I'm hoping someone can clue me in here. I haven't been able to find
anything in the manual to point me in the right direction with this.
If I turn the ignition off before I turn the headlights off, when I
turn the headlights off, they blink and then come back on again, so I
have to turn them back on and off again to make them go off. If I
turn them off before I turn off the ignition, things work fine.
Why is this? Is there any way to alter the behaviour?
James C. Reeves - 05 Jan 2005 02:00 GMT
> I'm hoping someone can clue me in here. I haven't been able to find
> anything in the manual to point me in the right direction with this.
[quoted text clipped - 5 lines]
>
> Why is this? Is there any way to alter the behaviour?
It's by design. It's the "delay off" headlight feature.
To turn the headlights off immediately, turn the light switch to "off"
*before* cutting off the engine. IF you want (or need) the delay off
(lights go off in 30 seconds or so), turn the light switch to "off" *after*
cutting off the engine. Turning them back on and then off once they are in
delay mode, cancels the delay mode (the go off immediately)
This provides you the option if, for example, you need light to see the path
to your front door. You can put the headlights in the delay off mode to
give you light to see for enough time to get into the house.
Make sense? I know of no way to change that behavior EXCEPT to remember to
cut the lights before you cut the engine.
Steve - 05 Jan 2005 17:33 GMT
> I'm hoping someone can clue me in here. I haven't been able to find
> anything in the manual to point me in the right direction with this.
[quoted text clipped - 3 lines]
> have to turn them back on and off again to make them go off. If I
> turn them off before I turn off the ignition, things work fine.
Perfectly normal. Turning the ignition off before turning off the
healights puts them in "delay" mode. They stay on about a minute, then
go off. Very handy in a lot of circumstances.
> Is there any way to alter the behaviour?
Yes. Turn the headlights off before turning the ignition off.
Daniel J. Stern - 05 Jan 2005 18:24 GMT
> If I turn the ignition off before I turn the headlights off, when I
> turn the headlights off, they blink and then come back on again
...but how can you tell?
(Yes, that's a tired old joke about the shitty headlights on that car.
Just ignore it.)
Seriously: Turn the headlamps off BEFORE you switch off the ignition. Not
only will it defeat the "helpful" delay-off "feature", it will make your
headlamp bulbs last longer. It's not good for them to start or stop the
engine with the bulbs burning.
DS
James C. Reeves - 06 Jan 2005 02:30 GMT
> Seriously: Turn the headlamps off BEFORE you switch off the ignition. Not
> only will it defeat the "helpful" delay-off "feature", it will make your
> headlamp bulbs last longer. It's not good for them to start or stop the
> engine with the bulbs burning.
>
> DS
Voltage surge issue?
Daniel J. Stern - 06 Jan 2005 03:22 GMT
> > Seriously: Turn the headlamps off BEFORE you switch off the ignition.
> > Not only will it defeat the "helpful" delay-off "feature", it will
> > make your headlamp bulbs last longer. It's not good for them to start
> > or stop the engine with the bulbs burning.
> Voltage surge issue?
Spike/surge, yes.
DS