I bought a 01 Tracker 4X4 the other day. Decent shape runs good, needs a little of this & a little that etc etc. Anyhow,, about 2 am its raining pretty good & I'm looking out my kitchen window up to the drive way and I see car lights shining. Thinking its someone who shouldnt be there at the time, I go up there to have a "look see" and see its my new Tracker headlights on. What the heck. So I get in the car to make sure they're turned off and they are so I start the engine and try to make them go off. Nothing....still on. So I turn it off, set the parking brake and start it.....still on. Finally I just unhooked the battery and went to bed. Why would & how do they do that? I need help. Thanks.

 

Very curious. The vehicle must have *something* running power to the HL's

Do the headlights act as DRL's too, as my 98' K-1500 does, or are they independent DRL's?

 

Im not sure of the independent of the DRL's. My 02 Tracker when you start it headlights come on, turn the car off, the headlights go off. The only way for the headlights to be off when the car is running is to set the emergency brake when the car is off, then start it. As soon as you release the emergency brake the headlights come on. Thats why I was doing what I was doing to try and make the "new 01" Tracker lights go off. They were off all day & later that night when the rain was really coming down the headlights came on by their selves.

 

On a 2001 Tracker battery voltage (+12VDC) is supplied to pin 3 of the headlights at all times. Suppling a ground to pin 1 will illuminate the low beams and a ground to pin 2 will illuminate the high beams. There are three ways to supply that ground:
1. Through the headlamp switch
2. Through the Ambient Light Sensor
3. Through the DRL control module
If you pull the Headlamp Relay and the low beams stay on the problem is the DRL control module.
If pulling the 15 amp defroster fuse on the Junction Block kills the lights the Ambient Light Sensor is the problem. But if the ALS pins 4 and 6 are shorted internally removing power may have no effect. In that case you would have to unplug the ALS to see if it is the culprit.

Watch this YouTube video to see how the Ambient Light Sensor is disconnected.

 

Thanks L84sky, I'll have to try that.

 

A ground supplied at S238 by either of the two headlight controls shown below will turn the headlights on. Removing the headlight relay will eliminate either possibility. There is a third control from the DRL module that does not go through the headlight relay. I'll post that schematic if the pulled headlight relay does not kill the headlights. Locating and removing the headlight relay is going to be a challenge. The service manual says "pull it out" but it is tight. Relay pliers may required.


I found this on a TSB search for my 2001 tracker: "Some vehicles may exhibit water entry into the main junction box causing internal corrosion and possibly a crossover situation to power other circuits." It may just be coincidence but the Headlamp relay is located on the Junction Bock. Also I misspoke earlier. Pin 1 of the DRL module show in the schematic above is an input, not an output. It does not control the Headlamp relay, it only monitors it. Pin 6 of the DRL is the output that supplies ground to the low beams (in daylight) even if the Headlamp relay is de-energized. Sorry for the confusion.