Let me preface this by saying that I fully admit to being an idiot.
The Back Story
Months ago I had a new car stereo installed at CC. I think was
travelling for an extended period of time, and after that did not have
the occasion to drive the car at night for quite a while.
The Problem(s):
When I turn the headlights on the front lights come on, the tail lights
do not, and the dashboard does not light up either.
--Now here's the neat part, when I push the drivers window button to
roll the window up, the tail lights and dashboard immediately come to
life. If I hold the button down they continue to stay alive, however
they flicker back and forth as the window stops getting power because
it is already rolled up.
This is a very annoying way to drive at night. So this obviously
sounds like someone did some very interesting wiring when the new
stereo was installed, does ANYONE out there have an idea of how to undo
this?
Thanks,
Christian
lawrencealan - 02 Nov 2005 21:27 GMT
How did they wire your "accesory" 12v+ lead?
I know once I had a radio installed by CC (it was free and I'm lazy)
and they ran a wire to the fuse box, maybe this is the case and there
is some short somewhere. I would say check your fuse box to start
with, and if you had an amplifier installed, make sure that there is a
cable going to the battery for power and they didn't just rig it to the
power for the lights (just a wild guess)
L.A.
Christian - 02 Nov 2005 22:13 GMT
No amplifier installed. Could this really be something as simple as a
bad fuse?
Christian
E Meyer - 03 Nov 2005 04:33 GMT
On 11/2/05 12:52 PM, in article
1130957571.435220.281230@g44g2000cwa.googlegroups.com, "cmerrill@redhat.com"
> Let me preface this by saying that I fully admit to being an idiot.
>
[quoted text clipped - 21 lines]
>
> Christian
I think you will find that the taillights and the dash dimmer are on the
same fuse. Most aftermarket stereos do not have a place to connect the wire
that dims the radio light with the dash lights. If they let it just bounce
around in there without taping it off, usually it just blows the fuse
whenever it eventually touches a ground. I think these guys must have
spliced it in with one of the other wires, maybe switched power?
Pull out the bundle behind the radio and look for any wires that have been
doubled up or any left dangling.
There also might be a ground problem here. Maybe the radio ground was never
properly re-attached and it is grounding through the window electronics.
Unless you find an obvious loose ground or shorted/damaged wire, you will
need the wiring diagram to trace the circuits to fix this.