Recently purchased a VE 5spd with 136k miles. Aside from VTC clacking on start up and minor problems here and there everything was great. But unfortunatly, I just came out to go for a ride, and when I go to put the lights on, the only things that light up are my head lights. Thats it, nothin else. Just head lights. Not even corner lights. Gauge lights dont work, neither do the radio lights. But everything else like most of the AC control lights, cruise control, defogger, etc. seems to work. Thankfully the brake lights still work. Hazzards work too.

What to do? Anything in specific I can check out before taking it to a mechanic(Am trying to avoid that at all costs) I really hope this isn't an expensive problem. Damn Thanks in advance.

Edit: I did give my GXE a boost today using my SE.. Also transfered some 194 bulbs from the GXE to the SE. Maybe that can have something to do with it Oh, and I noticed that they used different bulbs for the brake lights on the SE, so I couldn't swap those. Interesting...

 

Check your fuse box....You may just have a blown fuse...

 

Specifically the fuse marked "tail"
6th fuse down on left hand side, panel in the knee bolster under dash. Should be a 10A.

 

Im gonna go check the fuses out now.. But normally, why do fuses blow just like that? The correct size fuse wasn't there?

 

since you were messing with lights i bet you grounded somthing out and when you turned the lights on it blew

 

You guys were right on the money Thanks alot.

Oh and Subs, what did you mean I grounded something out? All I did was change the bulbs. You think this could happen again?

 

what i meant was maybe when you were changing bulbs you might have touched somthing "hot" ie reading +12v to any metal surface "ground" which would be a direct short and cause the fuse to blow

as long as everythign works now and the fuse didnt blow when you tested the lights again you should be fine

 

Okay, I see. But the weird thing is that the incident happened a few hours later after I drove the car around for awhile. Then I was ready to start it again, and they just didnt wanna turn on. Normally, if you cause a direct short, isn't it instant?

 

technically yes but who knows ive seen some wierd things happen at work but if i were you i would just forget about it

 

Heh, I'll try my best. Thanks

 

Ok I feel a little better now. The same thing is happening to me.

Headlights work
Brake lights work

Dash lights don"t
Corner Ligths don't
Tail lights don't

I thought it was the fuses and check just about everyone I could think of, but all are Ok.

I removed the panel next to the hood release (drivers side) planning to check for lose or burn wires and notice something. The darn thing read "RELAY CORNER LAMP"

Hummm?

Does anyone have any info on this thing? What happens if this thing goes bad.

 

Ok found the problem. The darn turnsignal switch. Connection just got old. With 380,000+ miles, little things like that are bound to go wrong.

I'm pretty good with tools but throw something electrical at me and I'm like a deer in front of headlights.


$6 bucks and some change at the junk yard. An about an hour of work to fix.

 

Great Job. How'd you ID the problem?

 

After I check all the wires and fuses. I flick the lights on/off a number of times (about 20+ times only because I was ticked off at the fact that it wasn't working) I was lucky it worked.

I wouldn't advise anyone doing this part. I only did it because I could get another easily.

I took the turn signal apart and plugged it back in without the handle part and manually held each connection. Lights came on.

Just got lucky I guess

 

I had a similar problem. Thanks to you guys, I went right to the fuses (instead of calling a mechanic!), and sure enough, the fuse was blown.

Here's where it gets to be a problem:

I replaced the fuse with a spare and the tail lights came on no problem. I drove home from work (which is maybe a mile, tops, from my home), and when I checked the lights, the tail lights were out again. Yep, the fuse was blown again. I went to the store and picked up some more fuses (didn't know I was only getting one 10 amp in the package though).

I replaced yet another fuse, this time, with a brand new one. The lights came on, no problem.

So, I had to run my son to school early this morning, and the lights came on ok, but by the time I was at the end of my street (about 5 blocks), they went out again. That fuse blew too.

Did I just get a crappy fuse, or is it major? I don't know if it was a coincidence (mainly because I was too dumb to check), but you mentioned something about the turn signal, and the lights went this morning about the time I clicked the turn signal to the right (I know it has nothing to do with the left, because I did try that one).

Any thoughts?

 

Check all the rear bulbs for corrosion... If they are clean then i would suspect the turn signal switch being the culprit.....

 

Thanks! Will do.

 

Rear bulbs were very clean.

So is the turn signal switch in the steering column?

(can't tell I'm trying to avoid taking the car in to a mechanic, can you!)

Thanks for your ideas.

 

Check the front bulbs too....

 

Just keep extra fuses, because i had that fuse blow ( the one marked "tail") about 6 times while i had mine.

 

Yeah, I know I have to get more fuses. Someone mentioned that it's probably a short and to check the lights above the license plate. I did have the bracket for one of them rust off, leaving me to rig up the bulb with electrical tape. Is there a way to "cap off" one of the lights? One bulb seems to be enough, and if that is the source of the problem, I'd like to try to fix it somehow. Re-attaching the bracket doesn't appear to be an option...