ok so I recently had me break lights stop working on my 1984 gs. I tracked down the problem to the "stop Lamp Checker" so I put a new used one in. everything went well for about a week. then it happened again

I fill up the old mazda. started it and then I could smell burning wire. so i turned it off ASAP. couldn't see any smoke or figure where the smell came from. so i started it back up and it was fine. then anout 5 min later all the sudden I heard a loud "POP" and the stop lamp light came on. I havent checked yet but I'm 95% sure it's the stop lamp checker. lights are good and so are the fuses.

Any suggestion on how I can fix the issue or what it could be. I have thought about hard wiring the checker and bypassing it. any inptu would be great!

 

Something is grounding out.

 

well I have followed the wires back and cant seem to find anything. I did fix the stop lamp checker, only to blow the fuse in the fuse box of course. I'd hate to do it but I may have to pull the rear wiring harrness apart.... any other suggestions?

 

do you have the right bulbs in there? something is drawing too much current, it could be a short, or a bad bulb.

the bulb can be "bad" to the checker and still work too. the Mazda checker is pretty good, with BMW you MUST use BMW bulbs

 

the bulbs are good. they aren't bmw bulbs, but they are the correct ones. but nut i am having an added issue.

i took it for a drive and suddenly the dash lights and tail lighta are not working, but the head lights work, the right blinker is working fine but the left blinker is odd, when i use it, it drains the battery from 14v to 10v. but the right blinker does not do that.

is it my best bet to just take all the wiring out and go through it all, then put it back in?

 

ok so now there are a few more things i have noticed. when i put my left blinker on my rear defrost is turning on, also when i press the break my rear defrost is turning on. I'm thinking it could be dash wiring, but then there is that if i disconect the back half of my wire harness {from under the driver side cubby} non of those problem happen, of course i don't have lights back there, so what do you all think? is it the rear half of my harness or the dash part? this is driving me crazy!

 

Wiring will drive you crazy. I've been studying up on the FB wiring diagram for a few months now for some projects I've done.

When you say you disconnected the back half of your wiring harness, are you referring to the harness that only runs interior operations? Because to my knowledge, there is one that runs the tail lights, rear defrost, rear hatch light, and rear marker lights.. just wondering, trying to help.

 

take a look at the wiring plug under the drivers side storage bin probably corroded and shorted out

 

Just for insurance, check your alternator output voltage - - you could have a flaky or failing voltage regulator, and an overvolt condition can play hell with your electrical system.

It's probably not hte problem, but worth checking just ot eliminate the chance. This does sound more like you've got a short somewhere.

 

Yes if i disconnect the rear half from under the drive side bin none of the crazy dash light stuff happens. I have gone through all the wires in the back half of the car for the lights and defrosters and it doesn't look bad at all. they are really clean looking and the connector is in perfect shape.

 

Look to see if any screws might have pinched a wire somewhere.

 

it can also be pinched where it goes past the metal bin holder thingee. i'd also manually check the bulbs, there might be a bad bulb/socket