Daylight driving lights 97 Passat

[Col Sanders]

Is there a way to disconnect the front and back lights from coming on all the time in daylight. I use my vehicle to sit and watch things ( job ) and even at night I need some heat. Headlights on all the time draws a lot of unnecessary attention. I disconnected all them on my other cars. sort of stumped on this one. Thanks, Col.

 

[Kris1987]

looks like a plug under the hood just needs to be unplugged. http://www.myturbodiesel.com/wiki/disable-daytime-running-lights-vw-passat-tdi-jetta/

 

[Abacus]

The headlights, yes, by unplugging the yellow wire on the firewall. The marker lights, no.

On the '97 when the car is running the front marker lights will be on even with the switch off. On the '96 the front and rear marker lights will be on, in addition to the dash lights.

What you need is the headlight switch from a 1995, which has none of the lights on unless you turn them on. I know, what a concept, right?

 

[TDIBill]

I've had e-Code switches for so long I forgot about those little annoyances…

 

[skatanic]

The headlights, yes, by unplugging the yellow wire on the firewall. The marker lights, no.

On the '97 when the car is running the front marker lights will be on even with the switch off. On the '96 the front and rear marker lights will be on, in addition to the dash lights.

What you need is the headlight switch from a 1995, which has none of the lights on unless you turn them on. I know, what a concept, right?

Hmm, my 95 has lights on no matter where the switch is set.

I'm guessing this is because it is a Canadian model.

 

[Abacus]

Which lights? All models had the daytime running headlights which can be turned off by unplugging the wire connector. The marker and dash lights were dependent on model year, but it's possible your '95 could be an early '96. VW was funny that way with the muddling of years.

 

[compu_85]

DRLs were required in Canada IIRC for the 1991 model year so a 95 Canadian Passat has them while a 95 USA one does not.

-J

 

[Steve Addy]

DRLs were required in Canada IIRC for the 1991 model year so a 95 Canadian Passat has them while a 95 USA one does not.

-J

The whole concept of DRL's bothers me when it's forced on people.

On the Mk3 there's a yellow resistance wire that runs down along the driver seat under the plastic cover that is supposed to reduce the headlights to DRL level. The last time I was in there I noticed the yellow wire was melted and wiring exposed, that's the last time I had functioning DRL's, the wiring came out and disconnected behind the dash.

 

[Col Sanders]

Well now, as our friends north of the border would say " how aboot that ". I unplugged the yellow wire and all the daytime lights are off, headlights, marker and parking lights. Hooray ! They now work as normal lights should. No need to replace switch. Thanks to all, Col.