Is there any permanent way to control or turn off the automatic headlight
feature on the 2002. I am aware of the 4 push dome light trick and parking
brake solutions...... but they are only temporary means to turn off the headlights.

Is there an after market wiring kit to make my headlights an (off or on) only
option. I am not looking for upgrading the bulbs...... I just would like the
headlights to work like my old Nomad. Edited by: 56Nomad

I'm sure it can be done. Perhaps by disconnecting the photo sensor from the BCM. I will look into the for you. Personally I love the automatic headlights. http://www.dieselplace.com/forum/smileys/Embarrased.gif

Below is a procedure I wrote up when I had a '02 truck that I wanted to have control over the headlights and disabled the auto feature. Also used this for my '99 1/2 ton.





FOR '99-'02 TRUCKS ONLY w/o AUTO CLIMATE CONTROLS


Basically you will need a pair of wire cutters and a 1.5K ohm 1/2 watt resistor that you can get at Radio Shack. Electrical tape and possibly some wire nuts will work to wire in the resistor. You can solder the wires if you wish.

You may want to remove the neg. battery cable to assure you don't do any unwanted damage to the electrical system. This is not necessary, but a good precaution to take.

First locate the Body Control Module (BCM) which is under the dash, below the steering column. Laying on the floor, this should be visible without removing any dash panels. You should find a purple connector (C3). Unplug it.

Locate the white and gray wires (A4 and A6). I don't remember if white is A4 and gray is A6 or vice versa. It doesn't matter anyway.

Clip these two wires that are coming off this plug (C3). Leave a few inches to work with. Tape up or place wire nuts over the other end of these wires that go up under the dash(they go to the light sensor). You have now removed the light sensor from the electrical system and is now just a dash ornament.

Connect the gray wire from the plug (C3) to one end of the resistor and the white wire to the other end. Make sure you tape up all wires to prevent a short. You should now have a gray wire coming from C3, going to one lead of the resistor and the white wire from C3 to the other resistor lead. Plug in C3 to the BCM and replace the neg. battery cable if you removed it. Start the truck and make sure the lights are off. Throw a dark towel or something over the light sensor on the dash and verify the lights stay off. Try your light switch that has probably never been used and that's it!

Minn-Kota,

Thanks....... your procedure should be memorialized in this
forum. Both my brother and I will be doing it to our trucks and
report back. I already have raped and pillaged my BCM when
I opened it up and used an ice pick on the door dinger. See:
http://community.webshots.com/album/152656621rXWWRFEdited by: 56Nomad

No problem. I absolutely cannot stand the auto headlights. They don't work very well in my opinion during those low light times of the day or just in low light areas of town (behind tall buildings or tree) where headlights are really not needed. You get funny looks from people when your headlights flip on and off at 2 in the afternoon....


I haven't made the modification to my '03 yet, but at least it has an "auto" selection that is somewhat better than the previous years. If it weren't spring-loaded it'd be even better. Someone figured out the correct way to do it on the '03 with auto climate controls a while back (different than the '99-'02 procedure I posted above) but I haven't had an opportunity to try it yet.

I guess that is one thing that for did right. They have 4 settings on the switch. Auto, Off, Park, HL on. This fits everyones tastes. Too bad GM didn't do the same. There switch is set up for it, they just need to remote the spring and change some BCM settings.