eagle95
10-23-2009, 09:00 AM
Park lights on when key is on
________________________________________
Hey guy’s,
Thanks for the info I’ve received so far, but here’s what I’ve got it all broke down too, what a night mare. Anymore help will be greatly appreciated. Two in one problem, it started out to be, first problem, parking lights came on when ignition key was just turned to the on position, no big deal, just bugged me, but it’s not suppose to do that. Second problem ½ instrument cluster went out so I had to fix that. I went into the dash and found a burnt and broken light switch and the harness was bad as well, so I replaced them both and put her back together, and that took care of the instrument cluster problem, but the park light problem still existed. But now things start getting weird. Let me throw my nightmare at you electrical guys out there, not my field. And see what you think now. Another twist into the scenario, when I came out this morning, and I might add that I have no interior lights at all either, OH, keep this in mind also, it comes into play later, the dimmer on the light switch does not work either. Ya, I know, it’s getting complicated. But as I was saying ,this morning when I headed out to work, for some reason I turned the key, just to the on position, why, I really don’t know, the park lights came on like they always do, even though they shouldn’t be on at that time, but I guess after putting on the seat belt and messing around with the coffee mug ,etc, I guess I might have thought the car was running and I reached for the lights, and in doing so, somehow I turned the knob a little, with the light switch still in the park position, you know the dimmer switch built into the knob, this is where the dimmer switch comes into play ,Here’s the kicker, get this, the park lights dimmed, Ya I know, weird, with the in the key on position, not the run position, engine is off, car not running, light switch off, ,the park lights are on and they will dim all the way down and back up to maximum with the dimmer switch. That’s right; the dimmer switch is controlling the park lights, not the instrument cluster and interior lights, like it is suppose to do. But when you turn the lights all the way on, the dimmer part that was running the park lights disengages, and the park lights stay on like their suppose to, but will not dim anymore with the switch. So I’m thinking that maybe whoever had the car before me, had the dash out and maybe switched the wires somehow on the light switch itself, if that’s possible, I don’t know for sure, that the relationship between the two wires and where they tie in, could allow for this problem to happen, or not. I don’t know yet, I’ve got to find those wires, see if they have been switched, the color code would help, and everywhere they go, because as you will hear later, the radio comes into play. So that’s where the schematic will come in, I hope. I really haven’t been able to find a good schematic that specifically shows the light switch, color codes, and just which wire goes where. So maybe with all the help, I can solve the problem. But I’ll take a look at what I’ve been advised to check so far, and any other Ideas you guys might come up with for me, tell I get it right. It just bugs the crap out of me when things don’t work the way they are designed to. Thanks for all the help so far. OH, I just thought of one more twist to the scenario of my park lights, add this to the rest of the problem, the car is on or at least the key is in the on position, and the radio is turned on, everything is fine. If I just shut the car off everything goes off including the radio, which is what it should do. When I turn the car back on, the radio comes on which is normal, but here’s the kicker again, the car is off, and the radio was in the on position when it was turned off, the ignition key is off, the key is out of the ignition, here goes the twist, if I pull the light switch to the park position guess what, the radio comes on with the park lights. This was an aftermarket radio installation, not the original factory one that it came with. This tends to lead me to believe that there is a bad wiring issue with the radio that might be tied to the wrong wires under the dash, causing all these problems, as you can see I just problem solving, cause and effect, tell I can narrow it down to the root cause before I dive into it. I want to have all the answers and work all the problems at the same time. Help me out guys if you can.
Thanks Steve
________________________________________
Hey guy’s,
Thanks for the info I’ve received so far, but here’s what I’ve got it all broke down too, what a night mare. Anymore help will be greatly appreciated. Two in one problem, it started out to be, first problem, parking lights came on when ignition key was just turned to the on position, no big deal, just bugged me, but it’s not suppose to do that. Second problem ½ instrument cluster went out so I had to fix that. I went into the dash and found a burnt and broken light switch and the harness was bad as well, so I replaced them both and put her back together, and that took care of the instrument cluster problem, but the park light problem still existed. But now things start getting weird. Let me throw my nightmare at you electrical guys out there, not my field. And see what you think now. Another twist into the scenario, when I came out this morning, and I might add that I have no interior lights at all either, OH, keep this in mind also, it comes into play later, the dimmer on the light switch does not work either. Ya, I know, it’s getting complicated. But as I was saying ,this morning when I headed out to work, for some reason I turned the key, just to the on position, why, I really don’t know, the park lights came on like they always do, even though they shouldn’t be on at that time, but I guess after putting on the seat belt and messing around with the coffee mug ,etc, I guess I might have thought the car was running and I reached for the lights, and in doing so, somehow I turned the knob a little, with the light switch still in the park position, you know the dimmer switch built into the knob, this is where the dimmer switch comes into play ,Here’s the kicker, get this, the park lights dimmed, Ya I know, weird, with the in the key on position, not the run position, engine is off, car not running, light switch off, ,the park lights are on and they will dim all the way down and back up to maximum with the dimmer switch. That’s right; the dimmer switch is controlling the park lights, not the instrument cluster and interior lights, like it is suppose to do. But when you turn the lights all the way on, the dimmer part that was running the park lights disengages, and the park lights stay on like their suppose to, but will not dim anymore with the switch. So I’m thinking that maybe whoever had the car before me, had the dash out and maybe switched the wires somehow on the light switch itself, if that’s possible, I don’t know for sure, that the relationship between the two wires and where they tie in, could allow for this problem to happen, or not. I don’t know yet, I’ve got to find those wires, see if they have been switched, the color code would help, and everywhere they go, because as you will hear later, the radio comes into play. So that’s where the schematic will come in, I hope. I really haven’t been able to find a good schematic that specifically shows the light switch, color codes, and just which wire goes where. So maybe with all the help, I can solve the problem. But I’ll take a look at what I’ve been advised to check so far, and any other Ideas you guys might come up with for me, tell I get it right. It just bugs the crap out of me when things don’t work the way they are designed to. Thanks for all the help so far. OH, I just thought of one more twist to the scenario of my park lights, add this to the rest of the problem, the car is on or at least the key is in the on position, and the radio is turned on, everything is fine. If I just shut the car off everything goes off including the radio, which is what it should do. When I turn the car back on, the radio comes on which is normal, but here’s the kicker again, the car is off, and the radio was in the on position when it was turned off, the ignition key is off, the key is out of the ignition, here goes the twist, if I pull the light switch to the park position guess what, the radio comes on with the park lights. This was an aftermarket radio installation, not the original factory one that it came with. This tends to lead me to believe that there is a bad wiring issue with the radio that might be tied to the wrong wires under the dash, causing all these problems, as you can see I just problem solving, cause and effect, tell I can narrow it down to the root cause before I dive into it. I want to have all the answers and work all the problems at the same time. Help me out guys if you can.
Thanks Steve