[ADEY]

Originally Posted by PrideRed

This may not be available for Fortuner/Hilux/Innova manufactured post mid 2022, ask your dealer to check after connecting the tool. Some of the owners who tried to get this custom mode were told the Techstream tool doesn't give the option for some of the cars. Personally have found this quite flexible and should have been provided by default. However many users are not even aware of presence or usage of DPF button, adding more functionality can become complex.

This manual override of the DPF regeneration is very much possible in Toyotas. My rise is an Innova 2022 Oct model. During 2nd free service I requested Harsha Toyota ( Hyderabad) to enable the manual override option by a software update. This was enabled and life have been a breeze since then. I always do a manual regeneration with only 2-3 bars.

[PrideRed]

Originally Posted by ADEY

This manual override of the DPF regeneration is very much possible in Toyotas. My rise is an Innova 2022 Oct model. During 2nd free service I requested Harsha Toyota ( Hyderabad) to enable the manual override option by a software update. This was enabled and life have been a breeze since then. I always do a manual regeneration with only 2-3 bars.

Thank you good to know. I had checked for my Hilux and dealer mentioned it may not be needed. Someone in forum also did mention that his Innova when connected to Techstream did not list option. Now that you were able to get it done, will check for my hilux too, had enabled in Fortuner quite long ago. This is definitely good to have if you are frequently driving to high altitude place. However using this option frequently when DPF meter is 1-2 bars might be an overkill and may reduce DPF lifespan.

[ashvek3141]

Originally Posted by graaja

Routing the cable to the rear windshield to power the rear camera.

Could you please share on how did you route the cable to the rear camera? There are curtain airbags and routing the cable through the headliner could hinder with their functionality in case of an emergency.

[graaja]

Installed: Aozoom FLP 2040 2" Bi-LED Projectors

One of the weak points that I identified with the Fortuner is its poor headlights. It's, in fact, horrible. It has very low brightness, and combined with the fact that it is white LED, visibility was very poor when there was opposite traffic with dazzling lights. When it rains, and the road gets wet, visibility becomes zero. There were a couple of drives when I had to drive in the night in the rain with oncoming traffic, and it was very stressful and a safety hazard. Compared to the excellent BiXenon headlights in the Jetta and the adaptive LED lights in the BMW, Fortuner's headlights can be literally compared to candles. So, I decided to upgrade the headlights.

As the Fortuner's headlights are projector LEDs, there is no option to upgrade the bulbs, which is usually the simplest of the upgrade options. The only way to upgrade the main headlights is by opening them and installing better aftermarket projectors. There are a few problems with this approach. The final results and reliability depend greatly on the workmanship. As the headlights are opened and re-sealed, moisture resistance will be affected. As this is a non-reversible modification, this will affect the warranty. So, I did not want to take this path. But I was ready to take this approach if I could not find any other alternative.

The second option was to add some Aux lights. I found there are lots of good options for Aux lights, like LEDs, lasers, etc, with good performance. However, I did not want to take this path to avoid being flagged by police during my road trips.

The third option was to replace the existing fog lights with LED projectors. This will be the cleanest solution as the projectors will be in the fog light housing blending in and will not attract any attention. Also, as the fog lights in the Fortuner are at almost the same height as the headlights in a sedan, they will have good light throw. So, I decided to take this path.

Selection of the Projectors, and a few problems

In this section, I will cover some of the critical problems related to a projector upgrade and my approach to solving them.

When I started the search for projectors and asked around, the first recommendation I got was for projectors by FE Retrofit. There is a model Nova 2R that has the feature to switch between three color temperatures - pure white, warm white, and yellow. I found several YouTube videos on this projector, and the output looked quite good.

I found a dealer and installer in Coimbatore and paid them a visit. They showed me the projector and gave me a demo by connecting it to a power supply. The light output was quite good, and I liked the warm white option. Warm white provides more visibility compared to pure white in wet conditions. The dealer mentioned this installation is plug-and-play. However, during this visit, I found several problems related to the upgrade, and the installation was not plug-and-play.

1. The first was the connector in the projector was H11, whereas Toyota uses an L1B connector for their fog lamp. The installer did not have any intermediate wiring harness to convert from L1B to H11 and would splice the wires from the existing wiring harness.
2. The projector does not remember the previous color selection. Every time the car is started, the projector defaults to pure white. The color has to be selected by repeatedly turning on and off the fog lights.
3. The projectors come with a high-beam circuit. For this, too, they splice the wires on the main headlight's wiring harness to tap the high beam signal.

I also watched several YouTube videos where they use the term "plug-and-play" installation but always splice the wires in the wiring harness. This was a big "No" for me. I don't like to splice wires in the wiring harness. Usually installers splice the wires and cover with regular insulation tapes which are not rated for the high temperatures that are present inside the engine compartment. Over time, these tapes fall off exposing the connections, which create short circuit hazards. I prefer using proper patching harnesses and splice the connections from these patch harnesses and cover with heat shrinking tube and cotton TESA tapes.

To solve the problems mentioned in points #1 and #3 above, I decided to use a H11 to L1B converter and a headlight patch cable on which I can tap the high beam signal.

I found the H11 to L1B cable in AliExpress in the link below.
L1B to H11 cable



I found the headlight patch cable in an Australian website, in the link below.
Headlight Patch Cable



The listed price for the patch cable was 1.7k per cable. If shipping and customs duty are included, the landing price could be north of 3.5K each.

I found another alternate in AliExpress where the male and female connectors were sold separately. With some soldering work, the patch cable can be made at half the price.

Headlight Connectors - Male and Female




As AliExpress does not ship to India, I took the help of a friend who was traveling from the US. Had the connectors shipped to the US address, and my friend hand-carried them to me. The whole process took close to 3 months, though.

As I was waiting for the connectors to arrive, I came across another projector brand called Aozoom in the Fortuner official review thread. Several Fortuner owners had installed Aozoom projectors and had given very positive reviews. One advantage I found with Aozoom projectors is that these projectors come with L1B connectors which is a direct match for the Fortuner's fog lights. This will eliminate the need for the H11 to L1B adapter cable.

Following were various options available from Aozoom.

1. FLP 2030 - 2" projectors with a single lens and white LEDs.
2. FLP 2033 - 2" projectors with a single lens and three colors (switchable, like the FE Retrofit Nova 2R)
3. FLP 2040 - 2" projectors with dual lens setup and white LEDs.

All the above projectors come with a high beam, too.

Of the three, 2040 is the latest model, and I have read some good reviews about it.

I got the contact number of a local installer from a friend and talked to him. He told me that in FLP2033, he had come across some problems. When the car is started, there is a drop in battery voltage. Sometimes, the projectors detect this as power off and on and randomly change colors. So, I decided to go with FLP2040.

[graaja]

Preparing the Wiring Harness

The projector has an L1B connector for the low beam and a couple of open wires to enable the high beam. To make the complete installation plug-and-play, I decided to use an H4 male connector on the projector's high beam wires and an H4 female connector on the headlight patch cable. I sourced the H4 male and female connectors from Amazon.

I first soldered the wires from the female headlight connector to the pins of the male connector and inserted the pins to the housing to create the patch cable. The below picture shows the patch cable and the male and female H4 connectors.



I then measured the voltage levels on the headlight connector to identify the ground, low beam, and high beam signals. The below picture shows the pin out. As I did this measurement inside my portico, the parking lights turned on instead of DRLs, and I could not confirm which pin drives the DRL. As I was only interested in the ground and high beam pins, I did not bother to find out which pin drives the DRL. Pins 1 and 6 are ground, pin 3 is high beam, and pin 4 is low beam. Pin 2 or 8 could be the DRL signal.



The picture below shows the ground and high beam wires on the patch cable tapped and covered with heat-shrinking sleeves.


The below picture shows the completed harness with a female H4 connector at the end and the wires wrapped with TESA tape.


Installation:

The package.


Installation was straightforward. The installer brought the projectors to my place and carried out the installation. As the installation was done late in the evening, I did not click many pictures of the installation process. The installer removed some screws from the trim that covered the wheel well and opened the bumper a little to create access to the fog lamp. He completed the installation and adjustments through this small opening.

Removing screws from the wheel well cladding.


As they were opening up the bumper for the installation, I soldered the H4 male connector to the projector's high beam wires. The wires were wrapped with TESA tape later while installing.


Before installing the projectors, I made some current measurements. The high beam signal drives only the shutter and takes about 0.1A from the high beam circuit. The fog lamp circuit drives the main driver circuit. With only the low beam enabled, the projector draws 2.5A of current. When the high beam is turned on, an additional LED circuit lights up, which draws an additional 1.5A of current. This puts the total current draw at 4A when both low and high beams are on.


The original fog light and the projector side by side. Note how the mounting bracket has the same dimensions as the fog light.


Dual lens setup.


The screw that is used to adjust the cutoff level. The installer set the cutoff to the same height of the existing fog lights.


Shroud in front for a clean finish.


The projector is installed, the H4 connector from the patch cable is connected to the H4 connector on the high beam, and everything is neatly tied up.


The connection on the headlight. The patch cable is inserted between the headlight and the existing wiring harness, and the high beam tap goes below to the projector.


The projector seamlessly integrates into the fog light assembly.

[graaja]

Final Results and Comparison:

There is a day and night difference between the original headlights and the new projectors. The projectors have a very clean cutoff, which is below the cutoff of the headlight. This prevents the projectors from creating glare for oncoming traffic but lights up the road perfectly. I drove the car on 2 lane village roads, and even with bright headlights from oncoming traffic, I was now able to clearly see the road in front. The high beam is very well-focused and lights up farther distances.

I took several pictures to compare the original headlights and the combination of the headlights and the projectors. I used a DSLR in manual exposure mode so that the difference is accurately reproduced. Click on the pictures to open in full size for more details.









The brightness of the projectors is comparable to the adaptive LED headlights in my previous BMW 3GT. The original headlights of the Fortuner are literally like candles.

I also compiled a short video to show the performance of the projectors. The first part is the comparison shot with a DSLR with manual exposure, so the difference is accurate. The second part is from my dashcam during the drive through village roads.

https://youtu.be/blOfrGwrlDE

Overall, I feel this is a very good upgrade. Now I will be able to drive in the night without worry.

That's all folks, I have for now!

[viXit]

Originally Posted by graaja

Installed: 70mai 810 Dual Channel Dashcam

A couple of weeks back, I installed the 70mai 810 dual dashcam in the Fortuner. I used the hardwire kit and the ACC fuse in the fuse box in the passenger footwell to power the dashcam. I prepared the wiring for the electrical connection and a friend helped with the wiring.

Where did you find the fuse box diagram? The user manual is useless. I only have the diagram for the engine bay box printed on the backside of the cover.

The 2 interior fuse boxes have no labels as far as I can tell. Do you have a pdf of the 24 fortuner user manual?

[graaja]

Originally Posted by ashvek3141

Could you please share on how did you route the cable to the rear camera? There are curtain airbags and routing the cable through the headliner could hinder with their functionality in case of an emergency.

The cable to the rear camera was routed through the edge of the roof liner. The installer just inserted the cable inside the roof liner. The curtain airbags are in the A and C pillars. In the A-pillar, the cable is bunched with other wires behind the airbag, and the cable does not hinder the airbag in the C-pillar. So, I think this should be fine.

Originally Posted by viXit

Where did you find the fuse box diagram? The user manual is useless. I only have the diagram for the engine bay box printed on the backside of the cover.

The 2 interior fuse boxes have no labels as far as I can tell. Do you have a pdf of the 24 Fortuner user manual?

The fuse box on the left side of the passenger side footwell (can be accessed after removing the glove box), has a cover with fuse diagram printed. I have posted a picture of this in my installation post.

I could not find a PDF of the user manual of the Fortuner. The only user manual I could find was in the Toyota Connect app, and this did not have much detail about fuse diagrams, etc. I could not find this online, either.

Compared to German cars like VW or BMW, which have lots of online information for DIY upgrades, it's very difficult, if not impossible, to find information on Toyota cars.

[Pacifica]

Originally Posted by graaja

I also compiled a short video to show the performance of the projectors. The first part is the comparison shot with a DSLR with manual exposure, so the difference is accurate. The second part is from my dashcam during the drive through village roads.

While the headlight upgrade looks very neat, that video also captures how HUGE those speed breakers are. Each time you went over one, your headlights were pointing pretty high up.

No wonder ground clearance is a big deal for our cars.

[t2k4]

Originally Posted by graaja

Overall, I feel this is a very good upgrade. Now I will be able to drive in the night without worry.

Thanks for sharing. Is there an option to make these cornering lamps also? (i.e. even if they are off, you take a left or a right and the respective lamp turns on)

[Tony2298]

Originally Posted by graaja

Final Results and Comparison:

There is a day and night difference between the original headlights and the new projectors!

Definitely! I don't know what OEMs are smoking nowadays and providing such useless lights on such premium cars. Toyota known as a safety leader compromising on headlights seems like a paradox but sad to see them indulge into this. Even the Innova HyCross is suffering from the same problem of poor visibility headlights.

I guess it was better back when the OE lights were simply bulb type and we could swap out the bulbs&holders to get better throw but nowadays since the lights are sealed, doing modifications on them is a bit of a challenge.

Have heard a lot of people nowadays going with aux lights/projector foglights and having satisfactory results. Therefore I'm asking you is this solution safe in long term and God forbid, if anything goes wrong, how to tackle with OEM terms since they'll clearly deny warranty. Makes buying extended warranty totally useless.

PS- A personal request. I know you're an excellent Astrophotographer, sir can you capture some good shots of the Planetary alignment we're able to witness now. It's such a rare event which definitely deserves some high quality astrophotography!

Thank you
Tony

[shardul_pathak]

Hi Graaja

Can you please also help with the cost involved for the whole upgrade? I plan on replicating your process, word to word!

[graaja]

Originally Posted by t2k4

Thanks for sharing. Is there an option to make these cornering lamps also? (i.e. even if they are off, you take a left or a right and the respective lamp turns on)

As the projectors are driven directly by the fog light circuit, if there is a cornering function in the car, they will turn on when the cornering function gets activated. But Fortuner does not have this cornering function. So, the fogs do not turn on during cornering.

Originally Posted by Tony2298

Therefore I'm asking you is this solution safe in long term and God forbid, if anything goes wrong, how to tackle with OEM terms since they'll clearly deny warranty. Makes buying extended warranty totally useless.

If the installation is done properly, this is perfectly safe. The risky part in the installation is tapping the high beam signal. If the high beam signal is not used and only the low beam of the projectors is used, then the installation is completely plug-and-play with no modifications to any electrical circuit. It is just like changing the bulb.

However, if the high beam signal is tapped, then there is definitely a concern for warranty. This is the reason why I used a patch cable. With the patch cable, the installation is completely reversible. Everything can be unplugged and restored if a warranty claim is needed.

Originally Posted by Tony2298

I know you're an excellent Astrophotographer, sir can you capture some good shots of the Planetary alignment we're able to witness now. It's such a rare event which definitely deserves some high quality astrophotography!

Thank you for the kind words. Planetary alignment is something that has been overhyped by the media. All planets revolve around the same in the same plane. So, any day if you look at the night sky, you will see several planets in the same line (taken by the sun in the sky) from east to west. On this planetary alignment day that media is talking about, you get to see more planets in the night. Some of the bright planets like Venus, Jupiter, Saturn and Mars can be seen with naked eye, and dim planets like Uranus and Neptune can be seen through a telescope.

These can't be photographed together as they will be at different parts of the sky at any given time

I do not yet have a proper setup to photograph the planets. I am in the process of putting together this setup. Once I have this, I will be able to shoot the planets like Jupiter, Saturn, Venus and Mars up close with details. I will share these pictures when I get these photographed.

Originally Posted by shardul_pathak

Can you please also help with the cost involved for the whole upgrade? I plan on replicating your process, word to word!

The projectors cost me 18.5K including installation. I have heard prices ranging from 19K to 22K from various dealers and installers. So, the projector price will depend on what you get from your local distributor.

For the patch cable, I sourced the male and female connectors for the headlights from AliExpress, and the male and female H4 connectors from Amazon. Including the connectors, wires, heat shrinking sleeves, TESA tape etc. the landing cost for each cable assembly was about 1.7K.

So, it cost about 22K in all for the upgrade, and some DIY work in making the patch cables.

In this process, I also wasted some money

I had bought the L1B to H11 wiring harness for about 1K, and also had got a relay kit for about 1.3K expecting a higher current draw from the high beam circuit. I did not have to use both these and this 2.3K is lying unused with me.

[shardul_pathak]

Originally Posted by graaja

The projectors cost me 18.5K including installation. I have heard prices ranging from 19K to 22K from various dealers and installers. So, the projector price will depend on what you get from your local distributor.

Apologise in advance for the noob question, but that would be 18.5 for a pair of the projectors?

[graaja]

Originally Posted by shardul_pathak

Apologise in advance for the noob question, but that would be 18.5 for a pair of the projectors?

Yes. It is 18.5K for a pair of projectors.