Does anyone here know of a way to disable the day time running light (DRL) function in the ETACS?

On the base GSR, when the parking brake is down and DRL is activated, a square wave form signal is sent to the low beam to dimmer the lights functioning as DRL. However, the absence of a constant signal causes a flickering problem when aftermarket HID is installed.

I have a base GSR with OEM SSS Projector Headlights/HID swap and my problem is that the ECU still think I have the Halogens and is sending a wavy signal to my low beam as DRL which causes flickering.

A few members on here have tried to have dealers disable the DRL function in ETACS through MUT III to no avail (the option is there but settings could not be changed)

Does anyone here know of any aftermarket OBD/2 tools that might be able to do the trick? OpenECU / EcuFlash perhaps?

Thanks in advance

 

I have the OpenECU stuff, but nobody is searching for this stuff since the general interest is in tuning for more performance.

I have been keeping my eyes open, so if I see anything I'll be sure to let you know.


It was quite a letdown when the dealer MUTIII could not alter the DRL function through ETACS, so I'm always on the lookout for a solution. I'd rather not resort to hardware solutions (swapping wires), so I'm fine with leaving the light switch on for now.

Let me know if you stumble across anything!

 

If you just want to disable tot he DRL, why not just take the fuse out?

 

Does the X have the FrontECU in the fuse box under the hood like the IX's do? If so, what color is it?

 

^^^YES, the X has a front fuse box just like the VIII and IX. The fuse box color is black.

 

There is a pin you can eliminate in those FrontECUs (i.e. bend that single pin over, or open the box and cut the trace of that pin so you can resolder later) I have the Red box so it's slightly different(?)... but google "4G Eclipse DRL" and you should be able to find it.

HOW TO: Disable Day Time Running Lights (DRL)
According to that thread, the black and red boxes work the same.

 

Thanks for the replies.

xPRimNT, I am running Cobb AP and no dice there either.

Still waiting on Mitsu Canada to come up with something as the initial proposal failed... not holding my breath though

I am looking for a software fix as well, hopefully

 

eddielmc, as far as I know reprogramming the ETACS will not change anything involving the DRLs. Somewhere there is a relay and transistor energized that sends a PWM signal to low beams, and it's entirely seperate from the ETACS and ECM. The relay and transistor is energized when the key is set to RUN.

Also since you're in Canada you're required to have DRLs... I'd just put a relay to source power directly from the battery. The relay will stay energized even with the PWM signal, so you'll still have DRLs and no flickering issues.

 

Thanks for your input.

On the GSR with SSS package, I think the PWM signal is disabled. The ECU sends a signal to a different relay which power a seperate bulb for DRL

So on the SSS, DRL and low beam use seperate bulbs

and on the base GSR, DRL shares the same bulb as low beam

 

The SSS and Non-SSS use different wiring harnesses and possibly a different FrontECU. At least this is how older incarnations of the EVOs were.

 

That could very well be the reason... I hope someone here would be able to verify.

I'll take some pics for my under hood fuse box and hopefully someone with SSS could compare with theirs

So far everything else works i.e. high beam, manual leveling, etc

 

Maybe you can use rectifier plus capacitor to get stable DC as input to the relay which swiches +12V from battery to get enough current at input to the discharge balast

 

I took a picture of my fusebox and wiring

Since there aren't any SSS down in Canada for comparison, I would appreciate it if you guys could take a quick look at your wiring to verify whether they are the same as my base GSR

Thanks

 

Here's a picture of the SSS. Not mine, but still helpful.

You can notice the missing relay and the heatsink is replaced with another relay.

I can't make out any of the wire differences, maybe someone else could jump in.

 

As part of my rebuild I switched the conventional headlights to the HIDs. I noticed the DRL flicker and thought I had a bad ground or something. Now I know the problem. What is the fix? Can ETACs be reprogrammed for the HIDs and thus eliminated the flicker?

Added 9/6/15

Lights still flickering except I hadn't noticed it before but the HID high/low beam which is the outside lamp in the cluster is the one that is flickering. The inside lamp, which should be the DRL, is not functioning. This leads me to believe that maybe my wiring harness is wrong in that the DRL power is still going to the low beam. It has been suggested to me to isolate the DRL wire and reroute it to the inside lamp. Sounds difficult.