mjwalfredo

So yesterday was my first attempt at installing Roger's wiring harness in my 1997 4Runner Limited and things did not go well at all. I am pretty sure that my setup is switched ground judging by my Chilton's manual.

Here is what happens when I turn on the lights:
1. High beams only come on.
2. High beam indicator in dash does not come on when set on high or low.
3. The "little black box" started smoking when the lights were on.

I also used his trick of tying the gray and white wires together to make the harness switched power but when I touch the wires together, the low beams come on as well as the highs.

I have foglights from the factory on my truck as well.
Does anyone have a clue to what might be going on?
I will be happy to reply with anymore information if needed.
Thanks a lot!

-Mark

eric-the-red

Someone else just had that same problem, did you remove the diode after connecting the grey and white wires.
https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f2/2000-4runner-headlights-switched-ground-switched-power-72378/

If you have DRLs they're probably switched power, without DRLs they're switched ground.

mjwalfredo

Oh wow... I misread his directions for making the harness switched power. I did not notice that you tie the wires AND remove the diode. What is still strange to me is the fact that I do not have DRLs. I feel like I have a switched ground system. I guess it will not hurt to try both ways as long as I do not run the lights for more than a few seconds just to see if my setup is working........ Thanks.

One more thing, I am not sure what is the diode in the little black box. Probably the the little guy that started smoking? I see two things (sorry I don't know what they are called) that look similar and on that looks a little different on the circuit board. The one that looks different started smoking.
-Mark

mjwalfredo

Okay, now I am more confused than ever. On Roger's website, he claims that all you need to do is tie the gray and white wires together. It says nothing about the diode if you are just tying them together.

tc

The diodes I have seen look like resistors, but black. It WILL have an arrow printed on it pointing to one end (this indicates the direction of current flow).

mjwalfredo

I finally got it under control. It was nothing out of the ordinary I guess. I tried everything again after making sure I had a switched ground setup with a multimeter. I replaced my "little black box" with a new one and everything worked just fine. I either did something wrong the first time or I recieved a defective part. I am pretty sure I did not do anything wrong the first time as I went through the exact same proceess the second time. I must have gotten a bad part. Boy am I unlucky. The wiring harness made a big diffence in light output. Much thanks to Roger for making a great product available to us.

P.S. Now my brights come on when I turn on my fog lights. Does anyone know how to fix this?

mjwalfredo

So after some more investigation, I find out that the "little black box" starts smoking when I turn on my fog lights. I had them on the first time I installed and they must have been off the second time. Today I wanted to see if my fog lights worked and I noticed the box started smoking as soon as I cut them on. Any ideas about what is going on and what can be done to fix this problem?

4Crawler

iTrader: (3)

Not sure how the fog lights get wired into the headlights on your truck. Any wiring diagram to see what is going on?

You might want to just remove the "black box" all together and revert the system to only switched power. It may be that the fog light current is somehow getting back into the relay control wires. You might need to use one of the diodes out of the "black box" to block the fog light current from getting to the relays.