Cheap/Free Mods

Link in my sig, I re-ran all the breathers.

 

sub'd

 

So I did the driver seat mag lite mount. Then I got the annoying rattle from the batteries bouncing around. So here is what I did to fix that


Took an ordinary Paper towel roll and cut it to size.

All nice ad tucked away and no more rattle.

 

Press and hold the recirc button for 30sec, then it will stay on recirc. This works in every setting except Defrost.

 

Great idea!

 

This mod comes with an unwanted side effect of powering the entire tail light circuit. Hence you will see dash and radio backlight blink, and your taillights and parking lights as well.

if the truck is completely off with hazards on, both left and right signals will be blinking, since this is connected to parking lights, you can see it will actually power the whole tail light circuit. The original mod that uses relays is actually a better designed mod.


the mod connects the parking light ground line to the front left and right signals. This in turn powers the entire tail light circuit shown below and the next picture.





A warning should be added to this mod description.

 

Interesting... I've had this mod done for at least 6 years, and the dash/radio lights never blink.

 

see this thread

http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/lighting/320457-alternating-signals-stealth-mode-help.html

the circuit diagram speaks for itself. there are no guesses here.

not only this, the mod has the other bad side effect of causing the other side signal to blink if truck has factory dtrl. again, explained clearly in the circuit diagram why it happens.

 

Whatever you say. I'm just saying I've never had those problems in 6 years.

Then again, I have a 2006, the OP in that other thread has a 2011, and I have no idea what year you have. Or if the wiring changed. That could be the problem.

Or just be caused by the OEM DTRL since you had the OP disable that.

You seem to be saying I would see the tail lights flash when I keyless lock/unlock, and I never do. Only the turn signals.

What year are those wire diagrams for?

 

diagram is for 2006. I think it should be the same from 2005 to 2011. I did not do this mod, the other thread post OP that has a 2011 asked for help/explanation and I just looked at the wiring diagram and the answer is right there in black and white that explains every behavior he sees.

He is not using LED, so current can flow both ways. I'm guessing you are probably using LEDs?

 

I am not using any LEDs. However, if he's not doing the other DTRL mod I posted then he didn't cut another set of wires. Also, you're the first person I've seen mention this issue since I posted that mod. Fairly sure others would have mentioned it and it would be a common problem by now.

 

I'm sure there is an explanation why yours work fine.

As I mentioned in the other thread, the OP did not even say anything about both left and right parking lights blinking at half brightness before I mentioned that based on the diagram, the left and right parking lights are wired in series and will light up half as bright.

Just to confirm, with your truck completely off, no keys, turn on the hazards, and check your dashboard backlight to see if it blinks (perhaps faintly?) with the hazard blinking or not.

if you switch on your parking lights, the dashboard back light comes on correct?
since the mod connects the parking light ground to the front signal hot line, as long as there is a path to ground somewhere in the tail light circuit, the whole tail light circuit will blink when the front signals are blinking when hazards are on. So if yours does not blink, then there is no path to ground on the parking light circuit. In the first image I posted, you can see the path to ground via combination tail light.

I also see for this mod to work, the parking light cannot be LED, since the bulb is reverse biased in order to alternate when the parking light is switched off. I think this mod originated from toyota nation and I posted this same message there to see if the person who came up with this mod will comment.

 

This post in TN from back in 2008 is describing this problem. So this is not new.

 

http://youtu.be/P7fnBqV9ZMY

 

Some LEDs are non-polarized. All of the dash lamps I replaced in my Suburban were non-polarized. There was a small circuit in the base of the LED.
The drawback was the circuit prevented dimming.

 

are your front signal and parking lights white? or are they amber and only look white in the video? your tail light (below signal, above reverse) is not LED ? Do you have any other mods? do you have stock dtrl or no dtrl? you got me on this one.

 

What part of "no LEDs" don't you get? I already told you I'm not running a single LED if it wasn't there from the factory. I haven't even replace the map or dome lights.

Amber bulbs, stock lens assemblies from Rockauto, replaced after hitting a deer.

I don't have the factory DTRL, I have the one I listed here using the 3rd hole on the turn signal socket.

 

I was just trying to clarify, as some 2nd gen taillight uses LED from factory.

Anyway, I figured out why you do not see this problem, only after you said you also have the 3rd wire dtrl mod.

As I have previously mentioned, the key is the path to ground. And you can clearly see from this mod diagram, the hot side of the parking brake (pin1 green) is connected to the DIM filament (pin 1) of the signal bulb, then to ground (implied, since obviously, the other side of the filament is connected to ground). This is the path of least resistance, therefore, turning on the hazard with parking lights off does not affect the rest of the taillight circuit, since the current flows from turn signal (pin 3 red/black) to parking light (pin 2 black/white) to turn signal pin 1 to ground. I bet if you look closely at your turn signal (you might need to remove it from the housing, as it may be hard to see through the housing lens), both filaments are on if your engine is off and hazards are on. And if you disconnect the connection to signal light pin 1, you will see the rest of the tail light circuit light up.



I try to understand the principle why mods work. Most people just follow the mod blindly without understanding why it works.
I think it is worthwhile to add a warning/caveat of the side effect if the third wire dtrl mod is not done.

 

The 2009+ LED taillights still use regular bulbs for the blinkers.

 

I am going to like this site. Got some good Ideas already!