I was driving last night and all of a sudden my dash lights went out. Gauges work but not lit. Clearance lights, side markers and tails don't work. Brake, signals, heads all work.

I checked all fuses under hood and the only one blown is the 10 amp one for tail lights. I threw a 15A one in, since it was all I had, and that blew once I turn the lights on.

Only electrical mod is a Helios HID kit that I've had for a while now.

Any ideas?

 

Any ideas (bump)?

 

Same problem here. I have the foglight rewire also.

It happened when I put LEDs in my corners, but it doesn't make sense. Aren't LEDs suppose to consume less power? I took out the LEDs and put in the regular 194 bulbs and it fixed the problem. So I have LEDs in the front corners and 194 bulbs in the rear.

 

Sam, maybe try putting in a new 10A fuse?

 

I have LEDs with clears as well. I'll give that a shot next time I look for the fix.

If it blew a 15A wouldn't it naturally blow a 10A?

 

Take all the affected external bulbs out and put in a new fuse. If it doesn't blow, replace them one-by-one until you find the shorted one. If it still blows without the bulbs you have a bigger problem.

 

One would think...but you never know.

 

Wow. Lot of people have blown fuses. Yesterday I also blew a 15 amp fuse now I need to get a few more just in case.

 

Keep us updated, Sam.

 

I won't see my car until the 24th.

For now I'm driving the Bimmah.

I'll let you know after I take a look Thanks, Jason.

 

LED need a resister!!! other u will blow yr fuse....
it comsume very small amount of amp, but it has almost 0 resistance,imagine u connecting your "+" and "-" together....

for the HID, did u have hi/low like mine? i mean the halo bulb and a hid bulb...
coz i had the same issue, i found out the wire on my halo bulb is loosen and it was touching together... it even melted the wires...>< go check all the positive and negative

 

Just drive during the day. Fixed! Seriously though, I hope you get some time to try and get it resolved.

 

Oh yeah? What yr/model Bimmer? M6 FTW?

 

No, now you need to find out what's blowing the fuse. Replacing or upping the amperage is nothing more than a bandaid or worse.

 

Dude, thanks for the advice. I've been meaning to paint my stock sides black and replacing my clears with them. That way I can put back the regular bulbs.

I will check both during break.
My car is now parked at my parents' house (45 mins from school), while I'm driving my dad's spare care. Thanks, I'll let you guys know how it turns out.
It's only the wimpiest Bimmer ever. It's a '93 318is. It's a coupe with a five speed so it's fun to drive. That's all I ask for.

 

Had the same problem. I also have the foglight rewire. Turned out to be a loose wire under the passenger side fuse/relay box. Now it is fine. Hope this helps.

 

Actually I was testing my retrofitted projectors. It didn't work and I blew the fuse in the process. I need check the wiring and fix the problem so it doesn't happen again.

 

I have some what the same problem except only half of my dash goes out for 25 -30 min and then goes back on if it feels like it. Its the left side of my dash with the fuel gauge and speedometer but the tricky thing is the my miles are still lit up I checked all my fuses and none of them are blown. kinda weird help

 

do you have an aftermarket stereo. I've seen a car with the radio harness cut, and the parking light input not used, or taped off. it grounded out on the dash carrier and the parking light fuse blew whenever the lights were turned on.
If you have an aftermarket system, maybe pull it out and check the harness.

 

Did you fix the problem? If not,

check your trunk. The circuit to the parking lights and interior lights start at the same fuse under the hood. Then under the dash they split into interior lights and parking lights.

Chances are the fuse under the hood is blown. If it keeps blowing then you have a short between the battery and the fuse panel under the hood.

If the fuse under the dash keeps blowing, chances are there's a cut wire under your trunk lid. Its pretty common. If you take off the cover panel you may find a wire thats rubbing against bare metal with its insulation worn off.

Usually you'll put in a new fuse and then drive over a bump and pow. The fuse blows.

 

Thanks for the advice, guys. I checked the fog rewire, the HIDs, the LEDs, the tails. Nothing seems to work. The only thing I could possibly think is that perhaps the dimmer switch is the problem. Before this happened, my dimmer switch was not working. I should have mentioned that. I'm going to take it to a local, trusted shop and see what they can find.

Thanks again.

 

pull the dimmer out and smell it. Does it smell burnt? If not, thats probably not the problem

 

Good luck Sam.

 

Ugh! This is such a PITA. It's not the sides, not the fogs (rewire), not the HIDs, not the dimmer, not the tails. All external bulbs have been taken out and it still blew the fuse.

 

Ugh,electrical gremlins are the worst..

Since all the bulbs were out and it still blew the fuse,maybe the switch is bad?

 

You mean the stalk? I should check that, thanks.

 

Yeah,the main combination switch..

 

Thanks. I'll give that a shot.

Any other ideas if it's not the switch?!

 

Check incoming power at fuse ,lights and dash.

 

Did you ever check the dimmer switch?

 

I fixed it. I tried everything. Then I pulled the radio out and noticed my Pioneer XM tuner along with it's wiring was under the HU. I pulled it out, threw a fuse in and it worked.

 

Nice job Sam!
Glad you figured it out yourself.

 

Glad you found the problem without having to take the entire car apart..