Daytime running lights

From : automation001

Q: thinking about buying a used durango for work drive about 40000 miles/year. also like to use it to pull my boat 3500lbs. to the lake about 30 miles away. i need dependability and enough power to pull the boat. never owned anything but gm products before so i dont know much about the dodge engines. thanks for any info. depending on what year durango you are looking at. i would try and find one with the 4.7 v8. it generally gets better mpg than the 5.2 318 and get a lot better mpg than the 5.9 360. the 4.7 has enough power for what little towing you are planning not much weight and short distance. good luck jeff c. .

Replies:

From : steve barker

just be thankful. -- steve ========= my daytime running lights have all of a sudden died. my headlights high beams and fog lights all work still any suggestions ive never had day runners die in any of my trucks...even the ford...lol! thanx. 97 dakota sport .

From : daniel j stern

on thu 3 jun 2004 automation001 wrote my daytime running lights have all of a sudden died. my headlights high beams and fog lights all work still any suggestions ive never had day runners die in any of my trucks...even the ford...lol! thanx. 97 dakota sport count yourself lucky the drls failed off. most of the time the failure mode for the reduced-intensity-high-beam drl module chrysler used in bazillions of vehicles from 90 through approx. 99 is for the drls to refuse to turn off even when the ignition is killed draining the battery. canada motor vehicle safety standard 108 requires drls on all vehicles produced on or after 1/1/90 so you should fix this. you can either buy another expensive and failure-prone oe module from the dealer or you can hardwire the fogs to the ignition switch fogs are legal drls in canada not in the us or you can install a more durable and less expensive turn signal drl module such as the one from www.webelectricmagazine.com . -stern .

From : paul jensen

i dont think they should be standard equipement on us vehicles my self. normally i wouldnt either but theres too many morons rolling around in the dark and pouring rain with no lights on whatsoever. i am *much* more concerned about those idiots turning some lights on than i am them wearing seat belts. .

From : daniel j stern

on fri 4 jun 2004 t&l wrote just recently purchased a 2002 2500 that came up from the us it went through border emissions and regulations standards for canada and it doesnt have daytimes not sure if they just missed it or what yep they just missed it. drls mandatory on all cars made since 1/1/90 under canada motor vehicle safety standard 108. -stern .

From : gary carter

you should check your parking brake have heard that that will turn off day time running lights. i dont think they should be standard equipement on us vehicles my self. make them an option if you want them pay for them if not save the money. no they are not required by law in the us just canada by equiping us vehicles with them it saves the manufactures from have one more item to make different per model. at least toyota gives you the option of turning the damn this off right on the head light switch. gary carter my daytime running lights have all of a sudden died. my headlights high beams and fog lights all work still any suggestions ive never had day runners die in any of my trucks...even the ford...lol! thanx. 97 dakota sport .

From : tl

on the drivers side inner fender there should be a square blk box that should be the module for your daytime running lights it more than likely is gone bad! i heard that daytime lights are law in canada but i live hear and just recently purchased a 2002 2500 that came up from the us it went through border emissions and regulations standards for canada and it doesnt have daytimes not sure if they just missed it or what .

From : paul jensen

normally i wouldnt either but theres too many morons rolling around in the dark and pouring rain with no lights on whatsoever. headlamp-based drls make this *worse* not better. folks see a reflection of their lights in a plate glass window or see spots of light in front of their car as they pull out of a parking spot and mistakenly think their vehicles headlamps are on when in fact they have a insufficient illumination due to reduced intensity and b are producing excessive glare if their vehicles drls are the high beams and c are invisible from the sides and rear since their sidemarkers and taillamps are off. i lost count *years ago* of people who when asked why they werent using their proper headlamps in the rain or after dark said oh my car has automatic headlamps -- when all it had was headlamp-based drls. there hasnt been much of an education program for these lights in the u.s. since they are an added item and not mandatory i suppose neither the automakers nor the government has considered this a priority. you do bring up a valid point. if these were made mandatory i would envision a national information campaign about what these lights are and are not. this would be similar to the 911 campaigns years ago when that service rolled out across the country. americans have had 911 so ingrained into their heads that they now call it for all sorts of things not just the emergencies it was originally intended for. everyone knows that to call the police or fire just dial 911. since it has been mandatory in canada for some time now i would be more interested in knowing what is happening there. .

From : tl

actually im from canada and i have to say that they arent that bad theres days that people that dont have them should have their lights on due to dark dreary foggy days and the daytime running lights do help you see oncoming traffic quite well! i dont think theyre a bad idea my opinion only. .

From : daniel j stern

on sun 6 jun 2004 t&l wrote actually im from canada and i have to say that they arent that bad theres days that people that dont have them should have their lights on due to dark dreary foggy days and the daytime running lights do help you see oncoming traffic quite well! i dont think theyre a bad idea my opinion only. theyre not a bad *idea*. some of the implementations permitted in north america are poor executions of the concept for various reasons. -stern .

From : daniel j stern

on sat 5 jun 2004 paul jensen wrote folks see a reflection of their lights in a plate glass window or see spots of light in front of their car as they pull out of a parking spot and mistakenly think their vehicles headlamps are on when in fact they have a insufficient illumination due to reduced intensity and b are producing excessive glare if their vehicles drls are the high beams and c are invisible from the sides and rear since their sidemarkers and taillamps are off. i lost count *years ago* of people who when asked why they werent using their proper headlamps in the rain or after dark said oh my car has automatic headlamps -- when all it had was headlamp-based drls. there hasnt been much of an education program for these lights in the u.s. since they are an added item and not mandatory i suppose neither the automakers nor the government has considered this a priority. theyve been mandatory here in canada since 1/1/90 virtually every car on the road has them up here and people are now on their 2nd 5th or 8th car with drls and every single night i see *scores* of cars running improper lights on my 5km drive home. radio traffic reports in bad weather say make sure you have your full regular lights on and there are still way too many drl-only cars invisible from the sides and rear in bad weather. education doesnt fix poor implementation of drls. i suspect much of the problem could be solved if the law were changed slightly. as it stands the instrument cluster lights up when the parking lamps are switched on. in canada the drls are not permitted to shut off when just the parking lamps are switched on only when the actual headlamps are switched on. so people leave the grocery store their home or the gas station see beams coming from the front of their car and mash the headlamp switch until the dash lights come on -- thats one click. ok now were running parkers sidemarkers and taillamps and our instruments are illuminated but were still throwing tons of glare down the road with our high beam drls and we dont have light directed where we need it for low-beam driving conditions. if the dash lights stayed off until the full headlamps were turned on this problem might be reduced. if headlamp-based drls were eliminated this problem would be virtually eliminated. since it has been mandatory in canada for some time now i would be more interested in knowing what is happening there. voila. -stern .

From : paul jensen

theyve been mandatory here in canada since 1/1/90 virtually every car on the road has them up here and people are now on their 2nd 5th or 8th car with drls and every single night i see *scores* of cars running improper lights on my 5km drive home. radio traffic reports in bad weather say make sure you have your full regular lights on and there are still way too many drl-only cars invisible from the sides and rear in bad weather. education doesnt fix poor implementation of drls. but these are probably the morons who if they didnt have drls wouldnt have *any* lights on in bad weather. i see them here every day. i suspect much of the problem could be solved if the law were changed slightly. as it stands the instrument cluster lights up when the parking lamps are switched on. in canada the drls are not permitted to shut off when just the parking lamps are switched on only when the actual headlamps are switched on. so people leave the grocery store their home or the gas station see beams coming from the front of their car and mash the headlamp switch until the dash lights come on -- thats one click. ok now were running parkers sidemarkers and taillamps and our instruments are illuminated but were still throwing tons of glare down the road with our high beam drls and we dont have light directed where we need it for low-beam driving conditions. if the dash lights stayed off until the full headlamps were turned on this problem might be reduced. not a bad idea. ill go along with that. if headlamp-based drls were eliminated this problem would be virtually eliminated. again not a bad idea. how about instead of fog lamps drls in the same general area .

From : daniel j stern

on sun 6 jun 2004 paul jensen wrote theyve been mandatory here in canada since 1/1/90 virtually every car on the road has them up here and people are now on their 2nd 5th or 8th car with drls and every single night i see *scores* of cars running improper lights on my 5km drive home. radio traffic reports in bad weather say make sure you have your full regular lights on and there are still way too many drl-only cars invisible from the sides and rear in bad weather. education doesnt fix poor implementation of drls. but these are probably the morons who if they didnt have drls wouldnt have *any* lights on in bad weather. i see them here every day. true but heres the difference if a cars running along in bad weather or at night with no lights its an instant cop magnet from any direction. if a cars running along in bad weather or at night with only drls most cops arent familiar enough with the difference in appearance to realize anythings wrong. if headlamp-based drls were eliminated this problem would be virtually eliminated. again not a bad idea. how about instead of fog lamps drls in the same general area thats been proposed in australia. its got its pluses and minuses but probably more pluses than minuses for most vehicles in most areas of north america most of the time. -stern .

From : daniel j stern

on fri 4 jun 2004 paul jensen wrote i dont think they should be standard equipement on us vehicles my self. normally i wouldnt either but theres too many morons rolling around in the dark and pouring rain with no lights on whatsoever. headlamp-based drls make this *worse* not better. folks see a reflection of their lights in a plate glass window or see spots of light in front of their car as they pull out of a parking spot and mistakenly think their vehicles headlamps are on when in fact they have a insufficient illumination due to reduced intensity and b are producing excessive glare if their vehicles drls are the high beams and c are invisible from the sides and rear since their sidemarkers and taillamps are off. i lost count *years ago* of people who when asked why they werent using their proper headlamps in the rain or after dark said oh my car has automatic headlamps -- when all it had was headlamp-based drls. -stern .

From : greg surratt

on sat 5 jun 2004 104606 -0400 daniel j. stern dastern@127.0.0.1 wrote headlamp-based drls make this *worse* not better. folks see a reflection of their lights in a plate glass window or see spots of light in front of their car as they pull out of a parking spot and mistakenly think their vehicles headlamps are on when in fact they have a insufficient illumination due to reduced intensity and b are producing excessive glare if their vehicles drls are the high beams and c are invisible from the sides and rear since their sidemarkers and taillamps are off. -stern how true. stopped at a mini-mart one night and turned the headlights off - parking lights only. when i left we were traveling some very dark two lane winding roads and i couldnt get the high beams to come on without holding the switch. thought for sure something was wrong in the steering column that would consume a lot of time to repair. the next evening when we continued our trip after supper everything worked fine. i was confused for several days until it hit me that i had driven that first evening with drls only and no headlights. greg .