virtego13

i had been having a lot of problems electical problems with my car. they weren't engine related, but like the parking lights, windshield wipers, IP lights, etc. i have finally gotten everything to work except for one thing. the tail lights and the IP lights do not come on when i turn the headlights on. i can put a new fuse in the "illum" spot in the fuse box (i believe it is a 15A) , but after turning the lights on once and then off, the fuse will be burned.

Please help!

-k

Tmoney

try checking all wires that have to do with your brakes, you may also need to check your brake switch which should be on the pedal itself. If it is bad, your brake lights will not work.

virtego13

okay... the lights i am talking about are NOT the brake lights... they are the rear running lights that are on when you have the parking lights or the headlights on.

by the way, i have already re-soldered the CPU.

virtego13

... anybody???

C. Ludwig

iTrader: (27)

Fuses don't blow just because. There has to be a short for the fuse to blow, or a current draw in excess of the rating of the fuse. If that circuit is supposed to have a 15amp fuse and it blows don't try putting a bigger fuse in to fix the problem.

1)Do the tail and dash lights come on when the switch is turned on the first time, or does the fuse blow as soon as you turn the lights on?
2)The first thing to do if you suspect a dead short is to isolate the IP lights and the tail lights to try to figure out what loom the short is in. Unplug the rear harness to remove the tail lights from the equation. If the problem goes away you know the short is in the tail light circuit somewhere. If it stays it is in the dash.
3)Once you narrow down where the short is you just gotta look for the dead short. Just start tracing the wires and looking for and place a wire might be pinched or bare. A factory wiring diagram is almost a must.

That's a very crude start. Auto electrical can be about the most puzzling PITA sometimes. Good luck.

Chris

virtego13

well... as far as when the fuse will blow, it seems to normally go out after i have turned the lights on once and then turn them off. (so it blows when i turn the switch to off) i can usually leave the lights on for the first time without the fuse going. sometimes, after leaving them on for a while, though, the fuse will go with the lights on.

virtego13

anybody???

PraxRX7

You might just have to look at the wiring diagrams, or trace the wires around for the light system and find out if there is a short anywhere....hopefully it is a visable short!

HAILERS

Ok, here goes. The power comes from the 15a fuse to a White with green stripe wire on plug for the light switch. That plug is on the back of the insturment cluster switch. Its a 14 pin plug. You know, that piece of plastic that all the wiper, light etc switches are mounted to. Inside the power flows thru the light sw and the PANEL LIGHT CONTROL. It then exits the same plug and goes to the tail lights. But it does more than the tail lights and panel light control. It also does the glove box light and switch, lecense lights rear side marker lights and storage box lights. Sooooo its probably not in the light switch so go the the rear of the car and disconnect the plug for the right and left tail lights. Have you been messing around any of the above areas ? I am looking at the superior 87 wiring diagrams but you can download the wiring diagrams for a 88 for free at http://www.iluvmyrx7.com Just download the wiring diagrams for a shorter download time. These diagrams are inferior to the 87 but you can make some headway with them. The location of the plugs is what is difficult to relay to you on a post like this, thats why I suggest the download. They are simplified schematics, and if I can follow one I know you can. You have a daid short somewhere. But you know that. Get a meter and or a fist full of fuses . By the way, the diagrams you are interested are on pages 50-49 thru 50-54 in the wiring diagram pages of the above iluvmyrx7 site. 88 manual.

HAILERS

Oh. Try this to eliminate the dimmer switch. Turn it in the completly off position and chunk in a fuse and see what happens. Whem you rotate that dimmer sw it should open the circuit to those insturment lites leaving only the half dozen lights in the glove box , storage box, tail and side lites and licence plates. Fuses are cheap. Are they not? This method of trouble shooting is called officialy *shotgunning*. Wish I had a spell checker.