Has anyone else seen this?
I walked outside today to close my sunroof because it looked like it was about to rain, I put the key in the ignition and turned it to ON to close the sunroof. I also noticed that my headlights came on because I have the switch set to auto. I though nothing of it because it was dark outside and I assumed that after I removed the key from the ignition and closed the door, the lights would go off by themselves. Wrong! An hour later I get a call to notify me that my lights are on! Now, how is that possible if I removed the key and the headlight switch was still in auto? Could this be a possible bug?

 

I thought the 2k2's had a built in feature to disable anything left on after 30 minutes or something? This would prevent the battery from draining because the dome light was left on (i've done that a few times on my old car!)

I'm also interested in this since I just got a remote starter, and if I leave the headlights in the auto position and start the car at night (or anytime if there is snow over the 'eye') the headlights turn on. However, if I either shut off the remote start, or let the time elapse, the lights stay on. I figured that maybe they would shut off after a few minutes since if you leave the car at night and lock the doors with the remote, the headlights turn off after a minute or two. But if you do not use the remote, they still turn off, but after a longer delay.

Can anyone offer any insight to this?


- Seth

 

hmm...sorry not relate to this subject but where did u get the remote starter? Boston is getting COOOLD now. and how $$$$?

btw, i always turn off my light when i luck my car. so....

 

I think you have to open and shut the door to turn them off after the car is off when the switch is set to auto.

 

I'm pretty sure it does. I've left my front map light on before, and was off when I went back to the car.

 

Hmmmmm... I wonder if this is covered in the owners manual anywhere? Kinda scary though, if they hadn't of told me I probably would have to call roadside assistance right about now....

 

Hmmm - haven't had this happen. And all power is supposed to be cut from accessories after something like five minutes if they're still on after you remove the key and close the door. Did you by any chance not completely close a door? I think that may trigger the behavior.

 

i looked into this a few months ago.

this is an issue for all remote start vehicles with "auto on" headlights.

the sensor is in the door switch. try this out, get in, turn on the car, let the lights "auto on" and then turn off but dont' leave nor open the door. the lights will stay on. the door triggers that someone left and therefore the 45 second timer begins. so now relate this with remote start. car turns on, lights turn on, 15 minutes later(or whatever timer you have it set as) the car shuts off on it's own. door never opens, therefore lights will stay on.
the only override is the 45 minute full car override, as already mentioned.
i'm only verifying since some of you weren't sure. it's in the FSM, follow the auto lights path and it leads to the trigger in the door.

this will also go when you turn the key to close the sunroof, because you never opened the door, so although lights turned off, the door trigger never activated. sadly, this is annoying. there is a way to fix this (run a relay with the alarm as it's active wire so and it clips the voltage running in the door trigger. this would let the alarm and car think that someone opened and closed the door (in a matter of milliseconds) and then the triggers would turn on and 45 seconds later the lights shut off. i personally think it's too much trouble for a very miniscule issue.

hope i've made sense.

 

Sounds like a plan.. I might just give it a try...
Thanks Polo!

 

That happened to me once. I had the car idling to warm up and walked back inside to a party we were at. It ended up that we were staying longer so I went out, openned the passenger door and turned the car off. About 15 mins later I noticed that the lights were still on. I went out to the car and flipped the switch to off then back to auto and the lights turned off.

 

Hah... I live south of boston... It's a Crime Stopper remote start addon unit...not sure the model info, that stuff is in my trunk.

I got it at Eastern Sound & Security in Easton, MA. PM me and I'll send you more info on them if you want it.

I paid $300 installed: $210 for Starter unit, another $40 because of the engine immobilizer, and another $50 to get everything on the one new keypad. The $50 was worth it to me because I didn't want to have the factory remote and another remote to start it.

BTW, it has a 1000 foot range.

 

I agree...it seemed to me that this would affect all remote started cars with auto lights. It is resolved by shutting them off, but who wants to do that if they have the auto choice in the first place?

Another thing: my remote starter uses the parking lights to indicate the doors locking/unlocking, and that the car is started. But the Auto Headlights circuit overrides the parking lights, so at night if I start the car, then come out and hit the button to unlock the car, I get no alert (there is no audible alert, they wanted another $20 to hook up the horn since it is optional!). The parking lights don't flash if the headlights are on. This is a pain in the a$$ moreso for locking the doors, since the interior light comes on when I unlock the door. So at night I can tell the doors unlocked, but I cannot easily be sure the doors locked when I am at a distance.

 

Not just the 2k2, my 2k turns off all my lights left on after 15 min. I had found this out by accident cuz i left my lights on to work on a friends car and after 15 mins, they turned off and the only way to get them to come back on would be to put the key in the ignition and they would come back on.

 

The only thing I can come up with is that the door switch was stuck in the closed position (it's happened to my wife's minivan), but that doesn't explain about the lights staying on for over an hour.

An easy way to check that the switch is or is not sticking, just open the door and see if the dome light comes on or not.

 

I believe the way it works is that after you shut the DRIVER side door, the lights will turn off 45 seconds later. If you get into the car from the passenger door, turn on the ignition (which makes your lights come on) then turn it off and close the door, the lights will NOT turn off by themselves after 45 seconfds, because the driver door wan't triggered. I know, this is dumb, but it happened to me a couple of times

 

weird.... i don't have any prob. with my remote starter....
i can remote start the car and turn it off.... and the lights will trun off in like min or so like normal.....

 

Polo: Nice to see you've stuck your head back in here :-) hehe --- I've got to chat with you about the PNP switch thing. I'm trying it out again soon. My car "jumped" a parking stop, then "jumped" a 4" curb, ran across the median, and died just as it tapped an old Dodge pickup truck. Fortunately the only damage was some minor bumper damage to my car. The Dodge pickup was fine.

According to the ESM:

When the car is turned off, 5 minute timer will not be activated until one of the front doors (LH or RH) is opened. The lights will remain on indefinitely.

When all doors are closed (after one being opened), the 5 minute timer is halted and a 45 second timer is started.

If any door is opened during the 45 second timer, then the 45 second timer is halted and the 5 minute timer is started.

Lather, Rinse, Repeat.

As you can see, this could cause a problem to those with remote starts (including myself). So what are your options? Well, you could "blip" the door trigger like Polo said. You could not leave the headlights in the auto position. You can visit your Nissan dealer and have them reprogram the timers using the Consult-II. Plus I am sure that there are a few more options as well.