Headlights turn on by themselves when car is off

[Anthony]

Hey everyone,

After I turn my car off, the headlights turn on by themselves. I've run out of my office three times already to turn them off. Within a few minutes, they come back on. I actually need to turn the car on and then off to turn the lights off (just twisting the headlight control from off to on to off does not work). I just had my windshield replaced today and the windshield place said that they didn't touch anything with the headlights. Now I know that the sensor is right there on the dash and could they have done something to it to cause this problem. If not, what would be causing this problem?

Thanks,

Anthony
2002 SLE

[dominoSLEV6]

YEah, I'd say if you didn't have the problem before, and you do now, it was definitely the windshield place. The sensor for nighttime sentinel lights and the DRL gray plug thing are both over there by the firewall just inches from the winshield each. They may have inadvertantly done something. If the problem never happened before, and happens immediately after you had someone working in the area aurrounding the relays etc. then I'd say it's their fault. Go to Toyota and have them see what's up and fix it. If they say it could have been caused by the windshield replacement, then present that to the windshield guys and have them pay for it.

I've heard of so many cars coming out of shops with one problem fixed but other things broken due to carelessness these days. It's really a shame.

-chris

[WTF??]

when you say you "turned off the car" meaning with the key out of the car right???
its possible that the wiring for your headlights are being grounded somewhere... its a biiiiitchhh to find

I've heard of so many cars coming out of shops with one problem fixed but other things broken due

its a way for the shop to milk more money out of you

[SpikedMantis]

Sounds like your car's possessed. If you do a search, I kind of remember another member having the same problem.

[Anthony]

Quick update:

I took the car into a Toyota dealership (on a Friday afternoon 1 hour before quitting time!!!). I couldn't believe how nice everyone was, especially just before quitting time. I had about 3-4 mechanics circled around my car for about an hour and they couldn't figure out the problem. They told me to come back in on Monday so that they could spend some more time to investigate things further. One mechanic suggested that I just pull out the main fuse for the headlights until Monday so that the battery doesn't burn out (big square red fuse in the fusebox under the hood by the driver's side quarter panel). He pulled it out and showed it to me. I then put it back in and left the dealership figuring that I would pull it out once I got home. Since then, the problem has not returned. Maybe something reset itself when the fuse was put back in???? Either way, I'm happy that the lights work properly (for now). I still think that the windshield replacement had something to do with this.

Anthony
2002 SLE V6