Paul89SE

I think the dash lights are out because the instrument cluster is missing 1 of 5 illumination lights. The weirdest thing that started happening was the tail lights went out. They work when i press on the brake but don't work with the headlights on. I checked the fuses but they all look good. Any suggestions?

ChrisCheezer

yeah .. u def. blew a 12A fuse (check again) and look for the short behind the dash.. maybe a wire started melting or rubbing on to metal

WMAJr1980

I had the same problem in my 89 max I owned previously. It turned out to be a short in one of the tail lights, but it still caused me to lose the lights in my dash.

Paul89SE

Thanks WMAJr, what exactly did you need to do to fix it? I have a lot of moisture in the trunk due to gigantic rust holes, so more than likely this could be it.

nubiannupe

iTrader: (9)

The sockets can be bought locally - presumably at any Autozone/Pep Boys/Checkers - type auto parts store. Since you mentioned rust holes in the trunk and moisture in the same sentence, I'd do what WMAJr1980 suggested. I know when this happened to me a couple of weeks ago, it turned out to be some corroded connectors on my headlight combo switch.

But that was just ME.

internetautomar

iTrader: (30)

Just take with an old one, or the lamp itself where it has to fit into

-shock211-

iTrader: (1)

when i turn on my car and it's still in park. sometimes the reverse lights are on. ? ? ??
WTF!
anyone have an idea as to why this has happened.
bad tranny?

seriously though,
anybody here have that happen to them?

internetautomar

iTrader: (30)

Check the Reverse switch. It may be sticking

BTW like the paint job

-shock211-

iTrader: (1)

will do...thanx and thanx again.

Golden Ice

I've said this before..add ground straps..you can't get enough ground straps anyway, so add some..add one from some metal under the dash where any lights bay be connected to some structural metal nearby (use 10 or 12 ga wire or buy some coax cable and use the shield out of it), connect a good heavy one from the battery (2, 4, or 8 ga) to the chassis somwhere..throw some in in some places where you think there may be an insulating factor..for every aftermarket component you add, stick a strap from the battery to the chassis..those dont have to be heavy..for my auxillary battery, I have an 8 ga line running neg post to neg post, a 2 ga line running neg post to chassis for each battery, a 4 ga positive power line that runs post to post..I used silver tinned braided shields from some high dollar coax that I had sitting around in pieces too short to use for other stuff, and ran about 3 of those off the main battery to the chassis..one for my fogs, one for the recycler pump I had in a cooler in my trunk, and one for extra good measure..I've got one under the dash that runs from a structural point to some other metal as well..I don't have any light trouble, and the ONLY interferance in my sound system comes from the heater fan when its on high, and I know why that is, I just haven't taken it apart to correct it..

While you're grounding things, use the shield from some coax like I said, and run a strap from the body of the car in the door jam to the door itself..do this on both sides front and back..it never hurts to go nuts with ground straps as long as you conceal them pretty well..

When I parked my truck for awhile and took the battery out, I cut out this extra ground strap that I thought wasn't even connected..when I put the battery back in, if the headlights were on, the radio and dash lights shut off and the guages went nuts..I looked for shorts and corrosion, and when that didn't work, I just stuck a 16 ga wire from the ground terminal on the battery to a bolt under the hood by reccomendation from a friend, and everything worked fine..so bad grounds can cause these problems..

Paul89SE

I fixed the problem! Finally i found it. The problem was the wiring harness to the stereo. I dissconnected the Bose adapter harness kit from the car and the lights came on. It's weird that i didn't have a blown fuse. It's even weirder that the corner lamps, tail lights and dash lights are all on the same circuit as the radio. Definitely not in the Haynes manual.

internetautomar

iTrader: (30)

somehow the harness musta been wired wrong

midnight

This same stupid thing happened to me yesterday. The fuse was blown so I put a new one in and it blew right away. Can anyone tell how to start looking for where the short is. Or should I just unplug everything on the circuit, put in a fuse and start plugging things in until the fuse blows? Thanks in advance.

MaximamixaM

This is super common. I sometimes post about it. When it first happened to my car, I read about 800 pages on the org, and did a ton of searches, I guess that was when the search worked. Anyway it seems to be with recently rewired front corner lamps/headlights, recent stereo head unit changes and maybe the most common being the rear lamp sockets that melt due to heat. I think someone once posted that an interior switch was causing it,but I may be wrong. And I think one person had the problem with a factory, untouched headunit. So go try those three areas first. Mine turned out to be a bad socket. The dealer charged sixty bucks for the part, plus installation. I think the part was for all the sockets, but some have said you can buy a single generic socket and try and macquyver it to fit. Oh, and check the rear lamp bulbs themselves also.

CO_ACEVEDO

i had this problem. it was a short. look behind the fuse box and under the the carpet by the drivers seat for any wires touching. also check ur tail and corner lights sometimes they go bad.... so a nissan mechanics said

Bluemax92

I had this happen to me as well, and it had a very simple fix. First thing you should do is change/look at the bulbs in your tailights. It turned out the the bottom piece of the light itself had corroded and melted it self together shorting itself out. All i had to do was replace the tailight and the whole problem was fixed.