DRL delete - unbelievably simple DIY!

[E34ührer]

http://www.koalamotorsport.com/prodd...od=61311378052

So if i wanted to do DRL on my car all i would need is to replace this relay to the one i have? If so it seems like a good idea because i can get a discount on insurance for having DRL's

Don't ask me...ask the guys above me...what do I know? I guess there is no relay...I guess we should let koala know. You could just take your car all apart, cut and splice a bunch of wires and get the same result.

[NapaBavarian]

Was this relay used anywhere else in e34s or other BMWs in the US? Perhaps I'd have one on a parts car, but it looks taller than most relays!

http://www.koalamotorsport.com/prodd...od=61311378052

On US cars, this is the relay you need to ADD DRL's. (That is correct...DRL's have NOTHING to do with the LKM)

If you want to make DRL's go away, just replace the relay above with a US spec relay.

Location of the relay: you will have to do a little work now...its under the dash IIRC....so write down the part number from the link above, remove lower dash and look for that number on a funny colored relay...or do a search...I am not doing the work for you...there was a thread here a few months ago with the info in it....

[jmo69]

Was this relay used anywhere else in e34s or other BMWs in the US? Perhaps I'd have one on a parts car, but it looks taller than most relays!

My e36 is from Canada and the DRLs are low power high beams, when I don't want them I just unplug the high beams. They're diimer than My HID's.

[540man]

I recently upgraded to 55w HID lows, and they are great in most weather, but definitely glare in heavy rain and fog. Here in canada, we get daytime running lights, which from BWM, basically mean the low beams and parking lights are wired such that they are on when ever the car is running. The headlight switch is purely decorative.

I've been wanting to diable my DRLs so that I can turn off my lows and run just my fogs in inclement weather.
Here is the cct diagram for canadian cars:

Note the Yellow wire running from the grn/blu junction from F2 to the headlight control on the LKM. US and other versions have this yellow wire connecting to the junction between the healight switch and the highbeam switch, and rather than the ylw/gry, all wires are yellow, so, find the wire, and reconnect. Now the fun part...

I'm not even going to get into the amount of wiring I pulled out, unwrapped and followed, but here's the short of it.

Behind the knee bolster under the steering wheel are a few big bundles of wire that lead up over the air duct behind the cluster and under the dash.
Unwrap the big thick one and find the only yellow wire. This is the yellow in the schematic, trust me.



Aside: you'll also notice the junction of the grn/blu wires in this photo. One of those head up under the dash and connects with that pesky yellow one.

Cut the yellow wire and terminate the side coming from above the dash (this will still be hot when the car is running - don't let it short anything out!)

Now, there are a series of wrapped bundles coming from the steering column, one is for the high beam switch and goes to this connector above the three black ones on the plastic bracket:


...and from farther back for reference:


Note the yellow wire third from the top on the left. The yellow connects to the yellow/grey from the headlight switch at the white plug in the picture. Connect the cut yellow from above to this yellow from the high beam: cut, strip and connect all three using an automotive crimp style bell connector, or however you like to connect your wiring...

You're done. Really. It's that simple.

Now you can run:

Parklights only (see below for more info on parking lights)
parking and fog lights
parking and low beams
parking, lows and fogs
parking lows and highs
parking and highs (flash only).

Parking lights:
I have discovered that the switch internals for Canada seem to be different than other places. According to the schematic, you should be able to cut the grn/blue wire at the diode, or just pull the diode and have the parking lights work like normal folks. The switch should power the parking light cct both in park position and in low beam position. It seems that it only does when in park position. With the diode pulled, the parking lights would come on int he park position, but when I turn the headlights on, the parking lights turn off.

I reconnected the diode and let it be. I can't think of a case I really need to have my parking lights off when I'm driving. If you do, you'll likely need a new switch from the US. The cct diagrams are quite different. The US has a triple pole double throw switch while the cdn is only a single pole double throw, and manages the low beam power through relays in the kick panel.

Good writeup, looks like you have done some fun work there. I have a 94 540, I have looked for the yellow wire you describe as coming from above the ducts in the big bundle. I do not seem to have such a wire. The pics of your wiring look nearly identical to my wiring bit I cannot locate that yellow bugger. There are 3 yellows in the big budle, one with a red trace, grey trace and white trace. I have the yellow coming from the steering column going to the white plug, I have not tested it to see if its the highbeam.
Do you happen to have any more pics that might clarify where this wire is ? I am hoping not to have to pull all the bundles and open them (as you know this is a nightmare).
Thanks

[540man]

OK, just did the drl delete. I actually had to cut and splice the Grn/blu at the junction where they are spliced from the factory as I cound not locate the yellow. I spliced the grn/blu into the ylw/gry, thereby bypassing the switch. Once you know where the wires are it is super simple.
And yes, my park lights are on all the time no matter what. Gotta be like you say, the switch. Weird but it looks like that is how it will be unless I get a US switch. Everything else works like normal.
Now if I can just figure out how to make the HID's stop messing with my tach.......

[M Quick]

OK, just did the drl delete. I actually had to cut and splice the Grn/blu at the junction where they are spliced from the factory as I cound not locate the yellow. I spliced the grn/blu into the ylw/gry, thereby bypassing the switch. Once you know where the wires are it is super simple.
And yes, my park lights are on all the time no matter what. Gotta be like you say, the switch. Weird but it looks like that is how it will be unless I get a US switch. Everything else works like normal.
Now if I can just figure out how to make the HID's stop messing with my tach.......

What's up with the HID's and your tach? Are you sure it's not a bad battery or that the instrument panel is going bad?

[540man]

Not sure, I have read a bunch of posts on the issue, some say its RF interference radiating from the ballasts, some say its AC feedback into the system, some say bad grounds. I have not played around yet but when its cold (as in the car has not be running), the tach is either reading double the proper RPM or half the proper RPM.
The car is in very good condition, no bad wiring or rust. I will be trying the grounding issue first as its the easiest along with wrapping the ballasts in foil (don't have a lot of faith in that fix) and then go from there.
I have found that now that my headlights can be switched on and off at will, if I don't have them on, start the car, the tach works fine. If I then turn the HIDs on, the tach goes wonky. Even if I then turn the HID's off, it stays wonky. I can shut the car off, restart with the HIDs off and the tack is still goofy. This tells me that its doubtful the problem is rf interference. There must be some residual energy in the ballast for it to still interefere without being on. Very weird but there must be a fix.

[e30lov]

Update on my car:

With the US version switch installed, the lows now stay off when the switch is off, but come on when the switch is in 'park' or 'on'. The park lights also stay on with the key off in both the 'park' and 'on' positions. This makes sense based on the wiring diagrams I have for my car (also seems to confirm your issue w/ park lights, Sherman... the CDN version switch only connects pins 2-7 when the switch is in the 'park' position where the US version connects 2-7 in both 'park' and 'on').

Also, based on my reading of the diagrams, all I should have to do to disable the lows in the 'park' position is isolate pin 1 of the headlight switch connector. I can't confirm this 100% until I try it, but it makes sense based on the wiring diagrams. I'll report back again after I try it.


Edit for new update:

Turns out disabling the low beam DRLs on my car was even simpler than I thought. The US version switch IS NOT required.

All I had to do was pull out the switches and cut the wire on pin 1 of the headlight switch connector. Lows no longer light up with the switch 'off', everything else works as normal.

I'm not sure about how this translates to other Canadian market cars, but I suspect if they work the same as mine (lows turn on with switch 'off' or 'on' but not with switch in 'park') then they probably just need the same wire cut as mine did. The added bonus for cars set up this way (and using the CDN switch) is if you still want your lows to act as DRLs, you can just leave the headlight switch 'on' at all times and all the lights will still turn off with the key.


Edit 2: I've attached a picture showing the back of the switch and the wire that I had to cut to disable the low beam DRL setup on my car.

Sorry for the bump, but '95 guys dont do this, all it does is disable your lights/fogs (ask me how i know)

Weird thing happened though, my HID's came on when i turned the key... however my parking lights/fogs did not work.

[540man]

Ya, this won't work on 94's either. Oh, I just an FYI using harnesses on the HIDs solved the tach issue, now I get the LBE.

[toyotahachiroku]

deleted

[1766cc]

Update on my car:

With the US version switch installed, the lows now stay off when the switch is off, but come on when the switch is in 'park' or 'on'. The park lights also stay on with the key off in both the 'park' and 'on' positions. This makes sense based on the wiring diagrams I have for my car (also seems to confirm your issue w/ park lights, Sherman... the CDN version switch only connects pins 2-7 when the switch is in the 'park' position where the US version connects 2-7 in both 'park' and 'on').

Also, based on my reading of the diagrams, all I should have to do to disable the lows in the 'park' position is isolate pin 1 of the headlight switch connector. I can't confirm this 100% until I try it, but it makes sense based on the wiring diagrams. I'll report back again after I try it.


Edit for new update:

Turns out disabling the low beam DRLs on my car was even simpler than I thought. The US version switch IS NOT required.

All I had to do was pull out the switches and cut the wire on pin 1 of the headlight switch connector. Lows no longer light up with the switch 'off', everything else works as normal.

I'm not sure about how this translates to other Canadian market cars, but I suspect if they work the same as mine (lows turn on with switch 'off' or 'on' but not with switch in 'park') then they probably just need the same wire cut as mine did. The added bonus for cars set up this way (and using the CDN switch) is if you still want your lows to act as DRLs, you can just leave the headlight switch 'on' at all times and all the lights will still turn off with the key.


Edit 2: I've attached a picture showing the back of the switch and the wire that I had to cut to disable the low beam DRL setup on my car.

Hello,

New to all this and saw your thread - exactly what I wasnt to do. Thanks for attaching a photo as well. One question though - where is the headlight switch connector located? I looked under the dash by the headlight switch itself, but it's not obvious (to me anyway)...

[1766cc]

Yarr the Pirate,

Where is the headlight switch connector you posted a jpeg of under the dash? Is it connected directly to the headlight on-off switch itself, or is it somewhere else? Finding it sure would be nice - I need to get rid of these DRL's.

[Flavcool]

Does this method have the exact same end result as the one outlined at the link below? I can't find the yellow wire you refer to cutting, can you be more specific? I found a few yellow wires.

http://www.bimmerforums.com/forum/showthread.php?1473895-DRL-delete-Disable-daytime-running-lights-instructions

[student2018]

Thanks to Sherman for clarifying this. In my car it's even simpler. I found that under the steering wheel there is the yellow wire which needed to be cut. In my case there are 2 connectors: one which enables DRL and another one which make US light (all lights off - parking lights on - low beams on).
2 connectors.jpg


All I have to do is to switch the connectors. DRL ON (left) and DRL OFF (right)
2 connectors shown.jpg


Not sure about this big yellow connector. It makes no difference regarding lights ON/OFF, so if anyone know what is the purpose of those and can explain it, I'd appreciate it.
yellow connector.jpg