Diesel Place banner

Turning headlights off

4K views 38 replies 18 participants last post by  Minn-Kota 
#1 ·
How do you go about turning the headlights off. They come on automatically, and you can't shut 'em off. Would like to be able to shut the headlights off while I run into a store to grab something and leave the truck idling. Was told to set the parking brake to shut them off, but it doesn't work. Would like for the parking lights to stay on, though.
 
#2 ·
Stringer I think if you have the lights turned off and the e-brake on then you just need to push the dome light override button 3-4 times in a row and it will turn the lights off. It's in the owner's manual somewhere.


Josh
 
#4 ·
Wickedsprint said:
Guess 02s don't have the snazzy headlight override, I can turn mine off by rotating the swicth to off..lol
That's just great
Turn off your lights at night.

I agree though, they did do the right thing by adding that position. i don't think i would ever use it.
The auto lights (all of our trucks have them) are great. It's like you never have to worry about headlights anymore.
 
#6 ·
Stringer, can you not move the switch one more notch to the left past off ? It should be spring loaded and return to the off position, after turning the headlamps off.
 
#7 ·
to clear things up


on 01-02 you can cycle the dome override twice off-on-off-on. and your headlights are off. same to turn back on or turining the truck off and on again resets it to auto


on 03-up turn the switch to the left. it will spring back to off and your headlights will go off. Again the same, turns it back on, as well as cycleing the ignition.


FYI in 03 the headlamp switch was changed. Edited by: chevmeister
 
#8 ·
Being able to turn off the headlights is great in a couple of situations. First on a cold start up I turn off the lights to let every bit of juice go to warm up and crank that engine. And second with my last truck I could not turn off the headlights and I found myself on top of the Beartooth mountains in pea soup fog in the dark and with the headlights bouncing all that light around I could not see a thing. Makes it a bit scary knowing there is a thousand foot drop off somewhere near. I had to get out and put a blanket behind my brush gaurd to block out the light. The parking lights were just enough light to see the yellow line and the outer white line to safely get down the mountain. Now I can just "turn the switch".


Steve
 
#9 ·
bigsky1 said:
Being able to turn off the headlights is great in a couple of situations. First on a cold start up I turn off the lights to let every bit of juice go to warm up and crank that engine. And second with my last truck I could not turn off the headlights and I found myself on top of the Beartooth mountains in pea soup fog in the dark and with the headlights bouncing all that light around I could not see a thing. Makes it a bit scary knowing there is a thousand foot drop off somewhere near. I had to get out and put a blanket behind my brush gaurd to block out the light. The parking lights were just enough light to see the yellow line and the outer white line to safely get down the mountain. Now I can just "turn the switch".


Steve
Oh but you could have turned your lights off. Like was said earlier... turn the dome light on and off an th eheadlights go out or push the e-brake to the first notch.
 
#10 ·
bigsky1 said:
Being able to turn off the headlights is great in a couple of situations. First on a cold start up I turn off the lights to let every bit of juice go to warm up and crank that engine. Steve

I think having the lights on will warm up the engine sooner since there's more load on the alternator = more load on engine = quicker warmup.
 
#11 ·
I think having the lights on will warm up the engine sooner since there's more load on the alternator = more load on engine = quicker warmup.



[/QUOTE]


Once it's running, yes, but you must first get it running.
 
#13 ·
My last truck was a S10 highrider and short of a hammer you couldn't turn them off and the parking brake only worked if you started it with the parking brake on. So I guess I could of restarted and left the brake on a bit but in light of the 1000ft drop and the pucker factor the hammer was sounding pretty good. But no problem any more



Love my truck!


Steve
 
#15 ·
More info on the e-brake and lights off for the 01 and possibly other models. I ran into this problem when I first bought my truck because my truck faces my neighbors house when I start it up at night before I go to work. I like being kind to my neighbors and I hated to wake them up at midnight every night. I didn't know about the dome light part at that time but I found out that if you set the e-brake before you turn on the ignition the lights will not come on, until you release the e-brake.
 
#18 ·
Here's a bit of information that maybe only a few are aware of........ CAnadian GM built trucks can NOT turn head lights off! I went around the post with this one and US GM. It seems that the only Canadian vehicles that are allowed to have lights off after dark is their Mounties. I had a US made 02 1500 which had the dome override feature and traded it in on an 02 2500. Little did I know at the time that it had an oak leaf on the data plate on the door.


As a military man, I needed to dim my head lights when approaching the guard coming on post. The lights would NOT go off! No one could believe that there was no way to turn them off. Anything out of the ordinary causes suspicion and can quickly escalate to a vehicle search. GM Can. would not give GM US the code to by pass the computer. They said the vehicle MIGHT find it's way back in country. I was talking and writing way up the GM feeding chain as an unhappy customer. No avail. I finally installed a toggle switch that would turn the lights down to parking lights when coming into the guard shack.


I have since found many other Canadian vehicle with the same problem Kookie as it seems, Canada would not budge.





Have a great day
 
#19 ·
If you don't want the auto feature at all, I can give you the directions to permanently disable it. Then you will have to use the light selector switch like normal.


I disabled the auto headlights on my '99 and '02. They were a pain in the rear. At least the '03s give you the option. I know when they need to be turned on, thank you. Don't need some hyperactive light sensor that doesn't work in the real world to turn them on for me.Edited by: Minn-Kota
 
#20 ·
I must agree with a few others. My headlights will not go out after dark. I have an '03 with the off selection but it does not turn off the lights. I have tried setting the park brake and holding the off selection and starting the truck. Still the lights come on after dark. My neighbours I am sure do not appreciate my lights shining in their windows when I am warming up my truck. There has to be a way of turning them off. I am seriously considering putting in a toggle switch with the fuse.
 
#21 ·
It must be a Canadian thing with the '03s as I've heard of others that complained they could not override the auto headlights. I'm glad they added the auto switch for the American '03s. What a pain and rude too!
 
#23 ·
I heard one time a while ago that you could also tell if a vehicle was US or Canadian by the first digit of the VIN. If it has a 1 it was made in US, and a 2 was canadian. Has anyone else heard that?
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top