High-beam dash light blinking

[jpkomm]

For some reason, my high-beam indicator on the instrument cluster keeps constantly blinking when the headlights are off. If you turn the headlights on, it stops blinking. I haven't tried turning on the high-beams yet because I wanted to get and idea about what this car is trying to tell me. It is a 2001 Corolla CE. Could someone please shed some light on this? Thanks!

[jpkomm]

I forgot to mention that it is a rhythmical blink at about 1 blink per second. It is also audible. You can hear a clicking noise whenever it blinks (almost reminds me of a turn signal noise).

[rated_w]

hrmm.. I've never ran into this problem before :scratches head:

[OmarR]

Are your DRL's working ok?

[JefferMC]

I have a 1999 Corolla VE with similar issues. At first I had the blinking hi-beam indicator with no other symptoms (no clicking). After a few days, it progressed to a much more aggravating problem: The running lights would not go off, with the light switch on off and the keys out of the ignition. The chime would even sound when you opened the drivers door to warn you that you were leaving the lights on.

The temporary fix I have found so far is to remove the TAIL fuse, which also deprives me of tail lights and I think might have killed the dashboard light (not dark enough to really tell yet).

Somewhere else online I have seen a problem posted that is identical to mine (except that they too had the loud clicking noise). A reply indicated that that poster believed that the problem was likely the tail light relay.

I have purchased a one-day subscription to Toyota repair manual site and found a fuse/relay panel containing this relay, but I can't seem to find it on the car. I think it might be the back of or behind the fuse panel behind the dash access panel on the left side of the steering wheel.

So... Do you know (1) if replacing this replay might fix either problem, (2) how to get to the TAIL relay?