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I Found Another "feature" Of The Av  

nh_mark

nh_mark

SM 2003
Full Member
Joined
Jul 13, 2002
Messages
1,248
Location
Nashua, NH
:rolleyes:

Last night I was doing something in my Av and I put the emergency brake on. This morning when I went out and started it I had no headlights. It was dark so they should have been on. I manually turned them on and they went on. I'm starting to think "great, something is wrong". I turn them off and they go out. Then I notice the big red flashing light on my dash that reads "Brake" :rolleyes: I release the emergency brake and my lights go on.

-Mark
 
I noticed that too when I installed my radio, I acidently left the brake on. I thought I messed up the light sensor under the dash or something so I pulled the entire install back out and spent 2 hrs trouble shooting everything. Turns out it was the brake. LOL

Another neat feature is when you accidentaly leave your blinker on and drive with it on. You will hear a chime to warn you it is on. The first time I heard that I freaked out. I wondered what the heck was going to blow up on my AV!!!

 
;D

Mark-

I had the same thing happen to me, so you are not alone. I had my parking brake on one day, and when I came out to leave (at night) I started up the beast and thought "oh great...the lights won't go on". I just happened to take off the brake and...VOLA! the lights went on. This is actually a good feature if you are sitting some place with the truck running, just put the brake on to turn off the lights.

BTW how are we coming along with the 28th? I can't wait :)Hopefully it will be a BIG showing. If not we will just have to make our presence known on the Kangamangus...

AHOY.....
 
I noticed that as well after I installed my DRLs. As anyone else would, I wanted to see how cool this DRL upgrade looks. Park, no DRLs. Put her in gear and hit the emergency brake, no DRLs. Dammit I say! I eneded up putting it in gear and chocking the tires. DRLs on! Emergency brake/park seem to have the same function regarding the lights.

Jamie
 
Wiki said:
I noticed that too when I installed my radio, I acidently left the brake on. ?I thought I messed up the light sensor under the dash or something so I pulled the entire install back out and spent 2 hrs trouble shooting everything. ?Turns out it was the brake. ?LOL

Another neat feature is when you accidentaly leave your blinker on and drive with it on. ?You will hear a chime to warn you it is on. ?The first time I heard that I freaked out. ?I wondered what the heck was going to blow up on my AV!!!
Click to expand...

I heard about the blinker feature, I have not yet run into it but I probably will :rolleyes:

That stinks that you had to rip apart the dash again. I know I would have done the same thing.

-Mark

 
Here's another one that you may or may not be aware of. If you turn the dome override on and off twice (quickly) that will also turn the lights off. To turn them back on - do it again.
 
I had found all of these, and was very happy. My old '99 Blazer had the automatic lights, and there was only one way to turn them off: turn on the ignition with the parking brake on. Do that, and the auto lights are off. Release the brake and they come on. After that, there was no way to turn them off without turning off the ignition again. Even if you later hit the parking brake, they would stay on!

That was really annoying. :8:

As for the DRLs, the only way to turn them off on the Blazer was to turn on the headlights! I like the fact that the DRLs on the Av don't come on until you put it in gear. I also like that there are two different ways to turn off the auto headlights.

There is just no comaparison between my old Blazer and this Av. Man, I love this truck! :love:

-- SS
 
What I like a lot is driving with the fogs AND DRLs on. If you install the R&D fog controller, you can set it up so the fogs come on with the parking/marker lights or regular lights. I obviously set it up to come on with the parking/marker lights. Since there is still sunlight, setting the light switch to parking/marker will turn on the parking/marker lights, fog lights and since the headlights are still off, the DRLs also will be on.

Jamie
 
jamie said:
I noticed that as well after I installed my DRLs. As anyone else would, I wanted to see how cool this DRL upgrade looks. Park, no DRLs. Put her in gear and hit the emergency brake, no DRLs. Dammit I say! I eneded up putting it in gear and chocking the tires. DRLs on! Emergency brake/park seem to have the same function regarding the lights.

Jamie
Click to expand...


Thats exactly what I was trying to do. ;D I did the DRL mod last weekend and I was trying to get a picture of it. I was home alone. :rolleyes:

-Mark
 
jamie said:
What I like a lot is driving with the fogs AND DRLs on. If you install the R&D fog controller, you can set it up so the fogs come on with the parking/marker lights or regular lights. I obviously set it up to come on with the parking/marker lights. Since there is still sunlight, setting the light switch to parking/marker will turn on the parking/marker lights, fog lights and since the headlights are still off, the DRLs also will be on.

Jamie
Click to expand...

Jamie,

I have been thinking of getting the R&D controller, can you tell me a little about it?

You can have it so that when your headlights go on your fog lights automatically go on too right?

I was not aware that you can also have your DRL's come on too. So you can have everything (headlights, fog lights, and DRL's) on at the same time AND come on automatically?

How hard is it to install this?

Does it void warrany?

Thanks,
-Mark
 
This is not specific to automatic lights. The same thing happens with my '95 S-10 (manual lights) and I suspect that it happens with all GM's (and maybe all vehicles with drl's). Can anyone think of a good reason why? My guess is that it was a way to allow the driver to turn off the drl's while not moving without offering a switch (since most people would probably leave them off). I still get flashed during the day by oncoming vehicles trying to be "helpful" (or trying to tell me I'm an idiot for driving in the daytime with my lights on). :rolleyes:
 
To test DRL's
park on flat level surface/ block wheel if nessasary
turn key on
put vehicle in neutral/ no parking brake
enjoy the pretty colors!!!!
 
The controller costs about $15, shipped. Takes about 15 minutes to install. Very easy. Hardest part is removing the dash bezel. I used leftover tape from the hood deflector tape fix to mount it behind the dash. It is a little bigger than a deck of cards. Basically, the instructions are VERY thorough and tell you which wires from the plugs on the BCM (body control module). It's all color-coded so it's easy to find exactly what you need.

If you use the auto lights, the fogs will automatically come on with the lights. Basically, the controller "pushes" the fog light button for you. If you have the lights in the parking/marker mode, the fogs and parking/marker lights will come on. Assuming it is light enough, the DRLs will also come on if truck in gear. Of course as soon as it gets dark enough, the DRLs go out and the lights come on. Fogs will still be on.

Not sure if this mod voids the warranty or not. I can't see why. All you are doing is splicing this inline on one of the BCM wires. They also have a controller to turn on all 4 lights, but as has been discussed this can be done much easier for almost free.

Jamie
 
You can have it so that when your headlights go on your fog lights automatically go on too right?
I was not aware that you can also have your DRL's come on too. So you can have everything (headlights, fog lights, and DRL's) on at the same time AND come on automatically?
Click to expand...
Mark,
The controller just makes it so that you dont have to push the fog light button. They automatically come on when the headlights do, or when you flip to parking lamps. To get all the lights on at once, I believe you will need to do Xrover's "all on at once" wiring mod.
 
Capecruis8der said:
To test DRL's
park on flat level surface/ block wheel if nessasary
turn key on
put vehicle in neutral/ no parking brake
enjoy the pretty colors!!!!
Click to expand...


I did this but I had the parking brake on...now I know thats why it didn't work. ?:rolleyes: ?Oh well, I'll try again tonight without the brake.

Thanks for the info on the R&D controller guys.

-Mark
 
I know that alot of police departments didn't like the fact thet you couldn't turn off the DRLs without doing a mod to their fleet. This made it hard to work undercover and most cities probably didn't want to spend the money to mod them. This is partially why alot of police departments went from Chevy to Ford in New Jersey.
Screamin'
 
Sounds good man. I know Bowtie would probably be up for that as well. Maybe we can find a park with a grill, knock back a couple beers and cook some animals! Of course I mean burgers and brats. I mean if we aren't supposed to eat meat, why is it so tasty ;D

Jamie
 
Wiki said:
I noticed that too when I installed my radio, I acidently left the brake on. ?I thought I messed up the light sensor under the dash or something so I pulled the entire install back out and spent 2 hrs trouble shooting everything. ?Turns out it was the brake. ?LOL

Another neat feature is when you accidentaly leave your blinker on and drive with it on. ?You will hear a chime to warn you it is on. ?The first time I heard that I freaked out. ?I wondered what the heck was going to blow up on my AV!!!
Click to expand...

You and I have experienced the same thing. I spent a while troubleshooting before I realized it was the brake. :rolleyes: I also couldn't figure out what the hell was beeping when I left the turn signal on. :p
 
This is my first vehicle with running day lights and the auto lights on feature. At first I wasnt sure; put it in reverse then I took the ebrake off lights came on. Later that evening same thing. Since I always park with my e-brake on I was able to figure this out right away.

Do most people park without the e-brake on?
 
lithos said:
...
?
Do most people park without the e-brake on?
Click to expand...


I never use mine unless I'm on a wicked steep hill. I have never used the one in my Av and I think I only used the one in my Silverado once.

-Mark
 
I don't use the e-brake unless I'm on a steep hill.... Wish I could find a steep hill in NE :rolleyes:
 
lithos said:
Do most people park without the e-brake on?
Click to expand...
I never use the parking brake with an automatic unless I'm on a really steep hill. With a manual I would always park in reverse and set the brake. That was before I had problems with my parking brake freezing "on" a couple of times during a really cold winter years ago. :8:

The last time was 2:00 in the morning, and I was the last one leaving work, so there was nobody there to help. I finally did get it thawed out and released so I could go home and get to bed. From then on, I simply shifted the manual to reverse and parked it that way. I've rarely used the parking brake since.

As for the turn signal "idiot alarm" I wish the Ford sedan in front of me the other day had one. I was behind him for several miles, and the turn signal was flashing the whole time. So annoying... :7:

-- SS
 
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