So got in my car last night, noticed that i had no dash lights. Then my wife saw me driving back home, and noticed i had no tail lights (brake lights work). Ok figured maybe a fuse is out or something and that i'd check it out today.

Then last night i was woken up by a car alarm - look out the window - its the maxima. Grabbed key remote, push lock/unlock a few times, and it goes away. 10 minutes later, its going off again, this time pushing lock/unlock do nothing, and the pattern of the horn honking is kind of changing, from loud honks to faint honks, from long honks to short honks. Nothing will make it stop except unhooking the battery.

Haven't gone back outside to mess with it yet this morning - anyone had this problem?

 

check fuses

 

^^

Also,
check grounds
check battery

 

If it's not a fuse, then you probably have an electrical short of faulty module to track down. Sounds like you have your work cut out ahead of you. Good luck & keep us posted...

 

The fuse that powers the tail lights also powers the dash lights. This is fuse # 60, Located in the fuse block under the hood next to the battery. If the fuse is good, then check the tail lamp relay. The power from the fuse goes to the relay first and then to the lamps.

What worries me is the alarm going off. The tail lamp fuse has nothing to do with the alarm. But there is something in common with the 2 things - the SECU. The SECU sends a signal to set off the alarm and it also energizes the tail lamp relay. Check the plugs on the SECU that they are seated all the way and also look for any damage to the wires going into those plugs.

Do check the ground wires, especially the main chassis ground. Just follow the negative battery cable down from the battery.

 

Im thinking maby a shorted door pin switch or hood switch.just because of the alarm and those are on the same circuit also.

 

Where is the tail lamp relay located?

 

Is this a factory alarm??

 

yea - the factory alarm...

checked the fuse - and visually it doesn't appear to be bad, will replace anyway though and see if that solves at least the dash light/tail light problem.

 

nevermind, figured out where that relay is

 

That isn't no fuse or relay. That's a short with your aftermarket alarm and your wiring system. Take that car to a certified alarm installer and have him diagnose that issue. You might have to re-do it depending on how complicated it is to find.

 

not an aftermarket alarm - just the stock anti-theft system.

Replaced the fuse and relay for the tail lamps - and now i have tail lamps and dash lights again. Will see if the alarm goes off again - but so far so good. Hopefully no late night wake up call tonight!

 

Oh okay. It sounded like a similar problem I had with mine. You shouldn't arm the alarm in the night because you don't want to have to wake up every hour to turn it off. Your family and neighbour wouldn't be too happy the next day...

 

I don't think this could be the cause. When a door or hood is opened, the switch closes the connection to make the circuit. A short would be the same thing as the door or hood being open. If a door is open, the door light on the dash will be lit up when you are driving. Also, if a door is open, you can't set the alarm. If you can't set the alarm, it can't go off.

 

Sorry to bump an old thread but i check all fuses and it was my relay. Swapped the fog relay and everything was fine. i tried bumped the most relevant thread.

 

so you're saying that your alarm relay was bad?

 

Sorry the relay for the taillight and dash was bad. I swapped it with the foglight relay and everything was gravy.

The foglight relay is the one above the dask/taillight relay on my 03.

Hope this helps.

 

ohhh ok, thanks for the info.. both my tail lights and dash lights works so i'm going to explore other options.. I think it might be that the trunk light is always on and doesn't turn off