Problem with my DRL lights..

[Reguile]

Daytime Running lights, aka those amber lights by your headlight.

My problem is that it likes to be random on whether or not it wants to turn on. Whenever I turn the headlight on, rarely do both of them come on, and usually it's the driver side that stays off. Blinker/hazards still work, so I'm kind of stumped, cause I know it has power going to it..

Fuses are good, bulb is also good, it's been cold here lately so idk if that has anything to do with it.
I'm not an electrical expert, so any help would be appreciated..
It's a concern for me because I want to get angel eyes for my car one day, and I hear you use the DRL wires for it, and I don't want just 1 side to work cause that'll look like crap

[John Firestone]

Do you mean the outermost yellow housings that also serve as your turn signals? I'd call those the position or parking lights.

My wild guess from a great distance would be a faulty light switch. But you can answer that for sure by measuring the voltage at the switch and lights.

How long have you had the car?

[Reguile]

1999 318ti, 128k miles now.
Light switch could be the cause of it sometimes not turning on?
I drove around for a bit last night and they both were on to my surprise.

And yes, those are the lights I'm talking about... The ones that are attached to your headlights, not the small amber one on your fender, by the doors..

[teetime4one]

yep, parking lights

[John Firestone]

Originally Posted by Reguile

1999 318ti, 128k miles now.
Light switch could be the cause of it sometimes not turning on?

Yeah, it could be.

You could try parking the car in front of a wall and then slowly sliding the parking lights on and off: to see if the switch contacts are dirty or pitted.

[volgapower]

Daytime Running lights? what does that mean? any additional ones?

[John Firestone]

Depending on what continent you are on, Daytime Running Lights (DRLs) can be additional lights or another way to run the existing front lights.

Within the EU, DRLs are now(*) separate, moderately bright, specialized lights of up to 1200 candela, that throw a wide beam. Or they can be second filaments placed within the existing high beam bulbs to throw an alternate, wide beam.

In North America, DRLs can be that, or they can be the front turn signals run at increased brightness or the high beam headlights run at reduced brightness -- in all cases, at up to 3000 or 7000(!) candela, depending on their height and the country.

Or on both continents, you can or could provide DRLs by automatically turning on the low beams.

I sense there is some learning going on, through trial and error.

(*) The UK used to allow dimmed operation of the low beams (dipped headlights), but I think Brussels discouraged that.

[Reguile]

I tried to do the switch thing, it didn't really do anything, left side still stayed off. And yes on the learning part, don't want to get raped by dealers / mechanics.. I took my old car to 2 different mechanics that both told me different things when I had a misshift. One said it made my ecu go bad? Other said it had too much internal damage and the engine needed to be replaced..

[John Firestone]

Well, I'd say it is time to print out the parking light circuit drawings for your year (ETM section 6312.0, PARK/TAIL LIGHTS), grab a multimeter or test lamp, and start tracing.

[Stofferdavis]

Just a thought but... The bulb might not be making good contact in the socket. I had a similar problem where the left blinker would not work with the headlights on. All I had to do was rough up the contacts in the socket and apply some "bulb grease" = problem solved.