Aaarghhh! taillights, dash lights and corner lights out, fuse grenading itself...

[chokudoriS13]

This should probably be in Tech, but Chat moves much faster. Anyway, last night, my dash lights went out (meters and dummy lights still work). Tonight, I realized the corner lights and taillights are out as well (brake lights/turn signals still work). I went through 3 tail lamp fuses in an hour (one actually exploded, shattering the plastic casing). One held for about 15 min and all the lights were on... then it blew, again.

We checked the corner lights and taillights with a multimeter and all have bad grounds (both connections beeped, instead of one beeping as it normally should)... So, there's obviously a short. Now, where the hell do I start to look for it? Heeeeeeeeeeeelp.

[projectRDM]

Pull every bulb on the outside of the car and check them all, try a new fuse with the bulbs out, then start plugging them in one at a time. The bad circuit/bulb will blow the fuse.

[old_s13]

i would tear apart your harness and REALLY look into what hte problem is here.

most people have SO much ghetto wiring, that its just a matter of one fuckup + one fuckup which leads to a series of fuckups, which ends up doing what you have right there.

Just look under your dash, I am sure there's plenty of shit going on there. the problem is with your parking lamp circuit and interior lamp circuit.

- mike

[CoasTek240]

Pull every bulb on the outside of the car and check them all, try a new fuse with the bulbs out, then start plugging them in one at a time. The bad circuit/bulb will blow the fuse.
ding ding ding, thats it folks... tko

the easiest and fastest way to find a short. good luck!

[chokudoriS13]

The problem is, any of the bulbs (corners, rear, etc) will short as they all have bad grounds (according to the multimeter)... I'm trying to figure out where the main wire/ground for all those is, since the short must be there.

[upSLIDEdown]

My car does the same thing every now and then. It's in the fuse panel. If I wiggle the fuse the lights go on and off, the clip behind the panel is loose or something. Try looking there and see what that turns up...

Bryan

[old_s13]

i hate stupid words that people throw around when working with electrical, just because they find it intimidating.

"bad ground"

it sounds so nice, so simple.. tell it to someone and they'll get confused and say "aaaaaah.. of course!"

a bad ground will cause something not to work, but it wont necessarily cause fuses to blow (unless its a lose connection, which the spike can cause a fuse to blow). what YOU are dealing with, is a short. somewhere in your parking lamp circuit, a power wire is grounding out -- thats called a short.

find your short, and you've found your problem. removing bulbs can help you locate which consumer (or circuit) has the short, but if you cant find it.. I would suggest pulling the loom apart or searching near connectors for broken leads.

good luck,
- mike

[chokudoriS13]

If you read my original post, you will see that I know I have a short. The pulling of bulbs won't work, since the multimeter (running on continuous) beeped when both contacts were touched for each bulb (both in the corners and the tails). Thus, its not just one bulb... The short is somewhere along a main line, and I was just wondering if anyone could give me a hint as to where to start...

[mrmephistopheles]

unda the fenda?

[upSLIDEdown]

I just gave you a hint...look up a few posts...have you checked the fuse panel in the driver side kickpanel yet???

Bryan

[old_s13]

The short is somewhere along a main line, and I was just wondering if anyone could give me a hint as to where to start...

actually, what you are trying to do is have US fix YOUR problem for you. get up off ya ass and go work buddy, tear through the car and you'll find the problem. stop being lazy, sukka.

[projectRDM]

It's not a 'bad ground'. That's the gheyest answer anyone could ever use for a wiring problem. There are over a dozen ground points in the car, and few of the lighting circuits share the same one, so unless your 'bad ground' is the battery, that's not the problem.

The lighting circuit branches out to every switch/bulb in the dash, all the lights on the exterior, and through every harness in the car, the only 'main' feed is right at the switch. If the switch is bad you wouldn't ever get power, and the headligths wouldn't work either. One of the bulbs is shorted somewhere, or the harness (behind the fender probably) is damaged.

Please read that again, then go find your problem.

[chokudoriS13]

The short is somewhere along a main line, and I was just wondering if anyone could give me a hint as to where to start...

actually, what you are trying to do is have US fix YOUR problem for you. get up off ya ass and go work buddy, tear through the car and you'll find the problem. stop being lazy, sukka.


I barely have time to breathe, much less tear down a car. I'm in law school, and I can't devote entire days to tearing down the car. This is the problem... If I wasn't this busy, I wouldn't even post it up. I'd just sit there and try to figure it out with friends... You rarely see me post Tech questions up. However, with my lack of time, I thought someone would help me find a short cut to the problem. Hell, I don't even have access to the car to tear it down (its parked in my parents' garage in the valley and I'm at my place in Silverlake). Now, no need to be an ass... Not like I'm asking you to come over and tear the car down for me.

:madfawk: :ughug:

[sleep]

i had the same problem for about a week. I finally got off my ass and started checking all my wires. I found the problem in the wire that runs to my license plate bulbs in my trunk. I had a jack in my trunk i was using and it seems it rubbed through the insulation on the wire, everytime the wire touched the chassis it blew my fuse leaving me lightless. Very easy fix once the problem is found