DRL Problem
DRL Problem So I've been doing a slew of mods over the last six months. Alot of which involved removing wiring of factory emissions, radio, a/c and abs. So I did autotrix front blinker kit and new turn signal sockets at the same time.... Turns out I switched the brown and black wires for my driver side turn signal and shorted out my drl module. So I got a used drl module off of ebay and removed the autotrix kit for troubleshooting purposes. Well my drls still don't work. I've got 4 way flashers and turn signals front and back as well as parking lights. The ebay module looks fine as far as I can tell. I've been reading on here and testing wires. All the fused input feeds for the blue and black connectors are hot when key is in run position. The ground is also good and parking brake switch is working. I don't understand how exactly the module works enough to accurately test it. My gut tells me its the module. But I don't trust buying another used one and I don't want to fork out $250.00 for a new one. Does anyone have any suggestions? I don't want to but it I can't figure it out I'm just going to do away with the drls.
Joined: Nov 2003
Posts: 11,334
Likes: 347
From: Jacksonville, FL (originally from Toronto Canada)
First, check your GAUGES fuse. That is the source of power to the DRL module that actually controls the two relays inside to switch between turn signal and DRL mode. It connects to the DRL module via the pink wire in the blue 8-pin connector. Without that power, the relays will remain in turn signal mode and the DRLs will not work.
You may have encountered a used DRL module that has been modified by the previous owner to eliminate DRLs. This is done by soldering together two traces on the module's circuit board (marked A and B on this photo): DRL Disable. If so, cutting or desoldering the connection should restore your DRLs.
Still, I'm curious how you came to the conclusion that your DRL module was damaged. The black and brown wires at the socket would be ground and parking light power respectively so reversing them would have shorted your parking lights to ground and blown the TAIL LPS fuse. That should not have had any effect on your DRL module.
You may have encountered a used DRL module that has been modified by the previous owner to eliminate DRLs. This is done by soldering together two traces on the module's circuit board (marked A and B on this photo): DRL Disable. If so, cutting or desoldering the connection should restore your DRLs.
Still, I'm curious how you came to the conclusion that your DRL module was damaged. The black and brown wires at the socket would be ground and parking light power respectively so reversing them would have shorted your parking lights to ground and blown the TAIL LPS fuse. That should not have had any effect on your DRL module.
I checked out the pink wire yesterday and it was hot. My gauges fuse also looks fine. I did blow the gauges fuse when I originally wired everything incorrectly. I knew it was the drl module because of the smell and when I took it apart it was obvious. I would attach a pic but can't right now. I'm guessing having the autotrix kit may have attributed to the module being fried. The kit is just a relay thats not wired like a typical relay should be. I will see if the module has the drl bypass but just comparing my old module to the eBay module they both look identical.
Last edited by 2000TransAm24; Feb 24, 2016 at 02:46 AM.
Joined: Nov 2003
Posts: 11,334
Likes: 347
From: Jacksonville, FL (originally from Toronto Canada)
Oh, that's not good. Electronic devices have only a limited amount of smoke in them and once you let it out they don't work anymore. 
Found the solution. The ebay module is junk. yay! Soldered the burnt up wires on my factory module just as a test and it worked. Too bad my fix isn't durable enough to last.
