Fog Lights as Daylight Running Lights (DRL) mod

[NoMoShocks]

Many of you have experessed concern over the outcome of Lightning's pending surgery. I am happy to say that the surgery was completed today with good results and Lightning has recovered completely back to his loveable self. He wanted me to thank all who sent flowers and cards of well wishes.

Even though Lightning came though the surgery fine, this is not to say that it wasn't touch and go at a few times. There weren't some scary moments when we thought we might loose him and he would have gone to meet the great Toyota Service Center in the sky with a voided warrantee, but thankfully, Dr. Larry was able to bring him back.

Dr. Larry elected to use the Tripple Bypass procedure that will allow the Fog Lights to operate automatically as Daylight Running Lights each time the Ignition is turned on, no matter wat the status of the Headlights are.
Fog Light Mod.pdf
I realize this procedure has not been approved by the US Department of Transportation, but Dr. Larry says that it is the safety of Lightning and his passengers that is most important.

The surgery began at 4 PM this afternoon with the first and easiest bypass under the hood. Dr. Larry skillfully removed the Relay Box just behind the Air Cleaner.

Then he released the six or so clips that hold the lower cover under this Relay Box.

Dr. Larry cut the Dark Green wire from the Fog Light Relay coil and spliced the end from the coil into the Purple Wire from the PTC HTR 2 Relay Coil. He then closed up under the hood.

Bypass 2 was slightly more involved. Dr. Larry removed the cover under the dash and steering column to access the connector to the Light Control Stalk on the column.

The service loop to the Light Control connector was a little tight, so Dr. Larry pulled it through to the right side of the column to provide for some more working room.

Dr. Larry cut the Orange wire ground to the Fog Light switch and spliced the end going to the Light Control Stock connector to the Dark Green ground wire for the Low/High Beam switch.

Bypass 3 was the most complicated step and where Dr. Larry ran into some unexpected complications. First he removed the three nuts securing the metal plate in front of the Heart (ECU/Fuse Block).

He removed the MFD Relay socket and five left most connectors from the front of the Heart and anchored them out of the way. He then removed the three bolts holding the Heart in place so he could pull it down and gain access to three connectors in the back.

Dr. Larry removed the left most connector from the back so he could cut the Light Blue and Yellow/Black wires from positions 13 and 17 and splice these wires from the harness end together. Then Dr. Larry began to close. Once he reconnected all the connectors and tried to restart Lightning's Heart, this is when things got scary. The Fog Lights would not come on at all and all of Lightning's idiot lights stayed on as if to say "Dr. Larry, You are an idiot!"

Suddenly, Dr. Larry yelled "Get me the PriusChat Forums STAT!" He ran inside to the computer center and brought up the threads where his coleages who had previously performed this procedure had recorded notes of their experiences. Fortunately with this resource, Dr. Larry was imediately able to diagnose the problem. He had cut the wrong Yellow wire. He was able to go back in and repair the mistakingly cut Yellow wire and splice the other Yellow/Black wire to the Light Blue wire.
Here is a picture of the spliced Light Blue wire to the wrong Yellow wire.

Here the wrong yellow wire is repaired and Dr. Larry was ready to splice the Yellow/Black wire to the Light Blue wire.

Dr. Larry began to close again and had another tense moment again when he tried to restart Lightning's heart and the MFD was blacked out. But quickly, Dr. Larry remembered that he had disconnected Lightning's MFD Relay and was able to put that back in time.

Lightning fully recovered almost imediately with Fog Lights that came on any time the ignition is on and the Fog Lights switch is on, irregardless of the Headlight being on or off or the Low/High Beam switch position. Dr. Larry was able to button up his dashboard and reset his clock and radio presets.

Now Lightning is feeling great and looking forward to his morning commute tomorrow sporting his new DRL Fog Lights.

And Dr. Larry has his confidence back, ready to tackle Lightning's next surgery that is scheduled a couple of weeks out while they are waiting for the surgical implant Strut Tower Brace to come from the medical lab of BT Tech. Maybe the EV Mod too.

Of course, it really isn't over yet. There is always a small chance of Spontanious Prius Combustion while I am sleeping tonight.

[Bill Merchant]

Congratulations, Dr. Larry!

[cairo94507]

Excellent write up. Thank you for your bravery, commitment to excellence and humor.

[Whiteyprius]

My heart is racing after having read about Lightning's surgery- You are truly a brave soul - This adds credence to a thought that I had just this morning - Does priuschat need a Chaplain? I may just feel so inspired to step up to that role unless we already have one. Any thoughts?

[SparrowHawk60]

Originally Posted by cairo94507

Excellent write up. Thank you for your bravery, commitment to excellence and humor.

Ditto!