2005 Tacoma Fog Lights on with high beams - (rev 1)

[sbessel]

2005 Tacoma Fog-lights on with High beams modification.

This is a quick 10 minute fix that will allow the factory fog light circuit to remain on when your high beams are on. Your dash fog lamp switch will still work. This will also allow the low beam circuit to remain on when your high beams are on giving even more light.

This was tested only on my '05 Tacoma X-Runner, but should work perfectly on all other '05 Tacoma's.

Tools/supplies needed:

• ~3" of bare solid copper wire, I used a piece from some Cat5 cable I had. This needs to be smaller gauge, 22-24, or the relay may not go back properly.
• Slotted screwdriver. to remove the relay from the fuse box. You may not need this if you have a strong finger/thumb grip.
• wire cutters. to trim the excess wire.
• needle nose pliers. to 'crimp' the wire over the pins.

Steps:

1. Open the hood and locate the fuse box.
2. Open the fuse box and locate the DIM relay (see picture 1)
3. Remove the DIM relay, you may need to pry it out with the screwdriver. Just be *very* careful you do not touch any pins or metal with the screwdriver.
4. using the copper wire jumper/short across pins 1 & 2 as listed.
   These pins are not labeled, but for this I will label them pin 1 and 2. See diagram 1 and picture 2
5. Make sure the copper wire is securely fastened and will not come loose, trim any excess so it will not short out another pin when installed, or rattle loose.
6. Put the relay back into the socket
7. close the cover and hood and you are complete

Diagram 1

      |   <-- Pin 1

|    ---     |
       ^\ Pin 2
     ---
DIM Relay, pins facing you.

Picture 1:


Picture 2:



Issues/concerns:
This will lock on the low beam and fog light circuits. This means that with high beams on you will have an extra 180w draw on your high beam circuit. This could cause problems in the future, especially if you drive with your high beams on for long periods of time.
The headlights use a dual filament bulb, one for the low beam and the other for the high beams, this mod will leave the low beam circuit on with the high beams. This could cause overheating in your headlight assembly, or overheating of your headlight wiring. I suggest you do not use this for extended periods, especially if you are not moving.
If you are running higher wattage aftermarket fog lamp bulbs or headlight bulbs I suggest that you do *not* do this mod as this would overload your headlamp circuit and possibly burn up the harness or your headlamps themselves.

Benefits:
Obviously the fog lights remain on with the high beams.
The low beam circuit also remains on during high beams, giving more light.

On a side note:
I have done this mod on numerous vehicles without any ill side effects. I only have 400 miles on my truck so I cannot tell you the long term effects, but from what I have seen from Toyota engineering this should not be an issue.

Disclaimer:
Neither I, Tundrasolutions.com, mother nature, Toyota, or anyone else will be responsible if you completely blow up your truck. Please be extremely careful as you are working with your trucks electrical system. There could be expensive side effects if you do this incorrectly. Due to the fact that I do not have a 2005 wiring diagram I cannot be sure of the wire gauge for this circuit and thus cannot tell it's current handling capacity. I have only tested this on my 2005 Toyota Tacoma X-Runner, I can only assume that the other models of this year are the same. If you do not feel comfortable doing this, I suggest you don't try. I am pretty sure this will void your warranty so if you melt something I suggest that you remove your copper wire *before* returning to the dealer.