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those pesky dim useless yellow lights to the inside of the high beams...is there a way to disable them, or is the only option to just take them out? If they are removed, will that throw out some faults?
They may seem useless to you, but I assure you they are not to a vehicle approaching you from the side on a rainy night... which is why they were mandated in the first place. And yes, you will (thankfully) get a blown bulb warning.
They are useless. But I don't know which is more useless...them or your comment.
Really, they're superfluous. And your reasoning bears no merit anymore. How does a car coming from the side on a rainy night get alerted with the city lights these days? Even if I give you that outdated point of "from the side", my headlights or the DRLs would be more than enough.
Then let me put it to you another way... for someone who is sitting inside their ML - unless you feel it's ruining a selfie on a real/real long selfie stick - who cares ?
If you pull the bulbs - yes you will get faults...
They are useless. But I don't know which is more useless...them or your comment.
Really, they're superfluous. And your reasoning bears no merit anymore. How does a car coming from the side on a rainy night get alerted with the city lights these days? Even if I give you that outdated point of "from the side", my headlights or the DRLs would be more than enough.
And I assure you, they are NOT mandatory.
That depends entirely on how much you value your life, those of others and what part of the world you live in. In the US where your constitution gives you the right to carry a gun and where everyone loves to sue everyone else, I suppose one could understand why you would have such a myopic view and possibly why the yellow markers may not be mandatory. In the more sane parts of the world, they are mandatory and the general population doesn't think of them as unnecessary.
In case you haven't noticed, your headlights (and DRLs if you have them - those are also not mandatory in some states) face *forward* and illuminate the road ahead. At an intersection at night in poor visibility conditions, on a car that is at a 90 degree angle to you, those yellow markers that you want to disable are what you see first - and sometimes the only lights - before it may be too late.
Of course, you're certainly entitled to think that they (and my comment) are useless. I am just glad that the general population disagrees with you.
I don't like visible yellow lights next to the oh so pretty whitish hid lights. It DOES look whack. And yes, I care.
No matter what you tell me, a yellow light next to my headlights is not gonna stop me from being hit at a 90 degree angle. From your comments diabolis, I don't think you and I are in common understanding of what city lights are. Or if we are, I still disagree, adamantly. How could they not see the corner lamps or side markers or side windows for that matter that would be bright from all the lit up interior electronics and displays?
But ANYWAY I figured as much about the faults.
Instead of buying replacement led wedges cause even I find that a tad overbearing, I took some GOOD advice(opposite of your judgemental replies and auto purist evangelicism).
What I was hoping for was a star edit or such, but in lieu of that, I went simple and easy. I left them connected, but unplugged them out of their tabs and left them hanging in the back of the housing.
Last edited by Shogunade; Nov 26, 2015 at 03:25 AM.
Y'know - if you had simply asked if you'd get a "blown bulb" warning if you remove the bulbs and how to defeat the same, I would have given you an equally simple answer that all you need is a resistor to fool the system that the bulb is in place and operational (I can even calculate the value for you if you'd like). I only took issue with your insistence that the lights were useless and annoying.
P.S. Another option to condsider is replacing them with LEDs (w/ CANBus resistors) or alternatively mirrored / chromed amber bulbs. When they're off they perfectly complement the clear aesthetics of the headlight housing, but they still glow (either white or amber respectively) and allow other drivers to see you at night.
Last edited by Diabolis; Nov 26, 2015 at 03:28 AM.
I don't think anyone who has replied to the OP understands what he is asking. He is referring to the bulb which is # 3 not #4. I would agree with him that in most situations it is useless and it is not mandatory. Only #4 is. If you want to remove it you will need to replace it with a resistor to eliminate the warning.
jrsmith - having re-read Shogunade's original post, I suspect that you may be correct, in which case I withdraw my previous assertion that they are useful and apologize to Shogunade. I was talking about the side markers - #4 in your diagram - as they are the only yellow bulbs in the headlight. Bulb #3 is relatively uninmportant, but it is not yellow, it is white.
If the OP is talking about the "warm" white color temperature compared to the "cold" white color of the HIDs, then the fix is easy - replace them with LEDs with CANBUS resistors. I did exactly this on my two previous Audis in order to make them appear nicer. Personally I wouldn't disable either bulb though (and pulling out #3 leaves a visible hole, plus it can melt some of the wiring inside the headlamp housing where it will continue to glow). Pulling out #4 is IMHO just a bad idea for the reasons previously mentioned.
I don't really mind the visible hole, well, much less so than the yellow light, and I doubt that 5W will burn anything, but I will keep an eye out for that.
Last alternative solution would be to buy the white wedges.
I was just hoping, like with bimmers, they could be disabled.
I replaced my #3 lights with super white, bright LEDs. Yes, CAN BUS. You have to purchase LEDs that are smaller than 48 mm wide. I installed these, went in through the cap accessible under the hood, not the access panel in the wheel well. You pop the plastic thing right out, switch bulbs, CHECK to make sure they light, then carefully slide back into the hole.:
Hi Harrison. I followed your guidance to change the low beams with the ODRERO LED's you suggested and they are working perfect. NO resistors needed and no flickering. Now I will also do the standing lights as well.
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