I need HELP! Dash lights out!

So i get in the car, turn on the lights this morn..nope, nothing...
checked the fuse, its blown. slap in another 10A and blows that as soon as i turn on the lights.

the former owner (02BLUBRU) put in those Pro-sport gauges, but other then that i believe the lights are stock. Ohh it has the blue LEDs in the dash too.

Anyone have any ideas??? Im running out of time as i will be going under the knife this week and the car will be parked for 2 months or so... i need to fix this by thursday.

PLEASE HELP!!!
Aj

 

i'm a hack, I would see if it blows a 15a. PM driftin240 I think he knows that car pretty well.

 

^^^ he has spent a couple of hours on it....

do the prosport gauges light up still??
does your dome light work?
you said you washed it, did you wash under the hood?
Is it just the speedo/ tach lights or is it the hvac lights and radio lights as well???

 

Way to unload a POS car, Bill. Jeez.

AJ you should have bought mine instead!

hehe

 

will do!

the prosport gauges light up fine with normal white, but they do not switch over to the red when the "lights" are turned on, they stay white. headlights operate just fine as well.

yea, i washed the outside of the car. didn't open the hood or spray the engine in any way. nothing a normal rain storm or car wash wouldn't have done.

yes, its the speedo, cluster, hvac and radio lights that dont work.

dome light works just fine...

hahaha...i wish! i love ur car too! wanna trade??? LOL

 

obviously mine was a better car other wise he would of bought yours. :eek4:

what radio are you using??? try disconnecting that and see if your fuses still go? check the radio fuse.

 

do the actual headlights work???

 

its a stock radio, i will try that. the radio works fine though. the center display on the radio also works, but the buttons on the radio do not light up.

yea, headlights and fog lights turn on just like normal.

im lost... i freaking hate electrical problems!

 

what has changed/happened since they worked last. blown fuse = short. and those don't usually happen on their own. could be anything.


and yea....I'd go with the 15a fuse idea. although, I wouldn't go all the way to 20a, and if the 15a works, I wouldn't call it permanent.


also, did you drive/run the car enough to warm up the cabin. if it wasn't something you did, could just be a little moisture that got in somewhere and froze. AFAIK (off the top of my head), all the wiring for that stuff is in the dash. so warming the cabin might thaw anything going wrong in there.

 

Did You try and find the short? I'd stay away from larger amp fuse's. There's a problem now, a larger fuse will only compound the problem.

Open the hood and inspect the parking light wires, sockets. Pull the bulbs out and inspect th sockets.

 

The ONLY thing that changed, was i washed the car. i sprayed hot water under the wheel wells (extended period of time too) to get all the snow and ice **** out of there. thats literally the only thing that happened in b/w the time when it worked and when it didn't. i'll try the fuse, but its not a fix...

that is the next thing i am going to do tonight. there is a lot of "exposed" wiring in the engine bay due to the HIDs and HElla fogs/horn. i will run a heat gun to everything, try to melt any snow/ice build up that may be there. will check all sockets as well...

thanks all, will post back when i go thru things.
Aj

 

There's Your prob, right there

 

could be, but, like I said, I don't think there's anything that's on the same circuit as the interior lights that runs under the hood. if that "exposed" wiring (which I assume you mean it's just not wrapped in loom and whatnot, not exposed copper that could short out on anything) were shorting, it would blow a fuse, but I don't think it would blow that one.


if it is a dead short, it'll blow the 15a fuse immediately too. but if it's some moisture/ice buildup, you might get away with it.

 

its gotta be some water got in somewhere. i mean, thats the ONLY thing that was changed in the time it worked and it didn't...

ahh this sux!!!! So not the time for this to happen!
Aj

 

The parking lights are on the same circuit as the dash lights.

 

Cough cough...


he already said they work.. didnt say the parking lights though but the rest do...

 

yea, the parking lights always worked fine, still do... i am going to pull all the light sockets and check them.

my mechanic said to check the dimmer switch. if that fails... its a short. So, i know the dimmer is on the column arm (headlight switch)...

Bill, where did you disconnect the dimmer for the ProSport guages??? Who installed this, maybe they have a idea??????

Thanks all...willpsot back tonight when i go thru things.
Aj

 

GOOD NEWS!

all it took was warmer weather. apparently, now everything works fine. i popped a new 10A fuse, it works fine. i did check all the connections in the headlights and turn signals. cleaned up all the water that was in the connections and any snow/ice in the engine bay.

i dunno..im just thinkin the water froze up some **** somewhere...

But, THANK YOU all, for everything! Couldn't have trouble shooted without ya'll!
Aj

 

controlled by the same switch, yes. but actually on a different fuse.

 

aight...even thought the lights work... one of the hvac lights (heat/cold switch) backlight went out. how do i replace this???

Bill, did you put LEDs in those hvac control?

Aj

 

driftin240 and I installed them. I just used the wires that were for the clock that was in the location before.

yes