S5 FC Vert Interior/Running Lights Issue
03-16-11, 12:26 PM
#1
Drift Nut
Thread Starter
iTrader: (2)
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: Madison, AL
Posts: 76
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
S5 FC Vert Interior/Running Lights Issue
So I recently did a clutch job on my car, and when trying to disconnect the transmission sensor pigtails, I accidentally severed one of the wires. We fixed it with a spade connector but I forgot to wrap the spade connector and I THINK it grounded out (at least that's my theory as to what the problem is).
I was driving to Harbor Freight to return some tools that I didn't end up needing and everything was working (sans the windows, which turned out to be a loose battery terminal -- small wire connected to a ring terminal between the positive terminal and the nut that tightens it. Is this a factory thing, or did someone try to do a patch job here?).
I got out, returned the part, and got back in my car, and the interior lights and tail lights were not working. My radio (aftermarket) IS working, however, and remembering its settings as well.
My initial thought was that connector. When I got home I inspected the fuses (I didn't remove them all, but I looked through them) and they all looked fine. I looked up in the FSM which fuses are which and found the "ILLUM" fuse (which I took to be "illumination") and it's a perfectly good 15A fuse.
Can anyone else make any suggestions as to what might be the problem?
I was driving to Harbor Freight to return some tools that I didn't end up needing and everything was working (sans the windows, which turned out to be a loose battery terminal -- small wire connected to a ring terminal between the positive terminal and the nut that tightens it. Is this a factory thing, or did someone try to do a patch job here?).
I got out, returned the part, and got back in my car, and the interior lights and tail lights were not working. My radio (aftermarket) IS working, however, and remembering its settings as well.
My initial thought was that connector. When I got home I inspected the fuses (I didn't remove them all, but I looked through them) and they all looked fine. I looked up in the FSM which fuses are which and found the "ILLUM" fuse (which I took to be "illumination") and it's a perfectly good 15A fuse.
Can anyone else make any suggestions as to what might be the problem?
03-17-11, 05:17 AM
#3
Rotary Freak
With the key out of the ignition.................do your STOP lights and HAZARDS work?
The METER fuse feeds the reverse switch on the transmission which in turn feeds the reverse lights..............and the METER fuse has nothing to do with the running lights so I'm GUESSING the problem has nothing to do with the transmission work.
Side and tail lights plus the interior lights are from the ILLUMINATION fuse. ILLUMINATION fuse gets fed power 24/7 from the BTN fuse in the engine bay. No key required. So a bad BTN fuse could cause your problem..........but if the HAZARDS and the STOP lights do work..........then it can't be the BTN fuse because the BTN fuse also feeds the Hazards and Stop lights.
Usually the lack of running lights (side lights and tail lights plus interior lights) is caused from a bad headlight switch or the short harness that connects to that switch. Like mentioned before, the ILLUMINATION fuse powers these lights. So if that power does not get thru the switch you get no lights.
If the Illumination fuse was good..........I'd pull the elect plug off the headlight switch and see if there is power on the White/Green wire in that plug. Should be there. No key required. White/Green comes from the Illumination fuse.
IF white/green has power.............the get a piece of wire and jumper b/t the white/green wire and the red/black wire. Tail and runing lights should come on doing that. IF they do........then it's a headlight switch internal problem or possible harness problem. That headlight switch is connected to a SHORT elect harness about a foot long and sometimes the pins in the elect plug that connect to the headlight switch get burnt. So look in that plug on the harness and see if the white/green contact has a burnt look about it or not.
JPG of the headlight switches elect plug attached and shows where the W/G and R/B wires are in that plug.
I can't account for non stk wiring at the batt terminals. No idea. Only idea is this........the engine bay fuse box gets fed batt pwr from the batt positive terminal. Batt positive terminal should have come with two cables on it. One is large and feeds the starter......the other much smaller and that is the one that feeds the engine bay fuse box. Engine bay fuse box feeds a lot of stuff including the battery bus in the interior fuse box via the BTN fuse. The interior fuse boxes batt bus feeds.......the illumination fuse.
Batt busses by defination don't need a key to be powered up 24/7.
I think your runing light problem lies in the headlight switches elect connector.
FYI......just because the headlights come up and down and light up does not mean the switch is good. All that switch does for headlights themselves, is put a ground on a wire when the **** is turned to full on. The other wires like the ones that cause running lights and stop lights to come on require power to pass thru the switch when it's turned a notch or two.
Wrote to much. Too early in the morn or too late at night .....one or the other.
The METER fuse feeds the reverse switch on the transmission which in turn feeds the reverse lights..............and the METER fuse has nothing to do with the running lights so I'm GUESSING the problem has nothing to do with the transmission work.
Side and tail lights plus the interior lights are from the ILLUMINATION fuse. ILLUMINATION fuse gets fed power 24/7 from the BTN fuse in the engine bay. No key required. So a bad BTN fuse could cause your problem..........but if the HAZARDS and the STOP lights do work..........then it can't be the BTN fuse because the BTN fuse also feeds the Hazards and Stop lights.
Usually the lack of running lights (side lights and tail lights plus interior lights) is caused from a bad headlight switch or the short harness that connects to that switch. Like mentioned before, the ILLUMINATION fuse powers these lights. So if that power does not get thru the switch you get no lights.
If the Illumination fuse was good..........I'd pull the elect plug off the headlight switch and see if there is power on the White/Green wire in that plug. Should be there. No key required. White/Green comes from the Illumination fuse.
IF white/green has power.............the get a piece of wire and jumper b/t the white/green wire and the red/black wire. Tail and runing lights should come on doing that. IF they do........then it's a headlight switch internal problem or possible harness problem. That headlight switch is connected to a SHORT elect harness about a foot long and sometimes the pins in the elect plug that connect to the headlight switch get burnt. So look in that plug on the harness and see if the white/green contact has a burnt look about it or not.
JPG of the headlight switches elect plug attached and shows where the W/G and R/B wires are in that plug.
I can't account for non stk wiring at the batt terminals. No idea. Only idea is this........the engine bay fuse box gets fed batt pwr from the batt positive terminal. Batt positive terminal should have come with two cables on it. One is large and feeds the starter......the other much smaller and that is the one that feeds the engine bay fuse box. Engine bay fuse box feeds a lot of stuff including the battery bus in the interior fuse box via the BTN fuse. The interior fuse boxes batt bus feeds.......the illumination fuse.
Batt busses by defination don't need a key to be powered up 24/7.
I think your runing light problem lies in the headlight switches elect connector.
FYI......just because the headlights come up and down and light up does not mean the switch is good. All that switch does for headlights themselves, is put a ground on a wire when the **** is turned to full on. The other wires like the ones that cause running lights and stop lights to come on require power to pass thru the switch when it's turned a notch or two.
Wrote to much. Too early in the morn or too late at night .....one or the other.
03-17-11, 12:43 PM
#4
Drift Nut
Thread Starter
iTrader: (2)
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: Madison, AL
Posts: 76
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
With the key out of the ignition.................do your STOP lights and HAZARDS work?
The METER fuse feeds the reverse switch on the transmission which in turn feeds the reverse lights..............and the METER fuse has nothing to do with the running lights so I'm GUESSING the problem has nothing to do with the transmission work.
Side and tail lights plus the interior lights are from the ILLUMINATION fuse. ILLUMINATION fuse gets fed power 24/7 from the BTN fuse in the engine bay. No key required. So a bad BTN fuse could cause your problem..........but if the HAZARDS and the STOP lights do work..........then it can't be the BTN fuse because the BTN fuse also feeds the Hazards and Stop lights.
Usually the lack of running lights (side lights and tail lights plus interior lights) is caused from a bad headlight switch or the short harness that connects to that switch. Like mentioned before, the ILLUMINATION fuse powers these lights. So if that power does not get thru the switch you get no lights.
If the Illumination fuse was good..........I'd pull the elect plug off the headlight switch and see if there is power on the White/Green wire in that plug. Should be there. No key required. White/Green comes from the Illumination fuse.
IF white/green has power.............the get a piece of wire and jumper b/t the white/green wire and the red/black wire. Tail and runing lights should come on doing that. IF they do........then it's a headlight switch internal problem or possible harness problem. That headlight switch is connected to a SHORT elect harness about a foot long and sometimes the pins in the elect plug that connect to the headlight switch get burnt. So look in that plug on the harness and see if the white/green contact has a burnt look about it or not.
JPG of the headlight switches elect plug attached and shows where the W/G and R/B wires are in that plug.
I can't account for non stk wiring at the batt terminals. No idea. Only idea is this........the engine bay fuse box gets fed batt pwr from the batt positive terminal. Batt positive terminal should have come with two cables on it. One is large and feeds the starter......the other much smaller and that is the one that feeds the engine bay fuse box. Engine bay fuse box feeds a lot of stuff including the battery bus in the interior fuse box via the BTN fuse. The interior fuse boxes batt bus feeds.......the illumination fuse.
Batt busses by defination don't need a key to be powered up 24/7.
I think your runing light problem lies in the headlight switches elect connector.
FYI......just because the headlights come up and down and light up does not mean the switch is good. All that switch does for headlights themselves, is put a ground on a wire when the **** is turned to full on. The other wires like the ones that cause running lights and stop lights to come on require power to pass thru the switch when it's turned a notch or two.
Wrote to much. Too early in the morn or too late at night .....one or the other.
The METER fuse feeds the reverse switch on the transmission which in turn feeds the reverse lights..............and the METER fuse has nothing to do with the running lights so I'm GUESSING the problem has nothing to do with the transmission work.
Side and tail lights plus the interior lights are from the ILLUMINATION fuse. ILLUMINATION fuse gets fed power 24/7 from the BTN fuse in the engine bay. No key required. So a bad BTN fuse could cause your problem..........but if the HAZARDS and the STOP lights do work..........then it can't be the BTN fuse because the BTN fuse also feeds the Hazards and Stop lights.
Usually the lack of running lights (side lights and tail lights plus interior lights) is caused from a bad headlight switch or the short harness that connects to that switch. Like mentioned before, the ILLUMINATION fuse powers these lights. So if that power does not get thru the switch you get no lights.
If the Illumination fuse was good..........I'd pull the elect plug off the headlight switch and see if there is power on the White/Green wire in that plug. Should be there. No key required. White/Green comes from the Illumination fuse.
IF white/green has power.............the get a piece of wire and jumper b/t the white/green wire and the red/black wire. Tail and runing lights should come on doing that. IF they do........then it's a headlight switch internal problem or possible harness problem. That headlight switch is connected to a SHORT elect harness about a foot long and sometimes the pins in the elect plug that connect to the headlight switch get burnt. So look in that plug on the harness and see if the white/green contact has a burnt look about it or not.
JPG of the headlight switches elect plug attached and shows where the W/G and R/B wires are in that plug.
I can't account for non stk wiring at the batt terminals. No idea. Only idea is this........the engine bay fuse box gets fed batt pwr from the batt positive terminal. Batt positive terminal should have come with two cables on it. One is large and feeds the starter......the other much smaller and that is the one that feeds the engine bay fuse box. Engine bay fuse box feeds a lot of stuff including the battery bus in the interior fuse box via the BTN fuse. The interior fuse boxes batt bus feeds.......the illumination fuse.
Batt busses by defination don't need a key to be powered up 24/7.
I think your runing light problem lies in the headlight switches elect connector.
FYI......just because the headlights come up and down and light up does not mean the switch is good. All that switch does for headlights themselves, is put a ground on a wire when the **** is turned to full on. The other wires like the ones that cause running lights and stop lights to come on require power to pass thru the switch when it's turned a notch or two.
Wrote to much. Too early in the morn or too late at night .....one or the other.
03-17-11, 01:31 PM
#5
Drift Nut
Thread Starter
iTrader: (2)
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: Madison, AL
Posts: 76
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
After looking further into Section T of the FSM (which ironically depicts the body of an S4) I found out that the wire that supplies power to the Back-Up Light sensor is red. I can't remember if I broke a RED or RED/GREEN wire. The Back-Up Light sensor seems to run BLUE/YELLOW to the sensor, then RED/GREEN to RED to the lights (I don't understand this one. It changes colors seemingly without a component tying them together.), then RED to the ground.
Being that both RED and RED/GREEN run from the sensor to the Back-Up Lights, that sounds plausible. What do you think?
Being that both RED and RED/GREEN run from the sensor to the Back-Up Lights, that sounds plausible. What do you think?
03-17-11, 01:56 PM
#6
After looking further into Section T of the FSM (which ironically depicts the body of an S4) I found out that the wire that supplies power to the Back-Up Light sensor is red. I can't remember if I broke a RED or RED/GREEN wire. The Back-Up Light sensor seems to run BLUE/YELLOW to the sensor, then RED/GREEN to RED to the lights (I don't understand this one. It changes colors seemingly without a component tying them together.), then RED to the ground.
Being that both RED and RED/GREEN run from the sensor to the Back-Up Lights, that sounds plausible. What do you think?
Being that both RED and RED/GREEN run from the sensor to the Back-Up Lights, that sounds plausible. What do you think?
03-17-11, 02:16 PM
#7
replace the headlight switch and inspect it's connector, common failure.
the transmission switches are a universal passthrough type connection so connecting each leg to the proper side does not matter. there is just 2 sets of connectors, 2 block style and 2 bullet connectors, they do not need to be connected any special way, which is why mazda didn't simply make them 2 plug connectors to eliminate the possibility of hooking them up incorrectly.
the transmission switches are a universal passthrough type connection so connecting each leg to the proper side does not matter. there is just 2 sets of connectors, 2 block style and 2 bullet connectors, they do not need to be connected any special way, which is why mazda didn't simply make them 2 plug connectors to eliminate the possibility of hooking them up incorrectly.
Last edited by RotaryEvolution; 03-17-11 at 02:21 PM.
Trending Topics
03-17-11, 03:02 PM
#8
Drift Nut
Thread Starter
iTrader: (2)
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: Madison, AL
Posts: 76
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
replace the headlight switch and inspect it's connector, common failure.
the transmission switches are a universal passthrough type connection so connecting each leg to the proper side does not matter. there is just 2 sets of connectors, 2 block style and 2 bullet connectors, they do not need to be connected any special way, which is why mazda didn't simply make them 2 plug connectors to eliminate the possibility of hooking them up incorrectly.
the transmission switches are a universal passthrough type connection so connecting each leg to the proper side does not matter. there is just 2 sets of connectors, 2 block style and 2 bullet connectors, they do not need to be connected any special way, which is why mazda didn't simply make them 2 plug connectors to eliminate the possibility of hooking them up incorrectly.
However, I did have an issue once with my old S14. The turn signal/headlight/high-beam switch spontaneously combusted one night. I got a new pigtail from a parts car and cut and soldered everything back together. From that point on, I had an issue with my head, tail and running lights when I switched on my brights.
Are you saying it's the same kind of thing? I pulled the dash bezel off a while back and disconnected everything and noticed a wire on either the turn signal switch or the headlight switch was kinda melty and stuff. I think it was W/G...anyway I looked in the FSM and I THOUGHT it went to the turn signal cancellation box. Related?
Honestly, I've been planning on doing a switch panel, as this puppy's gonna be a drifty car, and if I'm going to have to replace the headlight switch...what the hell, might as well get started now, right?
Thanks for you guys' continued input.
03-17-11, 07:05 PM
#9
Rotary Freak
Let's see. Whether the headlights work or do not work has nothing to do with the side and tail lights working (running lights as some call them).
Turn the headlight switch on to the first or last positon and the contacts in the switch cause a circuit from the WHITE/GREEN wire to the RED/BLACK wire in the headlight switches plug.
If the switch is bad this won't happen or if the short harness that connects to the headlight switch has burnt contacts at its white/green or red/black contacts......the running lights won't work or if the ILLUMINATION fuse is kaput the running lights won't work.
To prove the switch is good or bad..........pull the plug off the headlight switch. Jumper b/ the white/green wire and the red/black. IF the fuse is good the running lights will come on Proving the headlight switch is bad. Seems I wrote this same thing this morning. Oh well. Wrote too much. See jpg I attached with my first post showing the location of the white/green wire and red/black wire in the headlight switches plug. Jumper same two wires. I made a a redline connecting the two pins in the plug that would have to be jumpered. See jpg.
IF the light come on..........don't give up on the switch. IF you can read continuity across the pins where the white/green and red/black wires are ON THE SWITCH......all is not lost. This means most likely a relay can be installed and the positive side of the new relay can be powered thru the switch. ICEMark wrote a post about how to do this.
Turn the headlight switch on to the first or last positon and the contacts in the switch cause a circuit from the WHITE/GREEN wire to the RED/BLACK wire in the headlight switches plug.
If the switch is bad this won't happen or if the short harness that connects to the headlight switch has burnt contacts at its white/green or red/black contacts......the running lights won't work or if the ILLUMINATION fuse is kaput the running lights won't work.
To prove the switch is good or bad..........pull the plug off the headlight switch. Jumper b/ the white/green wire and the red/black. IF the fuse is good the running lights will come on Proving the headlight switch is bad. Seems I wrote this same thing this morning. Oh well. Wrote too much. See jpg I attached with my first post showing the location of the white/green wire and red/black wire in the headlight switches plug. Jumper same two wires. I made a a redline connecting the two pins in the plug that would have to be jumpered. See jpg.
IF the light come on..........don't give up on the switch. IF you can read continuity across the pins where the white/green and red/black wires are ON THE SWITCH......all is not lost. This means most likely a relay can be installed and the positive side of the new relay can be powered thru the switch. ICEMark wrote a post about how to do this.
03-17-11, 11:06 PM
#10
Drift Nut
Thread Starter
iTrader: (2)
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: Madison, AL
Posts: 76
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
OK, so I jumped R/B to W/G. The running lights turned on immediately. The gauges, however, did not.
By the way, here's shots of that wire I said got a little melty.
By the way, here's shots of that wire I said got a little melty.
03-18-11, 06:29 PM
#11
Drift Nut
Thread Starter
iTrader: (2)
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: Madison, AL
Posts: 76
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
I've gone ahead and started sourcing what I need to make my switch panel, but it'd really be nice to drive the car at night in the interim. Anyone have anything for me?
Thread
Thread Starter
Forum
Replies
Last Post
