Electrical gremlin! crazy lights

jpar196 · 12-12-10, 04:16 PM

Ok in the weekend I had the front bumper off and thats the only thing I did, but since then my parking lights are randomly turning on after I shut the car down and alarm activated.

so I thought thats strange and opened the door (parking light still on) and went to the stalk and turned it to the off position but it was already in the off position?!?? then I turned it on , then off, and it will turn off again ???

then after a while it will randomly come on ???

any thoughts ?

Indian · 12-12-10, 07:17 PM

ground? maybe the grounding tab on the front bar needs some tightening or the metal cleaned behind it.

FD Brian · 12-14-10, 08:36 PM

Check the relays in the front with your multi meter. sometimes water or moisture gets in those. I had the same interior light problems you were having so i bought a new relay and the problem went away.

jpar196 · 12-14-10, 11:29 PM

are they in the centre of the car? or right next to the battery ? Problem with my car is my previous owner decided to bin the fuse box in the middle of the bumper rail and individually tape each fuse and tie them to the chassis -_-
Any way of telling whats what ?

FD Brian · 12-19-10, 11:26 AM

Yea their the ones in the center. The boxes purpose is to keep some moisture away from the relays along with them staying in one place. If their individually tapped to the center rail, i almost guarantee that the relay is bad. One way to pinpoint which relay it is would be by turning the lights on and finding which relay makes a clicking sound. (You would need someone else turn the lights on for you while you listen for the clicking.)

jpar196 · 12-19-10, 02:50 PM

yeah , seemed to have fixed it self over the days, moisture must have gotten in to them,
next time I have the bumper off I should deal to it really and make sure moisture doesnt get in to them. any ideas how I can do this better than wrapping them in electrical tape :P ??

thanks

FD Brian · 12-20-10, 02:21 PM

Electrical tape is your only option at this point.... It wouldnt be a bad idea to buy a relay box from a person parting out their car. It also wouldnt be a bad idea to take all of those relays off their connectors and to check and see if there is corrosion around the pins. If their is i would use battery terminal cleaner and a little wire brush. If one of the relays are bad who knows when the others ones will go. And i believe the fuel pump relay is right next to the interior lights relay. So it wouldnt be fun to be stuck in some random parking lot one day cause your fuel pump wont turn on. Been there done that....