Help! I accidentally turned my Tacoma into a transformer

hey y'all.

For a while the right headlight on my 2011 Tacoma has been burning out headlight bulbs every few months. Finally poked around and found that the socket was basically falling apart from the inside. So I got a new socket and installed it this afternoon.

Now I have a new function on my high beams indicator!

Before the blue high beams indicator on the dash was off when the headlights were off or on dim, and on when the high beams were on.

Now it's off when the lights are off, on but dim when the low beams are on, and on bright when the high beams are on.

Is this a function of the socket? Did I make a mistake in the wiring? Will the headlight burn out or catch fire? Will my truck turn into a transformer?

Thanks for help in advance!

 

It's totaled.

 

Lol I knew it!

 

If you go back and reinstall/double check the socket connections your dash light problem may disappear. Electronics are finicky.

 

You might want to verify that the low beams are turning off when the high beams are turned on. If there is something wrong with the relay that switches from low to high beams, this could cause both sets to be on when the high beams are on. This could possibly be a cause of the bulbs burning out quickly and maybe the cause of the issue with the high beam indicator.

 

Will check this. The wiring is weird. The new socket has a red, a white, and a yellow. The Toyota wiring has multi color on each wire. Red/black (I connected it to black), red/white (I connected it to red), and white/black (I connected this to yellow).

 

Fixed it

 

You're a lot handier than most women I know.

 

I checked this. The bulb is both high and low, and it just draws more power for high to make the light brighter.

But somehow while I was checking that the running light bulb went out. In 5 years it's never been replaced, I'm guessing it was just coincidental.

 

Let's hope so!

 

Thanks. lol for a while I was a geologist on a drilling rig, and there's no one to fix stuff for you out there, it's your responsibility. I didn't want to be "that girl" who asked the roughnecks to do her job, so I learned basic electric and mechanical repairs.

 

Here was the problem. Had the wires hooked up to the wrong spots on the socket. It should be:

Yellow >> red/black,
red >> red/white,
black >> black/white.


Also was told to handle the bulb with gloves and clean it with alcohol before installing, fingerprints shorten the life of the bulb apparently. So done and done.

 

That last part is probably overkill, but I'm a big fan of overkill so kudos

Glad to see you got everything sorted out!


Edit: Or maybe not..

 

Well crap. The bulb works fine when I locked the truck. Doesn't come on when the running lights are on.

*Sigh* This is tomorrow's problem, I'm done for tonight.

 

If by running light you mean parking lights, these use a different filament in the same bulb as the DTRL.

If by running light you mean the DTRL (Day Time Running Lights), these are also the turn signals which come on with the "beep" when locking and unlocking the truck.

You might just have a bad bulb meaning just one of these filaments is burnt out.

Also, the DTRLs will not turn on until you have released the parking brake and put the truck into gear.

I have seen where people have had issues with the 2011's melting the DTRL lens inside the headlight assembly and also the socket that holds the bulbs. If you had an issue with the headlight bulb socket, it's safe to assume you might also have an issue with the parking light/running light sockets.

 

You and your *specific language*. lol

I think it's the parking light that's out then. The parking brake is not engaged, and the motor was off, only had the key turned so the lights would come one. I had the garage door shut so didn't want to start the engine. The left parking light was on, the right was not. But both flashed when I hit the lock button (because, ya know, rough neighborhood, gotta lock the truck in the garage even! Haha).

So yeah, I don't know much about the bulb but it has at least 2 obvious filaments. Couldn't see a broken spot but they can be hard to see sometimes. But my first plan was to change out the bulb because that's a cheap and easy thing to fix and I like to try the cheap and easy things first.

Also noticed the socket the parking light bulb sits in isn't melted, but has a little brown ring around it, the plastic is burned slightly near the bulb.