COROLLA '03 HEADLIGHTS COMES ON WHEN IT IS VERY COLD

I have a 2003 Corolla and the head lights comes on by themselves when it is very cold. I took it to the dealership and they could not identify the problem ! Does anyone know of any TSB from Toyota to fix this problem. I realise that there a few other people with the same problem. I wonder why Toyota is not placing a recall to resolve this problem to avoid people being stranded in cold perhaps in the middle of

nowhere. Thanks for the Cell phone.

Some one told me that the problem may be with the headlight switch, another person told me that it may be with the headlight relay, some other person told me to snip a wire to Day Light Running relay and put a switch to enable or disable DRL probably to resolve this issue . Before I try any one of these, I need some reliable advice from someone

who fixed it or having previous experience of resolving this weird strange situation. Please advice on this matter and it will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

Tech

TSB EL003-03 addresses the issue of headlights coming on when switch is off. HTH

There is a service bulletin regarding this condition, issued 3/13/03. The dealership should know how to search for it.

Out of curiosity, is it only the '03 that is prone to this issue, or has it been reported in the '04 and newer?

I got the original information from the NHTSA web site. I went back and looked for 2004 Corollas and did not see the information.

If you want info on TSB's for a specific year, you can search at

Thanks for the reply. It is much appreciated. Where could one get the TSB EL003-03 ? I did a search on the Internet to know about this TSB but the links were broken !

Do you know of any site from where I retieve this information, besides pay sites.

Thanks very much.

Tech

Could you please tell which one causes this problem. Is it is DRL, Headlight Relay or Headlight stalk switch.

Thank you.

Tech

Both Toyota and the NHTSA sites are pay sites. My recommendation is to ask nicely at your local Toyota dealer is you can have a copy. Don't go first thing in the morning or in the evening when they are busy with customers dropping off or picking up cars - pick a time when they are slow and are more apt to help you out.

If you go back to the same dealership that was unable to diagnose the car when you first brought it in, you can diplomatically ask if the TSB about the condition applies to your car, or pick another dealership.

It costs almost $40.00 to get this information from that site ! Does anyone know what exactly causes this strange weird problem. Will snipping a particular wire of DRL to disable with a switch rectify this problem? I read a lot about a yellow wire switch method but it doesn't necessarily addresses issue whether or not such an approch would resolve the Headlights coming on by iteself when it gets very cold for Corolla 03. Toyato must have placed a recall on it but amazingly enough when I called Toyota Cetral office in CA , they don't have a recall on this weird situation reported by many.

Would you please tell what does it say in the TSB EL003-03 about this condition as people have to pay to get this information for a presumably manufacturing defect.

Thank you for the information. I find that people have to pay $40.00 for this TSB. Why would people have to pay for Toyota manufacturing defects? Could you please tell what causes this weird condition?

Thanks for the suggestion. I already tried it by calling a Toyota dealership and requested nicely for the TSB in question. They told me that there are a lot of customers to lookafter and I need to bring the car to diagnose for a fee of $75.00.They know that customer may fix the problem if the TSB content is revealed. The alrming thing is that this condition is a safty issue as draining the battery by this manufacturing defect could make people stranded.in the deep cold.

I did a lot of reading on the Internet and there are a lot of ways to disable the DRL on Corolla 03. Will this solve this weird problem?

Thank you ,

Tech

1.) 24 hrs of access is actually $10 on techinfo.toyota.com 2.) Last time _I_ had to find the problem documentation, the dealer repaid me. As a self-maintainer, I gladly took a few genuine Toyota filters for my troubles.

Ask the dealership to check while you stand there (in person).

Thank you again for the site:

. I live in a state where the closest Toyota dealership now sells American cars and some are put on a high platforms. It looks kinda funny. They may be concered that more and more American people are buying Japanese cars trading their American problamatic cars for a few bucks or so, more becasue of the high or unstable gasoline prices. The service department is therefore not all that co-operative unless one is prepared to pay a lot of money on Toyota. This is one of the reasons why I did not buy a Toyota Hybrid as one could only fix it at Toyota dealerships and they could come up with funny estimates to fix a simple problem.

It seems that there is a need to have Japanese people to own Toyota dealerships just like many Chinese made computer stores.

My guess would be the plastic being used in the 03 would shrink when cold, closing the circuit, and they changed to a different or heaver plastic at some point.to correct the problem ;)

mike hunt

Are you talking about the stalk switch for the Headlights, or the DRL relay module located under the dash almost above the break pedal, or the Headlight relay. If it is the stalk switch, I could put a woolen sleeve on it till summer during when I could fix this weird problem by myself.

One of the Toyota Master Diagnostic Technicians (MDT) who frequents this group once posted the cause and remedy to this condition but unfortunately, I do not remember what the remedy was. I don't think it is related to the DRL relay or to the multifunction switch on the turn signal stalk. The existence of a technical service bulletin (TSB) does not automatically make a condition a special service campaign (AKA "recall"). Most SSC's are issued to remedy a safety or emissions problem, and while this condition may cause a dead battery, it is not a safety problem under most circumstances. Also, the existence of a TSB does not automatically make a condition covered under any warranty by the manufacturer.

Good luck with the fix!

Well, I am getting the feeling of it, you know what...... I am going to put a sleeve on and gear it to the high beem position to see what happens.

Thanks for all the help. Hey, I found out that new Corollas have a switch for turning the DRL on and off. What a fun, invented by the Japanese. Good night everybody.

That's pretty funny!... :) (you weren't serious I hope)