Ghost in my headlights

[Flyn67]

I've searched and found similar issues but nothing quite what I am experiencing.

Four days ago, my battery went dead and after some investigating I found that my headlights were turning on after I turn off the car. They don't remain on, they turn on after I have left my car. I can switch the lights to "OFF" but they still come on. I turn off the lights, turn off the car, remove the key and the lights turn themselves on. Sometimes I can get them to turn off by turning the key from off to on (without turning the car on) a few times and it will shut them off. Sometimes they will turn themselves back on later. All I can say is W...T...F!?!?

Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Oh...'98 Camry LE, 6cylinder.

Thanks.

[blackhawk]

dam sun you really got a ghost lol i think it could be a switch or some thing of that nature acting up that need to be replaced

[Flyn67]

bump

anybody?

thx

[Tuner571]

When the car is running do you have full control of the lights?

[bigbird]

have they ever been replaced or damaged, specifically the wire harness? also check the fuses. ive never herd of this happening but theres a place to start.

[Creeps228]

wierd, do you have that "follow me home" feature on your alarm if you have one...that be also be the problem

[Flyn67]

Thanks forthe replies.

- Yes, I have full control of the lights while the car is running.

- The lights have been replaced due to an accident, but that was back in August...this issue just started about a week ago...may be related, tho...?

- No security system on this car.

I've checked the door switch and it seems to be functioning normarlly. Fuses are all good. The car is running like a champ otherwise. I am at a complete loss. I'm seriously starting to think about installing my own kill switch for the lights so I know they will not turn on by them selves. It may be my only option outside of bringing it in for a diagnostic...which will likely result in changing out the flux capacitor or some such nonsense. You know what I mean...

[Hajoca]

Was the wiring harness damaged?
It seems that the head lamp connector may be corroded and conducting power through the lamp bulb. Take the plug off, clean the corrosion and grease it.

Was another connector spliced in by the body shop??

Flux capacitor??? to power the lights....hmmmm interesting.

[Bluecam6]

It might be the circuit that controls the healights. My 89 camy and my 93 camry both have a circuit that controls the headlights. If you turn the manual headlight switch on then with the (ignition key on) you can then leave the headlight switch ON and take the key out of the ignition and then open the drivers door the headlights will shut themselves OFF. That is normal and your 98 camry should be the same. There is a circuit that does this and it controls the relays that turn the headlights ON and OFF..............
It might be there is something wrong with that headlight circuit on you 98 and that circuit is turning ON the headlight relay when you away from the car at random times. Alldata or mitchell or Toyota shop manual will have a wiring diagram that shows how this works. So It is either the relay or the headlight circuit........................................... ..........................

[Bluecam6]

I looked at the Mitchell shop manual for the 98 camry and there is 2 different relays that control the headlights. The first relay is contolled by the manual switch that is on the left side of the steering column. The second relay is
called the intergration relay and is controlled by the drivers door switch that
is in the door jam. The inergration relay might be what is turning your lights on at random times. This is a dealer item part only and is not the relay that
is located in the fuse blocks. It might be located under the dash behind the instrument cluster????...........