Headlight concerns...

[Kell]

Hi all - first post here.

My daughter's just got her first car - a 59 plate Polo.

Looks fairly good all round - especially now I've spent some time with a porter cable to get rid of the worst of the scratches and swirls.

Before buying, we paid for an RAC check, so everything should be all OK.

However...

When the headlight switch is in the '0' position, all the lights come on. Turn it to the middle position and it's just the side lights, then go round one more position and it looks to be the same as in the '0' position.

I'm pretty sure this isn't correct. I did wonder if they were auto lights, but they come on during the day too.

The car's an SE, so I'm not even sure auto was an option.

Any advice would be gratefully received.

[Kell]

Some pics of the car after 6 hours cleaning.

[RUM4MO]

Hi, welcome to the forum!

I'm sure that someone with a "same age" Polo will respond soon, but I think that this is down to VW Group adding a half baked version of DRL to their cars before rolling out the full blown version much later.

[Kell]

Thanks for the reply.

I know the seller spoke about DRLs, but I'd assumed they'd just be some sort of sidelight rather than full-on headlights.

Just want to check that it's OK and not going to continue to drain the battery.

[SRGTD]

@Kell; your six hours effort haven’t been in vain - car looks great! .

As for the lights; it’s probably as @RUM4MO has said. Are the rear lights illuminated when the dipped beam headlamps are on and the light switch is in the ‘0’ position or just the dipped beam headlamps?

I can remember the early mk6 Golfs with the optional xenon headlamps used dipped beams as the DRL’s and those cars would’ve been a similar age to your daughter’s Polo. Alternatively, there’s always a chance that a previous owner may have modified the standard factory light settings by making some coding changes.

Do you happen to have an owners manual for the car? If so, it might be worth checking out the content relating to the car’s lights.

[wolfie]

Hi, welcome to the forum!

I'm sure that someone with a "same age" Polo will respond soon, but I think that this is down to VW Group adding a half baked version of DRL to their cars before rolling out the full blown version much later.

Yup. Mines a 2011 and that's how they work. No idea what Vdub were thinking at the time. I can remember asking the same question. I think there is a mechanical hack for it which I seem to remember involves either bending or removing one of the terminals on the rear of the light switch to effectively kill the power to the DRL/Headlamp.

Seems an odd way to do it, it but you do get used to it, and I've never had any battery issues related to the light's being on 24/7. I don't know whether VDub where caught out by the new legislation and that was their quick fix for what was then their new model Polo?

[amer6R]

You can disable the DR ( isolationg the TFL pin on the light switch) . I did it to mine so when I leave ignition On so i doesnt drain the battery, and I think i helps in winter months when starting the car.

[Kell]

@Kell; your six hours effort haven’t been in vain - car looks great! .

As for the lights; it’s probably as @RUM4MO has said. Are the rear lights illuminated when the dipped beam headlamps are on and the light switch is in the ‘0’ position or just the dipped beam headlamps?

Do you happen to have an owners manual for the car? If so, it might be worth checking out the content relating to the car’s lights.

That’s a thing to check - the rears. I’ll do that when I get in.

I did flick through the manual, but weirdly it showed two or three different headlight switches and none of them looked like the one fitted to this car.

Certainly, there’s no warning buzzer when you exit the car, so maybe it’s correct.

Thanks for the tips so far.

[Kell]

Hi, welcome to the forum!

I'm sure that someone with a "same age" Polo will respond soon, but I think that this is down to VW Group adding a half baked version of DRL to their cars before rolling out the full blown version much later.

Yup. Mines a 2011 and that's how they work. No idea what Vdub were thinking at the time. I can remember asking the same question. I think there is a mechanical hack for it which I seem to remember involves either bending or removing one of the terminals on the rear of the light switch to effectively kill the power to the DRL/Headlamp.

Seems an odd way to do it, it but you do get used to it, and I've never had any battery issues related to the light's being on 24/7. I don't know whether VDub where caught out by the new legislation and that was their quick fix for what was then their new model Polo?

I seem to remember it came in around 2009, so maybe they just didn’t engineer it in for the earliest cars.

I know our previous car didn’t have them on a 58 plate, but the 09 version of our car did.

[Kell]

Well I had a look at the rears tonight and in all three positions they’re on.

They don’t change in brightness in any position.

[RUM4MO]

I think that that car is too old to "need to have" DLRs fitted - by UK laws covering construction etc of cars, which means disabling it would be acceptable as far as the law is concerned.

Maybe look into disabling that feature and buy aftermarket LED DRLs made for this model of Polo, they might exist I do not know, and wire them to that supply point.

I started looking into doing that on my older daughter's late 2009 SEAT Ibiza, really as an additional safety feature, but never ended up adding that, there is some safety benefit to having DRL function on a car - that Ibiza did not have any DRLs fitted to it when new.

Edit:- for example https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/382283638403 ... EB46408885&

[wolfie]

Well I had a look at the rears tonight and in all three positions they’re on.

They don’t change in brightness in any position.

Yeah that's correct, rears are always on regardless of what position the switch is in.

Switch actually changes brightness depending on what is selected.
When switch is in "0" switch illuminates brightly
Moved to sidelights/parking lights it still illuminates but only about 50% brightness.

It irritated me when I first had the car but I just got used to it. Never had any issues with starting the car with the headlamps on, not through a British winter anyway. I can remember when the first Volvo's rocked up with their lights on all the time and everyone was was "That will never catch on"

[RUM4MO]

Yes "EXCUSE ME, DO YOU KNOW THAT YOU HAVE YOUR LIGHTS ON", that must have been a bit boring/annoying - then the next "half baked idea, ie "dim dip"!

I seem to remember that maybe it was Gunsons that marketed a system that allowed you to have extra bright rear lights in daytime, that sounded like a good idea, sort of.

[wolfie]

Yes "EXCUSE ME, DO YOU KNOW THAT YOU HAVE YOUR LIGHTS ON", that must have been a bit boring/annoying - then the next "half baked idea, ie "dim dip"!

I seem to remember that maybe it was Gunsons that marketed a system that allowed you to have extra bright rear lights in daytime, that sounded like a good idea, sort of.

Ha ha, I vaguely the Gunson lights. Was it also them who marketed the stick-on high-level brake light?

I have to fess up to on at least one occasion telling folk they have a fog lamp out when it was actually one of those new fangled cornering lights...

[RUM4MO]

Ha ha, I vaguely the Gunson lights. Was it also them who marketed the stick-on high-level brake light?

I have to fess up to on at least one occasion telling folk they have a fog lamp out when it was actually one of those new fangled cornering lights...

I've forgotten who marketed a stick on high level brake light, but I bought one and fitted it to my 1991 VX Cav GSI 16V 2000 4X4 in 1992, made a bracket out of a stainless steel Jubilee clip so that it could be mounted at the height that meant it had a strip of the heated rear window through it, and, I ran an extra feed to it from before the brake lights were monitored for bulb failure purposes, and located the fuse under the clip -off cover for the ABS controller that was maybe mounted under the driver's side sill trim cover, sort of a proper job in my eyes.

The first day that my older daughter visited us to show us her brand new late 2009 SEAT Ibiza, I was sort of confused when she selected reverse and initially both front fog lights came on - but I quickly sussed that out luckily.