Hey guys, first time poster long time creaper because if I ever had a problem I could find the answer with just a few keywords, but this time I can't.

This happened a few days ago out of nowhere but regardless of whether my car is on, off or running my running taillights, corner lights and foglights will not turn off with the switch on the steering wheel at all unless i pull the 15a fuse for them under the hood. The headlights turn on and off as they should, but the rest of them stay on no matter what even if the switch is fully off for all the lights.

If anyone has ever heard of a problem like this or have suggestions, pleease let me know!

Thanks!
Justin

 

I have not seen or heard of this but I am guessing that the headlight switch is bad. The headlight switch is really multiple switches (7 I think) built into one plastic housing. Usually switches will fail to make a connection, but to short and have a constant connection does happen.

I admit that I am guessing so if you decide to replace the switch, get a junkyard one so that it won't be as bad of a hit on your wallet if I am wrong.

 

Hmm, I'll give replacing it a shot. Do you know how difficult it would be to replace it, just screw out/ screw on?
A month ago I snagged the headlight stalk from my buddies GLE because it had the fog light switch on it and mine didn't. I just tore the plastic around the steering column apart because he was junking the car

 

You say you have the headlight stalk. Does it look like the photo in this link? I don't think the stalk is supposed to come out of the switch.

http://www.oreillyauto.com/site/c/de...1989&ppt=C0039

Take the plastic cover off from around the steering wheel, 6 phillips screws in the bottom and the cover separates into a top piece and a bottom piece.

 

Yes that is what I have, I just swapped it out with my old one but had no luck with the light issue. Any other suggestions by chance?

 

Now it gets a bit more difficult. Do the lights look like they are on full brightness when the headlights are switched off? While you say this happened out of nowhere, did you happen to change a burned out light bulb?

And to give me something to think about, is this a Canadian Maxima with daylight running lights?

 

The lights are the same brightness as if the headlights are on too. I noticed it one day when i went to my buddies house to help him fix something with his car and i wasn't able to turn the lights off. I did nothing to the headlights or anything like replacing a burnt out one.

This isn't a Canadian maxima.

 

The flow of power for the tail lights and side markers is: battery - fuse under the hood - light switch - fuse in dash panel - light bulbs.

Try removing the fuse in the dash panel. It is fuse # 5, 7.5 amps. Fuse #5 is in the left most column, 5th one from the bottom. I feel the tail lights and side markers will go off, but I think the fog lights will remain on. Would you try it and see?

 

So after a few days of driving I was on my way to work and after I dropped my girlfriend off I looked at my spedometer and it was completely dark minding that this was after 10pm. I had the fuse in the panel under the hood. I got to work and when I had all my lights switched on only my headlights were on; no corner markers, brake lights or fog lights.

 

I've still got this issue where my headlights will turn on but the corner lights, parking lights and tail lights(not brake lights) won't turn on. Dash lights and illuminated door switch lights(windows and lock) are not illuminated.
Fogs still turn on with the switch.

Headlights and fogs.

No tail lights while headlights are switched on.

Brake lights.

Directionals and hazards work like normal.

 

Your original post says that the parking & running lights wouldn't turn off. Your current post says that they won't turn on. Am I reading this correctly? If so, did you do something?

Do the parking and side markers light when you put the switch in the parking light position?

This is going to require tracing wires and checking for voltage.

 

The corner lights, parking lights and tail lights will not turn on. When I first posted they wouldn't turn off unless I pulled the fuse under the hood. Now they will not turn on at all regardless of the switch position.

 

Sounds like you had a short to power in the circuit that Has now turned into a failed circuit. need to check source voltage, and load voltage. Then Check ground resistance. Check all the bulbs for fused contacts or rust.

 

I tested both fuses, one under the hood and the other in the cabin. The fuse under the hood had power but the fuse inside the cabin wasn't showing any power with a good fuse.

Would it be possible to splice the wire for that fuse between the fuse box under the hood to the headlight switch and just simply make an aftermarket switch inside the cabin to work the lights to bypass the fuse in the cabin?

 

Of course you could do that, but it would be just as easy/hard to trace the wire between the light switch and the fuse.

Again - The flow of power for the tail lights and side markers is: battery - fuse under the hood - light switch - fuse in dash panel - light bulbs.

Locate the connector for the light switch. Pin 11 is the wire from the under hood fuse, red/blue stripe. Pin 12, red/green stripe wire, is the power coming out of the switch and going to the fuse in the dash board.

Reference the EL section of the FSM, page 56 (and 57).

http://boredmder.com/FSMs/Nissan/Maxima/1997/EL.pdf

 

Is that connector one of the plugs directly connected to the headlight stalk?

 

Yes. It is the lower of the 2 connectors and has 4 wires in it that are stacked vertically. The red/blue wire from under the hood is the bottom most wire and should have power all the time. The red/green wire is the top most wire and should have power when you turn the light switch on.

 

Awesome, thanks! I know this is a noobie question but when I test them I should have my meter set to 20v, is this correct?
Thanks again!

 

Yes. You will be measuring 12 volts, so you need to pick a range that is higher than this.

You will have some difficulty because of close quarters. You will need something with a right angle end. What I use are the straight pins that you find in a new shirt. They can slide inside the connector next to the wire and then you can touch the pin with the meter probe.

 

Okay, so after checking the pins there is no power going to pin 11. I did, however, splice the wires and powered it up to an add-a-fuse the same way my heated seats are hooked up and the lights are working perfect. I don't know if there's a bad ground for that wire or something, but I don't know where that would be.

One more thing, when I switch my headlights on my clock doesn't dim nor does it illuminate the window switches, PNRD21, or the guages.