benamodeo

I know, dumb question but these headlights confuse me and I just want to make sure they're not broken.

In my 2002 Mercedes C240 and 2006 MazdaSpeed 6, they both had day time running lights in the highbeam, so the inner lights closest to the grille are DRLs, good, those work on the TL, then like the other cars, the regular low beam headlights are the outer lights nearest the fender, when activated, all is well, however, on the TL, the DRL turns off when I turn the low beams on, is this normal? On my other cars the DRL would stay on no matter what.

Also, when the highbeams are activated, the projector cutoff plate retracts opening the projector but the inner lights closest to the grille still remain off. Shouldn't those be the highbeams as well? In the Mercedes the DRL would just get brighter as the highbeams and in the MazdaSpeed 6 it actually had two physical bulbs in there.

So, I don't know if my highbeams just aren't working properly or if that inner light is strictly only the DRL but that's all that seems to work, as soon as the projectors are on (whether its low or high beam) the inner halogen reflector housing lights are off.

justnspace

iTrader: (1)

okay, forget other cars and how they operate.


you have an 2005 TL with NO DRL's.
the inner lights are fog lights.

so, if you look at the stalk on the inside of the car, turning the stalk will activate the fog lights only when the head lights are on and will show a green fog light illuminated on your dash. FOG LIGHT not DRL.

then we have a bi-xenon bulb that acts as a high beam and a low beam.
there's a shield that when you activate the high beams, the shield moves away and lets out more light.

benamodeo

I thought the fog lights go in the lower grilles?

When I turn the car on, the lights closest to the middle main grille (with Acura emblem) are lit, no light on the dash are on, when turning the stock once, nothing on the front changes but the markers and tail lights goes on as well as license plate lights, turn once more and the projectors turn on but the inner middle lights turn off.

In my girlfriends Moms 2010 and her new 2014, the inner lights are her highbeams as well as the projectors and every other car with separate lows and highs was like this too

Just the car running, light stock turned to off


Turning the light stock once just turns on the rest of the rear and side lights as mentioned and the front stays the same.

Turning the stock once more turns off the inner lights and turns on the projectors.


And this is highbeams on


Shouldn't the inner halogens stay on with the lowbeams and shouldn't they also raise wattage for highbeams?

When I'm close to a wall at night they shine light everywhere so they can't be fogs, fogs shine low so they have a highbeam output pattern which is why I'm asking if there's something wrong because the 2010 TL and 2014 TL is exactly how I described.

justnspace

iTrader: (1)

forget other cars, man.

your 2005 works differently. you do have a 2005 right?
if you have a 2005, the inner lights are fog lights.....

and your 2005 DOESNT come with fogs in the lower grilles....

justnspace

iTrader: (1)

you cant compare a 4th gen TL with a third gen TL because they have different head lights and they operate differently

justnspace

iTrader: (1)

I see your pics.

you def. have a 2005 TL with the inner lights being fog lights.

benamodeo

There's no fog light icon on the dash cluster when the lights are set to off and I have no option to turn them on manually. I do have a dash blank where the fog light switch would be which leads me to believe they aren't fogs, they also don't have a fog light output pattern, when I'm close to a wall they shine all over the place like a highbeam

justnspace

iTrader: (1)

^lol, fool they are fog lights...

justnspace

iTrader: (1)

fog lights on:



fog lights off:


see the illuminated fog light symbol on the left hand side?????

that's a fog light indicator.

benamodeo

Mine doesn't have that light, this is with those inner lights on.


I popped off the fuse box cover in the engine bay and it says "Day Lights", when I pull that, the lights go out, so they're day time running lights.

justnspace

iTrader: (1)

^i see it on your left hand stalk..... smh.


>fog
>light
>off


how are you going to tell Honda that they are Day light Running lights, when Honda tells us that they are FOG LIGHTS.
you also never answered back on why your car doesnt have lower fog lights in your lower grilles....
ya big dummy. lol

justnspace

iTrader: (1)

From Honda itself on the 2005 TL

benamodeo

That's not the international fog light icon, that's the international headlights icon lol. Here look. This is turned to what you are calling fog lights.


It activates the "headlights on" light in the middle.

This is the stock, you can see just below the stock on the dash, there is a blank to the right of the mirror control, this is where the OEM fog light switch goes, I know because I just ordered fog lights from a 2003 Honda Inspire and that's where the factory Honda switch goes :P


It's Off, Marker lights, On. Fog lights are a separate switch but in every other vehicle the DRLs are also highbeams just with a different wattage.

Normally the DRL is the standard 55w or 65w resisted down to something around 15w, then when the highbeams are activated, it switches off the resisted lead and gives the bulb its full power.

In my Moms Honda Pilot its one dual filiment bulb, yet has three wattage settings, DRL is 15w on the highbeam filiment, lowbeam headlights ups to 35w and changes to the lowbeam filiment (changing the beam pattern to have a cut off due to the location of the filiment to the reflector), and highbeams goes up to 55w and switches filiment back to the DRL which produces a highbeam pattern.

Now because the lights I'm talking about in the TL show a highbeam pattern, this leads me to believe there's a fuse or something that's turning them off when the projectors are activated, almost like a relay turning them off to prevent some kind of over voltage to the fuse box.

I'm not sure though, this car is made of science, its a whole new ball game but I can assure you that those are not fogs lol

bp_spets

lol Justin, He's in CANADA. he does have DRL.

benamodeo, your behavior is normal. DRLs turn off when the headlights come on and they do not serve as high beams since the headlights are bi-xenon projectors.

rockstar143

iTrader: (6)

kilometers per hour tells me it's probably a Canadian TL...which did have DRL standard.

Maybe?

benamodeo

Also, just for point if reference, the one on the left is the international fog light icon, the one on the right (same one as the headlight stock) is the international highlights icon.

justnspace

iTrader: (1)

Dafuq I'm da big dummy.

benamodeo

Okay so they ARE daytime running lights, so is there any way to correct the wattage for the bulb to reactivate the full wattage when the highbeams are activated? I want the projector and halogen combo like the 2010 and 2014, the Halogens are much better for seeing further as HIDs have a set projection range, the cutoff simply lifts resulting is higher light output, not further so I'm hoping that the 65w bulbs that are in the reflectors (being used as DRLs) will extend that

Turbocoop

iTrader: (3)

DRLs arent supposed to be on with headlights, but if you do want them to stay on you can make it work with a diode between the headlight and DRL relays in the fuse box. Ive never done it on a TL but I did it with my old truck and it worked.

benamodeo

I've decided I'm going to install a T10 bulb socket and wire that up as the DRL so I can have yellow or amber DRLs and wire the original bulb to a second lead switched by the projector cutoff lead, so DRL will be a t10 installed manually, highbeams will flip the cutoff and trigger a relay for secondary highbeams in the DRL reflector housing, at least that's how the MazdaSpeed 6 is wired.

So I'll clone the Mazda wiring giving me T10 bulb DRLs in probably amber to match the signals, and then quad highbeams.

I'll start a write up when the Honda Inspire fog lights come in from Japan land.

Thanks for the help guys.

Jackass

More than likely the light housing is the same as the US model which means you will not get much "distance" out of high wattage bulbs since it is setup as a fog light. It will send lots of light low and to the sides.

As for the HID high beam not having much distance? I have yet to drive another car that has as good of a high beam as my TL.

No matter what...I am curious to see how this project comes out. I always wished my TL had DRLs. I tend to drive with my headlights on quite a bit since it does not. I have always been a big fan of DRLs from a safety perspective.

paperboy42190

iTrader: (7)

the high beam wires are on a separate circuit. trying to power the drl bulb with the high beams can definitely cause some electrical problems.

btw, as you alrdy know, the TL high beams are with the HID projectors. It's a very good design. If you're complaining that it's not bright enough then something is wrong. Either your bulb is nearing the end of its life, or your headlights are too hazy. I can guarantee you no mazda is going to outshine my projectors. I'm using genuine zkw clear lenses with osram CBI bulbs.

MarcoNorthPolo

Hehe, your licence plate lights are brighter than some cars high beams.

benamodeo

There is literally nothing better then TL projectors with ZKW lenses.

I'm not saying they're bad, they are actually know for being the best projectors you can get for a retrofit in any other car. I'm just saying that halogen highbeams have a better output then projectors due to the reflector design (they just spray light all over the place) but because the DRL is where I want the secondary highbeam I need to rewire it with a different DRL (T10 socket) in order to have the 9006 bulb run as a secondary highbeam just for that little but extra without blinding people :P

When I have enough free time to pull the headlights I'll make a write up on how to Install T10 DRL along side a 9006 highbeam triggered by the protector highbeam cut off plate.

Ctla4ig

My toughts exactly, nice job there paperboy

delphtile

Where can I get a new electric solenoid for the Headlight? Do I need to get a whole new light assembly? The drivers side is making a sound as if its a bad solenoid. Or could it be mechanically stuck? Its a 2007 Acura TL

I had a bad ballast or Igniter & decided to get the HIDextra D2s Kit instead of the costly OEM parts.