Blazer Forum - Chevy Blazer Forums - Lights Mod

Hello. I recently bought a close to pristine 2001 Blazer. It was a find. I have a 2009 Silverado that I am going to sell, and wanted to find something older, but not old and worn out. Over the course of 2 months I saw a Red Blazer sitting on a small lot in a nearby town. Apparently no one could get credit to buy it, so cash was king and I brought it home. 71k miles, looks like no one ever sat in it. Nothing worn inside, original mats, perfect seats, controls, no smokers, nice. Runs good, paint almost perfect, minor surface rust mainly on the rear frame, front is fine. Much better shape than you would think a 15 year old vehicle should be. Changing oil, trans, filters, checking rear, front, t-case and new plugs then putting it on the road.

So on with the novel....

I had a 86 S10 pickup, a 2000 Extreme, and a 2001 Crew Cab. I really liked these trucks but moved on when they decided to quit making them. Much like die hard Crown Vic fans...no matter how tough, and how much you want it, it's gone.

This is my first blazer, but I did a lights mod/addition on my 2000 Extreme that I have never seen again, and thought I would share.

First, I do not like the DRL setups that use high beams, so bending pin 86 on the DRL relay to knock them out was in order. So the following is a two fold deal. 1. Give Amber DRL-ish lights on front, and 2. finishes what the engineers started to do and didn't.

You may notice that on the late models, I think 2001 to 2004 there was an option or such for there to be "driving" lights in a clear lens, just below the high beams, in the parking light module. Without the option, this is just amber, and it has been back to 98 I believe.

The finny thing is, this wide lens module that sits under the headlights is as wide as them, also wraps around the corner. It has only one Park/Turn bulb in it under the low beam. The inner portion has not light and no hole for a socket, but looking closely it has been molded as a rounded reflector (reflective inside just like the park/turn area) and as a separate spot for a bulb. So on my Extreme I wanted to make that all glow, and I did this mod and it looked great, so I decided to do it on this Blazer I just acquired. First you take out the headlight assemblies by pulling the tab/locks at the top and easing them out. With them loose and out of the way it is easier to get at the parking modules. Once these are out, look at the inner portion. Just begging for a socket and a light.

I use a dremel tool to cut an imperfect circle to the size needed for a 194 wedge style socket (replacement parts, easy to find, I got it at O'Riellys in the bulb area). Once these are fitted, I use some silicone to keep them in place. I used a 906 bulb which is 9 watts. the parking lamp filament beside it in the module is about 8 or 10 watts, so the 906 is a close match. Anything more will probably be too hot in the long run, although brighter. You can get wedge bulbs from about 2 watts up to 20 I think, they have lots of numbers and the Sylvania ones list the wattage on the package. I did use 194's in my Extreme and it was ok, I wanted these a bit brighter.

Reinstall and wire up to the under hood fuse area, I used a Add-a-Circuit by Cooper/Bussman and put it on the ENG I fuse. The device is safe, it separately fuses your new circuit while only extending and retaining the original fuse of the original circuit.

This fuse is one of the few out there that has 12 volts on it when the key is on/engine running and off when the key is off (switched power).

So the way this works is the new lights are independent of the headlights, and function like a DRL but not on that circuit (I disabled those as I said earlier). So they are DRL-ish in the day, and fill in your parking lights better in the dark, regardless of headlight switch position. You could also wire these to work only when the head lights and/or parking lights came on.

I am going to attach some picture to show what I did.