Why does the loyale have a switch on top of the steering colum to turn off the front side lights, and the tail lights/licence plate light???????

 

My rear lights went out and I thought I blew a fuse or something shorted out. Turns out I must have pressed that switch on the steering colum. Pressed it and my rear lights came back on??????

 

I guess its a good switch to have if your running from the cops, I think I'll call it the gangsta getaway switch.

The switch on top of your steering column is supposed to be for turning your park lights on. Someone must have rewired yours to turn your lights off.

The way that switch works is idiotic. If it breaks, your lights won't work at all. It's a 3-poll switch. It transfers power going to the lights coming from the ignition to coming from the battery. Unlike the legacy it doesn't ADD power from the battery. So for some reason when you flip the switch it isn't getting power on the other poll to keep the lights on when the ignition is off.

My rear lights went out and I thought I blew a fuse or something shorted out. Turns out I must have pressed that switch on the steering colum. Pressed it and my rear lights came back on??????

 

 

You probably did blow a fuse or have a short. Your lights aren't working.

 

turning on that switch is making the lights work, but you shouldn't need to do that.

 

I'm guessing that one of the headlight relays or fuses is to blame, as the running lights are powered off of one of the headlight relays.

The switch allows you to turn on your running/parking lights without the car being on. My Loyale (and I'm assuming all) will turn all exterior lights off when the ignition is "off"--no questions asked. This way you can't leave your lights on accidentally.

 

I occasionally use the switch when I'm parked roadside at night. Or if I'm camping or at a rest area, it is nice to be able to turn the lights on while I run the dog, make food, etc--it is a nice steady light (vs. hazards) that isn't blinding (vs. headlights) and doesn't require me to leave the key in the car unattended. I have left them on overnight before and survived, though I don't recommend it.

 

Iirc Subaru put the switch in initially because some areas require running lights to be on when cars are parked in loading zones and shoulders? I guess in some places hazards mean "emergency/call police" and not just "I know it's not a parking spot/I hope you don't run over me". The switch allows people to obey the law without leaving the key in the ignition. If hazards vs. parking lights isn't an issue where you live, I imagine you could use it to wire up something not-stock like fog lights or a spotlight.

I should add that it would be wise to consult a wiring diagram first, or even mess around with a junkyard or parts car if you want to change the switch's function. I would hate to do all the work involved in rigging the switch to turn on foglights only to find out that in undoing the stock wires you broke the circuit for the tail lights or something.

Thanxs for the info, I'll just leave it alone for now. So they added that switch on loyale's, but eliminated the oil pressure and volt meter from the dashboard(my only gripe about loyale's)

Thanxs for the info, I'll just leave it alone for now. So they added that switch on loyale's, but eliminated the oil pressure and volt meter from the dashboard(my only gripe about loyale's)

 

You must have a DL then? Every loyale I've seen has all the gauges.