3rd Gen: Flash to Pass and Low Beams

Hey all. I have a 2018 TRD Pro that I bought 2nd hand a year ago. With the headlight switch OFF, when I used flash-to-pass by pulling the headlight stalk backwards/towards driver, both the high beams (good!) AND the low beams (bad) come on at the same time.

Anyone else experience this? I'm wondering if there is something amiss with my truck. Can the lights behavior be coded that way?

I'm running Xenon Depot Philips HIDs in the low beams (thanks @crashnburn80!!) and my issue is, cycling the ballast on/off/on/off is not good for aftermarket HIDs. I would MUCH prefer just the high beams come on rather than both the high and low beams. I have evidence of an aftermarket alarm system in the truck that despite my best digging before buying the truck, I didn't realize until months after I bought the truck...

 

One other thing. Here is a snapshot from the Owners Manual. If I'm interpreting this correctly, I would think ONLY the high beams come on when using flash to pass:

 

Did you install & wired them? Show the wire taps to the vehicle from the HID's.

 

I get both high and low as well with the switch in off or with the drls on. Light wiring and anything connected to them are completely stock, only modification are more powerful bulbs.

 

There's an easy solution: Don't use "flash-to-pass". It pisses people off anyway . . .

 

Why is this bad? it’s the correct behavior and been this way on EVERY vehicle ive even owned that came with Halogen headlights. Light are off, both beams come on when you flash, lights are on, only high beams come on.

 

Even in a dual filament bulb like the 9003/H4 in 2nd Gen, both high and low are illuminated using the flash to pass feature. That is the designed behavior and unfortunately not one that is very friendly to aftermarket HIDs.

 

Incorrect...

 

Is that for a 2nd Gen? I don’t have the truck anymore to verify but I’m almost certain they work that way.

 

Appreciate all the replies!

Yeah, I installed the HIDs myself, but it worked this way even before I installed them.

OK got it and good to know. I was worried that the remnants of an aftermarket alarm system was causing some kind of weird behavior. Reading manual, it only says it will turn the high beams on, but doesn't mention the low beams. It's worded poorly, IMHO.

There are a multitude of situations in which you'd want to do this without pissing people off: Yielding the right of way to another motorist at a 4 way stop, signaling to a truck it's safe to come into or out of the hammer lane, to thank another motorist who yields in a situation they didn't need to, to alert a distracted driver you're to their left or right flank, to inform another driver that something is wrong with their vehicle, to alert a driver going 10-20mph under the speed limit on a country road (where I primarily drive) you are about to overtake them... I could keep going.

Yeah, good question. Because aftermarket HID ballasts aren't designed to be quickly cycled on and off. This it the FIRST vehicle with separate high/low beams (i.e., dedicated bulbs and reflectors) where flash-to-pass turns on both high and low beams. It's not an issue for stock trucks with halogens, I'll give you that, but it would be nice if only the high beams came on when using flash and the headlights are off.

 

Yes, 2nd Gen...

 

Yeah, same question as crash. Is that 3rd gen or 2nd gen?

EDIT: You posted just as I did. 2nd gen. Ok thanks.

Despite my avitar, I have a 3rd gen I'm questioning.

 

3rd Gen Switch Logic Below

 

Reading this from my phone. If I'm looking at this correctly, the Low beam would NOT come on with Flash or does?

Thank you for this.

 

And I corrected the miss information...

 

@mattleg and @caribe makaira thank you for posting these. Sitting in front on a computer this morning finally on a big monitor (rather than my phone) and I'm still not following this.

How should I interpret that table you posted @mattleg? If I only look at the Dimmer Switch, what do EL, HU, HF and HL mean? I've searched all 11,292 pages of the shop manual I have and no where does it list these particular abbreviations. If I knew this, I'm quite certain I wouldn't have the rest of these questions...

Also what are the lines and the circles meant to depict? In your diagram above, does the line in the "Low" position mean that only "EL" and "HL" are hot (where circles are shown) in that switch position? (my assumption is YES give the image I found below) Or is Low active in all 4 positions? It only has circles in EL & HL so it's slightly confusing. Flash, on the other hand, has the "line" through EL, HU and HF but a circle in all three.

The truck does have auto-lights/Light Controlled Switch, but have it disabled (not in AUTO position).

I found this on page 6,000-something, but nowhere can I found how to interpret what this is showing. The light control switch is easier to decipher, but the Dimmer Switch (the function I'm concerned with) I'm scratching my head on what EL, HL, HU and HF means...

 

A bit more... I also found the below, which tells me EL (and LFG, for fogs switch) appears to be a ground, but I still do not know what HL, HU and HF mean.

 

HU-Headlights Upper
HL-Headlights Lower
HF=Headlights FLASH
Even though they show a "separation" between Dimmer sw and Headlight sw, they are 2 in 1 switch.

 

You never fail! Thank you sir... Seems so straight forward now that I know that.

So even though there is no circle on HL here, it does in fact trigger HL (low beams) when the switch is in Flash. Correct?



I'm clearly not an electrical master, but if I were drawing this table, I wouldn't include the lines. Confusing for this plebian brain of mine.


EDIT: thinking on this a bit more, seems like if they are reflecting HF as a separate function in here, that it could in theory trigger HF/Flash/High without triggers HL/Low. Perhaps in prior model years it did.

 

Note that the HL contact on that switch set has no connection to the module. The signal for low beam is from the other switch set with the H contact, for manual on. Auto of course can turn on the low beam as well based on the light sensor and internal logic of the module.

I will check for sure, but my memory is high beam does not turn off the low beam, only the fogs.