rx7freak13v

alright so im not new to this game by far.i've been working with FC's for about 5 yrs now and have burned out yet another headlight switch and harness duo.i replaced the harness and rebuilt the switch.the rebuilt switch works in my friends car yet still my marker lights and tail lights are not coming on ?everything was working fine with no problems.i was at work (i do pizza delivery for hungry howies) driving my 7 back to the store from a delivery when i made a turn onto the highway less than a querter mile from the shop when my dash lights went out.at that point i wandered if my tail lights went with them and when the car behind me almost smashed into me i was sure they went out.after investigating i was right,no dash or running lamps at all.now that i replaced the harness and rebuilt the switch my dash lights are coming on but still no running lamps.is there another relay that the switch sends power to that powers the running lamps?under the dash in the fuse box,there is a 15amp fuse that is marked elumination,thsi is for the dash and running lamps.that fuse is good and dash lights work fine,is there anpother fuse that only powers the running lamps?or maybe a relay?i've been using my parents car for work but man is it borring to drive.i miss driving my 7,especialy since most of my driving is at night.im weery to even drive it in the day time cause it always looks like it's going to rain and i don't want to get caught in the rain with properly working running lights,i can't afford that ticket "again."please guys any info will help,i've tried searching for the past week but haven't came up with anything.help please

btw: my car is an 88 GXL

HAILERS

https://www.rx7club.com/2nd-gen-archive-72/heavy-duty-light-switch-operation-how-too-prevent-burnout-164931/

rx7freak13v

sry,i forgot to mention that part.i did wires in that relay this time around.like i said,i have searched and searched.just doesnt make since thatmy rebuilt headlight switch has everything working in my friends car but not mine?thanks though.i can use all the info possible at this point

HAILERS

I don't know what to say. Actually I've never done the Icemark relay job. I finally did have one cars light switch plug melt to kingdom come. Really messed up.

Memory says the white/green wire is the power wire and has pwr on it 24/7 without key to on or anything like that. So I got a new relay. The new relay like all relays had a coil. I ran a new wire from the white/green wire (spliced it to the white/green), to the positve side of that new relays coil. For the negative side of that new relays coil I attached a spliced in wire from the Red/White wire on the light switch plug.

Why the RED/WHITE wire? 'cause all you do when wanting to turn the HEADLIGHTS ( I said HEADLIGHTS, not tail lights) on, is turn the **** and the guts of the switch put a gnd on the RED/WHITE wire. The RED/WHITE wire goes to the headlight relay which pulls in and turns the headlights on.

Now I know the HEADLIGHTS are NOT your problem. Just saying that since the new relays coil is now spliced into the RED/WHITE wire, that when you turn the headlights to ON, you now also put a gnd on the new coil. It already has batt voltage on the positive side of that coil, so now with the switch to full headlights, the new relay now pulls in.

So now you have the new relay pulled in. So the trick now is to have power go from one of the new relays internal contacts to the other internal contact. So you also splice the white/green wire (power wire, remember) to one of the contacts and you attach the R/B wire to the other contact of the new relay.

So what you've got now is......turn HEADLIGHTS TO FULL ON..........power is already on the new relays coil.......turning to ON puts a gnd on the neg side of that coil.....relay pulls in and the two contacts inside the new relay come together.......power flows from where the WHITE/GREEN wire is on one side to the RED/BLACK on the othe side and the outside lights come on brightly.

Of course you have to have the switch plug connected to the switch after you do all this splicing and dicing. Plus now the side/tail light only come on if the headlight switch is to FULL ON. Will not come on if turned to just the first positon on the switch.

Anyway I did this on the one car 'cause the elect plug was so melted and messed up so I couldn't do the Icemark relay thing.


Sorry, no dwgs to be attached. Too lazy here.

One thing I'd do before anything...........pull the elect plug off the switch..........get a small gauge wire bare at each end...........put one end of the new wire into the socket where the WHITE/GREEN wire is.........put the other end of the new wire into the socket where the RED/BLACK wire is. The side lights and tail lights should come on. IF they don't, then there is another problem altogether.

Kinda backyard but I'm tired of messing with these cars and have better things to do than spend money on a light switch and harness.

rx7freak13v

thanks.i'll be trying this tomorow.i'll let you know how it goes.does it matter what kind of relay im using?will the relay from icemarks writeup work? (i already have it)

HAILERS

Make life simpler. Buy a single throw switch.

Extract the white/green wire from the plug that goes on the light switch.

Extract the Red/Black wire from the plug that goes on the light switch.

Extract the Red/Green wire from the plug that goes on the light switch.

Install the red/green and red/black on one terminal of the new switch.

Install the white/green wire on the other terminal of the new switch.

Now flip the switch to ON and now the side/tail lights come on and the interior gauge lights will come on. Done. Easy to do more or less.

Red/green feeds the interior gauge lights. Red/Black feeds the tail and side lights. Done

Wires can be extracted from the plugs by pushing down on a plastic tab inside the socket where each wire is. I forget right now how the light switch plug is configured. Whether you push down on this tab from the wire side or the front/mating side. Flat forgot. I usually use a tiny common screwdriver out of a jewlers screwdriver set that can be bought for ??? four bucks or so.

Forget the relay. just buy the simple single throw switch. EAsier and your up and runing right away more or less.

rx7freak13v

so i tried to use a jumper from the white/green to the red/black and i got sparks.......i dunno wtf is going on.everything was fine and then this.

HAILERS

I'd expect a small spark 'cause your powering up the side/tail lights when doing that. Those wires white/green and red/black should be in the same corner of the plug and near each other.

Did the fuse blow or is it still good?

rx7freak13v

fuse is still good.so u think the sparks are normal? after it sparked once....i tried it again and held it a bit longer but the lights never came on.i don't understand.......

HAILERS

Not normal. Not good.

Did you look at my jpg above of the plug and see where the white/green and red/black are in relation to each other? Both should be in the lower corner of the plug, next to each other. Green wire with white stripe and red wire with black stripe on it.

rx7freak13v

sry it took me so long to reply back,my computer crashed and i havent had internet access.Anyways,i tried your idea of running it through a toggle switch.as soon as i flipped the switch the fuse would blow.so i upgraded the fuse and kept pooping them so i kept upgrading.onc ei got to a 30a fuse it didnt pop and the lights came on.i knew there was a reason for the fuses to keep popping so as soon as i flippede the switch on i started exining everything looking for a problem.i noticed smoke coming out from behind the stereo.i shut off the switch and started investigating.i found a wire that either the tape must have came off of or never registered as a power wire through my light tester.anyways,it was grounding itself through an old speaker wire.but since i have aftermarket speaker wiring i didnt notice the problem while listening to the stereo.i corrected this problem,ditched the toggle switch and everything is working fine now.when the problem first started though the headlight switch did burn out (could see it on the switch side of the plug and the harness,new harness now) so i guess my rebuilding the switch must have been sucessful.hurray me.anyways,thanks for all the help.had you not of givin me the idea and wire colors i would have never found the problem.btw,im running the factory 15a fuse lol.thanks again.