I own an Echo Toyota year 2002 mileage 74,500. Maintenance up to date at local Toyota dealership. Engine is 108 horse 4 cyclinder - automatic.Problem: since entering 10th model year in January 2012, when temperature gets below zero farenheight and car has been in park and ride for eight hours plus, I start the car and engage the low beams. The high beam indicator on the dash comes on; the lights slide into high beam mode; and "jiggling" the beam control handle on the steering column does not disengage. Once inside cabin warms up the problem goes away and the low/high beam controls behave normally.I live in Minnesota and for nine years we have had normal winters with several below zero days. This is the first time this has happened.Thank you for any advice on next steps to repair.Bob Richardson
Hello and thank you for using just answer!We have seen some issues with the headlamp switches on the Echo and corolla models of this year range. Basically what I would do here is unplug the switch while the condition is happening cold to be sure that the problem goes away when unplugged before ordering a new part. The only other thing thats going to cause this is if the fuse/junction block is corroded out from being exposed to moisture if the car has had any water leaks.
Greetings,
Not being an electrical mechanic where is this switch?
Is it worth my while to pay the Burnsville dealership the 135 dollar fee to triage this problem? do you have a sense of how much this will cost me to fix - worst case?
Thanks.
The switch is the control switch on the steering column that you turn to switch the headlamp control, it plugs in behind the steering column covers.A switch is a couple hundred dollars on this car installed and yes if you are going to have a dealer properly verify the problem before the issue is addressed this is a typical one hour diagnostic fee.These cars do NOT have a lot of electrical issues so to put this fear aside NO this is not the begining of issues yet to come.