DRL Failures, Locker Indicator Flashing, and Chasing Electrical Gremlins

I added the following update to the beginning of the first post in the hopes that people will at least make it that far before responding......

"UPDATE:

After initially declining to allow them to do so, Toyota decided to allow the dealership to perform additional diagnosis at my expense. The dealership will be performing the same oscilloscope test as previously performed with each aftermarket part disconnected, one by one. If the test shows the same or substantially similar voltage/signal noise as was previously present after all of the parts are removed, I would expect Toyota to perform further diagnosis and/or repair under warranty. If the signal noise drops to the same level as the stock truck they tested, I will remove whatever aftermarket part was causing the signal noise and repair the vehicle myself at my expense."

 

They already figured that out and denied the repair. Case closed go home. But I will compliment the OP to say he is one relentless mofo that won't back down when he feels he is correct. For that the OP is good in my book. Still don't agree with him tho.

 

OK, let's look at this saga from another angle. The OP is willing to pay the dealer, out of pocket, to find out which of his many mods is the culprit (and why did Toyota initially say no to that? Isn't that how dealers make most of their money, in the service bay?). Isn't he doing the TW world a great service to warn you all about a faulty after market light, once it is identified?

 

Totally respect that. If people didn't disagree with each other lawyers wouldn't exist!

 

Sounds about right to me..
made me thing a little more on how i have my crap wired up.



HEY ; OP put a update with the answer on the first page so we don't need to read 20 pages to find out.

 

Quote the whole paragraph.

 

Agreed...
I wish I would have found a lawyer with his fire when I was looking into a MMA lawsuit over LF fluid.

 

They do have raptor lights. They were installed after their first failure but before their 2nd failure. They had the + to an add a fuse and the - was wired to the DRL ground directly.

 

Did you ever post up all of the dealer notes and show any schematics or photos of what you modified?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yqqsCD7TUQM

 

I have not, mostly because I see no reason spend all the time redacting PII just to “feed the troll” so to speak. Parts are listed in the first post. All but the raptor lights are plug and play, installed per-manufacturer (the aftermarket manufacturer) instructions. The raptor lights are installed with an add-a-fuse into IGN 2 and grounded to the body ground for the battery.

The dealer notes say nothing other than what has already been posted. That being said, just to satisfy your apparent curiosity, let me take some screenshots of the Toyota Owner’s app service history notes. Doing some yard work at the moment but I’ll tag you in the post later today when I post them up.

 

I suspect Toyota said no to that because if they retest and the results come in that the mods aren’t at fault or they can’t prove it’s their fault, they’re on the hook to repair this issue and any future issues. They made a couple hundred on the test and lost 1000 for a headlight. It’s like giving a blank check to OP saying it’s not the mods fault so any future failures can be argued the same way.
OP I wish you the best and hope you succeed...but the issue is obviously complex with lots of moving pieces. Electrical issues are like trying to pin down ghosts. It seems unlikely that the mods aren’t at least partially to blame in some respect. That said, Toyota can absorb some loss. Good luck.

 

@computeruser6

 

When testing I think it may be worth taking a closer look at the ground and make sure there is no positive voltage introduced there some how. Also it should be confirmed (if not already done) that truly is a ground. If nothing else make sure both leads are disconnected during the tests.

Also in case i missed it do we know what component in the DRL failed to cause it to stop functioning? Do you know if it is the same component of the DRL in each of the failures? My suspicion is no but it would be an interesting data-point if that was looked into further.

Best of luck

 

I know this can sound funny, but I've cleared up many issues in past rigs, with adding grounds. Heavy gauge wire to frame. Then reground the Engine, chassis, and body.

 

Just for kicks, here is another screenshot of the Toyota owners app from
When I had a front end vibration and paid to have the dealership perform a road force balance on the aftermarket tires instead of asking them to diagnose the vibration under warranty.

Not sure why it says the ToyotaCare service was a customer pay. It was not.

 

I did that on my ‘03 WRX. Grounding kit solved all kinds of issues.

 

I don’t have any information on what the failure was in the first two DRLs other than what is in the notes above. I’m not sure if Toyota did any type of “autopsy” or not.

 

It’s either a warranty charge or customer pay, so an aftermarket tire rebalancing wouldn’t be warranty work. They probably marked it customer pay and didn’t charge you for it is my guess.

 

Interesting. I did pay for the road force balance since it was performed at my request. The 10k Syn service was the normal 10k ToyotaCare. That I did not pay for.

 

Nope. The failure was an open circuit in the assembly, so they fixed that and it worked.

If they had the time and inclination with pattern failures to diagnose the causation and not the symptom (repeat issues with DRLs) then we’d be here today doing the same thing with the oscilloscope.

A lot of technicians treat the failure and not the problem, mainly because they don’t get paid to nerd out unless a customer is paying for it.