christopher1

i have own many cars and always there is secret adjustments that can be made to the radio, even to the motor for more hp. my past audi a6 4.2 had alot of secrets that the audi owners shared with each other. RL like to make the bose noise system work better in quieting the sound coming in to the rl. etc... what secrets can you share, maybe a acura tech can share how we owners can tweek our RL.

bkw

I remember the Audi Bose and Symphony tweaks. I too wonder if theres something that could be done with the RL.

I'm sure theres some tweakable settings in the navi diagnostic menu.. Care to try?

stingerbtry

My salesman told me that the service manager said you could disable the DRL's somehow. I'm waiting for word back on that one still. I'd love to mess around with some hidden settings. Do you have the info on how to get in the menu?

kgd

I believe if you hold the Map, Menu and Cancel buttons down at the same time for a few seconds it will get you into some of the diagnostic menus. Good luck from there, I only used them to delete the key removed from car message prior to have the TSB's done.

sotiri

No I dont think you can do it from there, but you can do it by disabling one wire under the dash.
All you are doing is cutting the 2v feed from the DRL unit that feeds the high beams the 2v to illuminate at a reduced level.
You will not get any information warnings, its like a vasectomy.
The volts go out, but never get to the bulb.

1HOT NSX

Could you be more specific? I'd love to be able to disable my DRLs and I've been waiting for a simple solution like the one you suggest. Which wire? How does one disable it?

sotiri

First you need to identify the DRL unit under the drivers dash.
If you or anyone has a Helms manual, you can see a picture of it-I would post it but I am leaving tomorrow for a cross country road trip and I dont have the time.
The DRL unit has a 6 wire harness to it, consisting of 2 black (thats ground) purple, yellow, green, and the wire of object-white.
The unit has 2 sources of power, 2 fused sources and thats why if you remove the fuse for DRL, you get the message in the information cluster. you cannot pull both fuses because the other fuse is common with other necessary items.
The white wire sends out 2V direct to the highbeam lamps.
It does not impact on any other circuit.
to verify that you have the correct harness, all you have to do is dissconnect it from the DRL unit, and of course the DRL lights will not function.
Thats the first step to assure yourself you have the correct harness.
The second step is to reconnect the DRL and backprobe the white wire with a voltmeter, and it should read 2V.
Now you are 100% certain you have the correct harness-no other device on the car throws out 2V as a power supply.

How you cut the white wire is up to you.
you can slice open the protective cover on the harness and cut the wire further down giving you the ability to patch the wire at a later date, or you can manipulate the wire harness and 'pull' the wire from the connector with the pin by releasing the metal pin from the plastic lock within the connector.
The advantage of doing it that way is that you never permanantly altered the wiring of the car and you can reinsert the pin into the harness rendering the car back to factory original condition.
Just make sure to insulate the pin rather than leaving it bare and hanging.

Of course you should do all this without the car on in accessory or running mode, and you should identify the white wire for 2V only with the car in running mode while in park without the parking brake engaged.
After you are done, presto, no DRL, no nag screen, and no load or conflict with any other device in the car.

The reason I chose to disable this way instead of any other wire is because essentially every component on the lighting circuit is still functioning, and because the control units controlling the lighting and other body components are all interrelated, this was the surest way to keep all systems thinking they were operating within normal specs.
The system does not monitor if the 2V is present at the highbeams, only if the DRL unit is functioning.

1HOT NSX

WOW! Thank you very much for this one! - these instructions are crystal clear and indeed there is no better way to disable the DRLs than to leave the wires intact by choosing to disconnect it from the connector. I've been hoping and wanting to find a way to do it since I got my car new, thanks again.

sotiri

I positively HATE DRL.
There are situations where you cannot have lights active, no matter if they are reduced in intensity, and since some manufacturers dont give you a way to option this, (like the early incarnations of traction control-Mercedes was notorious for this, no way to disable traction control, and if you get in a snow drift you are screwed-now everyone gives you an option to disable it) I have had to resort to reverse engineering.
Its all pretty simple, unless they incorporate the highbeam into the DRL circuit, (not likely for redundency reasons) there is always a way to disable it.
It will always come down to 1 or 2 wires.

Treblig

Couldn't you just pull the DRL fuse?

1HOT NSX

From post #7 above, third paragraph:

"The unit has 2 sources of power, 2 fused sources and thats why if you remove the fuse for DRL, you get the message in the information cluster. you cannot pull both fuses because the other fuse is common with other necessary items."

Treblig

sotiri,

So now that you've disabled your DRL's, did you go with a brighter bulb for high beam useage?

Zanello

Why would anybody want to disable the DRLs? I'd like to disable that screaming message that pops up when you start the car saying the DRLs are off that.

sotiri

not if you do it the way i outlined... read first, then rant.

I didnt have time to order higher wattage bulbs... but I will.
Just finished driving 1000 miles today... Chicago to Amarillo; Tomorrow on to Vegas.
What can I say-this car continues to amaze me. Simply a driving pleasure.