Wifes07LT

Hello, my wife drives an 07 HHR LT (as username states), good little car, but there are a couple things about it which I would really like to be able to change. I am not sure if anyone has come up with ways of doing it.

First, these ridiculous automatic headlights. Is there a way to program or trick the car into not turning the headlights on automatically?? I hate this feature because it turns them on when they are absolutely not necessary, I have seen her pull away from the house at 8:00AM with the damn headlights on! Of course, if there is a mod that can be done, it would be easier than getting her to turn them off all the time. I have to change headlight bulbs twice as often on her car as I do on my car which is driven about 5 times the mileage.

Second is the factory remote start system. It is great to have, but nearly pointless the way it is programmed! Is there a way to reprogram it to make it run longer? Seems like it only runs for about 10 minutes at a time. It also WILL NOT remote start if the check engine light is on, which is annoying and also ridiculous. Not that the light is on a lot, but when it has come on, it sucks that you cannot warm up the car without leaving it running with the key in it. Is there a way to bypass this without going aftermarket?

843de

To defeat the "auto lights", rotate the headlamp switch to the "auto lights off" position....that's all you can do. Some folks have experimented with partially engaging the handbrake to defeat them, I wouldn't recommend it.

The remote start will run through a second ten minute cycle then you have to manually restart the vehicle, there is no way to change the programming of this feature.

If the "Check Engine" light is on, the ECM has detected a fault, therefore the remote start is disabled in order to prevent inadvertent engine damage....this function is also non-defeatable.

P.S. to the forum!

solman98

Are you talking headlights, or the daytime running lights?

postalboy

I don't see your lights as a problem. I bought my 07 new in sept of 07 and have never shut the auto lights off. I like the safety of the running lights and the headlights turning on when they are needed. I have not had a bulb burn out yet.

slinger569

I'm with postalboy on this one.. I have an 07 and it still had the orginal bulbs up until last summer when I decided to put some super brights in. Seems that most cars have running lights these days and I find people pay less attention to the older cars that don't have running lights, because it has become a habit of sorts, to ignore them because you think they are parked or not in motion..
I also live in boston, and find the 10 minutes to be enough to melt most snow/ice on the car. Any longer is just a waste of gas, but that's JMO... I would however suggest you get that engine light issue looked at. 842D3 brings up a good point, your car is telling you something is wrong and running it could just make it worse. Your next post could be, does anyone know how to rebuild a motor...

IgottaWoody

headlights probably not burning out from use...but from handling, fingerprints are a guaranteed killer....and higher output lights tend not to last as long anyways

Putter

If you are, in fact, talking about the daytime running lights (DRL) that use the low beam instead of the amber signals, then it is super easy to kill that option.

Simply open the hood, the pop the cover off the power distribution box (driver side) and pull the fuse for the DRL. I have had mine out for years with no problems.

hhrumadbruh

Why wouldn't you want auto head lights?

There is a sensor in my 2010 that turns them off automatically.

I have $5 ebay bulbs that are 5000k (pure white, not stock yellow and not ricer blue)

They are still going strong almost 6 months later.

I suppose you can hook up a toggle switch to the fuse for the headlights.

No annoying "auto head lights off" message. And no guessing if they are gonna turn on when you start the car this time. They only use 55 watts. Hardly gonna drain the battery unless you have the switch on the "ALWAYS ON" position. all the lights in my 2010 turn off after 5 minutes, even if I leave them on from inside. (which doesn't matter anyway, because they probably use .1 volt (volt meter only drops .1 volt when the lights turn on inside, gotta love SMD/LED bulbs)

Wifes07LT

I just find auto headlights really annoying. I guess it wouldn't be so bad if they actually stayed off until they were needed, but when I see my wife pull away from the house at 8:00 in the morning with her headlights on, that is ridiculous! Is this a daytime running light? If so, can that be defeated? Daytime running lights are pointless..... How is having headlights on in daylight adding to safety in any way?? That makes no sense at all!

Wifes07LT

An extra 10 minutes of runtime is not going to waste any noticeable amount of extra gas! As I explained earlier, there is no problem, but the light has come on in the past and did not allow us to remote start the car. It was very annoying! And how is not letting it remote start because of the light saving anything, when you are going to go ahead and start and drive the car anyway with the key??? The MAJORITY of check engine light issues have no chance of blowing up an engine. Unless that light is flashing, which indicates a severe, repeating misfire, it is perfectly safe to drive the car, let alone remote start it.

I guess I'm just going to have to install a normal, good remote start system. Normal, aftermarket remote start systems do not care whether or not the light is on, they read the tach wire coming from the coil pack, first to tell it the car did in fact start, then to monitor whether the car is running safely. If there is any major fluctuation in engine rpm (i.e. from a misfire or other major problem) it shuts down. It does not, however, disallow the remote starting of the car over something stupid that does not actually affect driveability, like if the gas cap was left loose or an O2 sensor is bad or something like that, the way the factory remote start will.