas would be helpful.

Thanks

If you don't have one get a volt meter and test voltage at the battery, report back. What year is your car?

Hello,

The dead batter every few days is likely caused by a Parasitic Draw, here you can find more information about it. As LeX2K pointed out, you will need a multimeter for both methods mentioned there.

As for flickering lights, it is a common issue on those cars, though its true root cause is yet to be determined, so there is no unanimous solution for it. Majority tend to lean towards it being an under-performing 80A alternator, which on those cars is known to cause issues, but this issue was also spotted on RX models with 100A alternator, so while there is a good chance the issue will dissolve with a new alternator, it is not a guarantee of success, here is a good thread on that.

Hope this helps and best of luck!

Resolved.

just shoot me.

it never occurred to me that both lamps would pop at the same time 🤦

However! Thanks for all the other troubleshooting tips! Learned quite a bit

Coming to think of it, check your battery voltage when the car is running, it should be about 13-14.5V, if it is more, there could be an issue with the voltage regulator in the alternator. There is a peculiar array of failures happening at the same time in your car, which is unusual, if the alternator is overcharging, it can cause some severe problems to the electrical systems. Majority of the overcharge is usually being dampened by the battery so it is not affecting other electrical systems like ECUs as much as it might have, but in severe cases, it can cause the latter to boil over and even explode. Just something to check for peace of mind.

Hope this helps and best of luck!