I have a 2004 Maxima SE and the other night I was driving home and noticed that some of the lights on the radio didn't light up (the row of switches where the radio favorites are) and the lights near my speedometer, tachometer and gas gauge were at full brightness. I tried using the slide-wheel to adjust the brightness, but it didn't do anything. I can manually switch day/night mode but it just adjusts the brightness of the radio screen.

Does anyone know what this could be related to? It's distracting to drive at night with the speedometer lights so bright. Thanks!

 

Check to see if your tail lights are working. The dome light switch is known to go bad and blows the 15a tail lamp fuse, which is located in the panel beside the coolant reservoir. That fuse is also responsible for the console lighting.

 

But wouldn't the tail-light fuse lock the shifter from going to drive? Still worth a check of that and other fuses.

 

Nope.

 

Thanks for the reply. The tail lights don't seem to work when I turn the headlights on, but if I step on the brake they turn on.

Side note: Can a mod change the title of this thread to Dashboard light problem (or something similar)? I idiotically typed the captcha code in the title box...Thanks.

 

http://www.sparkys-answers.com/2012/...ts-do.html?m=1Yeah, your brake lights will continue to function even if the tail lamp fuse is blown. Check and replace the 15a fuse and also check your dome light switch. Does it feel "sloppy" for lack of a better term? If so, that is very likely to be the source of the problem.

my tail fuse was randomly blowing every couple of days. I discovered that the dome switch was failing and causing a short, blowing out the fuse. I believe a replacement dome assy was about $200 or so, so I managed to get the switch in a position whereby the fuse stopped blowing and never touched it again . Eventually the entire switch fell out and I just left it like that

also, if you discover that your switch is failing, it is possible to wire the switch so that it will permanently operate in auto mode. You can do this as a temporary fix. See the link at the top of my post. Sorry, writing this from my phone and it isn't pasting things where they should go.

 

I also experienced this. Common issue it seems. If you replaced your stereo with an aftermarket one, and didn't put the black wire to chassis, it will also display the exact same symptoms. Good luck let us know if you fixed it.

 

Replacing the fuse fixed it (for now). When I drove home the other night I had turned the dome light on to look for my phone charger and when I switched it back to "door," it stayed on and I had to switch it to off and then to door to get it to go off. I assume that's the source of the problem, but I'm going to wait until it happens again (and not touch the dome light) before I play around with that. I don't have an aftermarket stereo, so that definitely isn't the problem.

Thanks so much for your help...I never even knew that fuse box existed.

 

No problem. Glad to have helped.

 

When my 3rd brake light was shorting from a pinch wire and killing fuses, it was locking my shifter each time. tail lights may be different.