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Daytime running lights

2898 Views 6 Replies 7 Participants Last post by  Keithuk, 
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For those of you who might be going through an unusually high number of headlight bulbs, this is for you.Today I replaced the 8th low beam headlight bulb on my 02 Golf. Out of frustration from the number of bulbs that have blown, I found a way to dissable the daytime running lights. There is a relay, #173 , that when removed, dissables the daytime running lights, and nothing else. It is found behind the drivers side kick panel on a relay board behind the fuse panel. While it took only 5 minutes to remove, it does require removing a few bolts to get at. I hope this might help improve the longevity of the lights. Also, this alleviates the alternator having to produce 110 watts (55 watts x2) during the day. I just replaced the alternator at an Autozone price of 220 US dollars, so again I am hoping to improve the alternators longevity as well. I just wish I had done this for the first 155 thousand miles!
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Good tip. You can also pull the headlight switch and tape over or bend a pin. This will disable the DRL.
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The handbrake also turns off the DRL. I don't really care about the extra draw, DRL should be safer for driving.
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Best thing to increase the light lifespan - don't use silverstars. They seem to burn out faster and used to be a quality light, now there are a lot of low quality bulbs and their quality is spotty.
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Robotek said:
The handbrake also turns off the DRL. I don't really care about the extra draw, DRL should be safer for driving.
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I never made up my mind on that one... so I added a switch in-line with the wire connecting to the DRL terminal (I think marked "TFL" on the connector, but check on-line for the correct one.

That way, when I want DRLs, for example low sun in late afternoon, heavy traffic, I can switch it on, and leave it off when not very useful. (This is a white car, so there are not many "low visibility" time periods to begin with.)
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My DRL's work sometimes, and other times they don't :dunno
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Keithuk
Welcome to the forum locknut. welcometomyturbodies

Well why play about pulling relays when you can switch off the DRLs of by flicking the light switch and indictor switch in the right sequence. This doesn't work if you have Bi-Xenons you need VCDS for that type. Mine went off 2 days after having the car. ;)
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