Electrical Gremlin!!! PLEASE HELP!!

[Jon91TSi]

Hey all,

Tonight I was driving my car on a smooth country road and all of a sudden all my lights shut off.. My headlights, foglights, instrument cluster and all dash lights, tail lights, etc. I tried to turn my headlights off and back on but nothing.. I drove about 5 more minutes and flipped my headlights on and they came on, but my cluster, dash lights and tail lights remained out, along with my parking lights. I then tried my high beams and they worked but when I turned on my high beams my fog lights came on with them and turned off when I put my low's back on.. I then got home and tried the headlights again and now my head lights work correctly with my low beams and my high beams work correctly. This IS what works, my headlights low and high, fog lights, brake lights, turn signals and 4 ways, this is what DOESNT work, instrument cluster, dash lights, tail lights, and parking lights. Everything else in the car works fine, but why all of a sudden would that happen.. I checked all my fuses under the dash and they were all fine, I then checked the fuses in the box aside of my UICP and they were all fine but the 10A TAIL fuse, that was blow. I replaced it and as soon as I flipped the switch for my lights it blew. I then checked it with my VOM and was getting a steady 12.4 from my foglight fuse and a steady 12.2 from the TAIL fuse, I guess this means im getting a drain from somewhere.. I checked my tail light bulbs to see if the fillaments were touching and they are fine. Where would I even go about looking or has this happened to anyone else? Please let me know as I wanna get this fixed ASAP!!


Thanks so much!

Jon

 

[Jon91TSi]

ok.. I went out in the garage and unplugged the stereo as directed in some other posts requesting this and my problem is solved.. Now my other question is this.. Why would this have happened all of a sudden, my radio was working fine the whole time while this happened.. What should I change so that this does not happen any more? Should it be grounded to somewhere else? Please let me know! Im not gonna be driving with a radio tomorrow :thumbdown guess the turbo will have to suffice ..

Let me know!

Jon

 

[pinknuggit]

my buddy with an RX7 had that Exact same problem. all the lights quit working, then only the brake and headlights would work. Also, the drivers side lights on his car were dimmer than the passenger side.
He took every bulb in his car out and cleaned the contacts. Apparently there was corrosion on all of the bulb terminals in his car, and all of his lights work perfectly after he took each bulb out and cleaned the base of the bulb and the socket.