hook up jvc cd player. tail lights an dash lights out!!

[joew]

okay here is the thing. i buy a new aftermarkit radio for my car. get a wire harness for it from walmart wire it up clip it in. start the car. dash lights dont work. and my freind informs me that my tail&brake lights dont work!! what the F . so he told me to hook up the dimmer wire from the walmart harness to a hot wire from the car. so i do that and only the dash&tail lights work but no brake lights. i also notice on the walmart harness that it also has a illumination/dash light wire i hook that up also but nothing works unless i have one of the two wires hooked up to a power wire. and another thing. if i have one of them wires hooked up the dash&tail lights come on when key is on the on position

i also was smelling a wire burning so i figured i might of popped or burnt out a fuse or wire

 

[pauleyman]

Fuses pop pretty fast. Check all your fuses not only for integrity but also are they the correct size. My guess is at least one of them isn't and you burnt some wires instead of popping a fuse.

 

[Twinturbo120]

Check which fuse(s) blew, also make sure that wiring harness is for your car. Then check that you connected them properly to the radio harness and the car harness.

 

[DSM1G90]

You head to a stereo shop and get an adapter harness to hook the unit up to the stock radio connectors in the dash.

 

[clutch-burner]

You head to a stereo shop and get an adapter harness to hook the unit up to the stock radio connectors in the dash.

a++++ to that! I got my adapter harness from Crutchfield and everything plugged in and worked perfect.

 

[jonathancullen]

do the lights come back on and work properly if the cd player is out? this happened in a celica i used to have and it turned out to be the light switch on the steering wheel column shorting out.

 

[joew]

no fuse's popped. it went stright to the dimmer switch. replaced that and my tail&dash lights work now. thats what i was smelling burning. but still no brake lights. fuse is good relay is good. the switch on the peddle is good. has power all the way up to the pedle but not from the pedle to the back :/

 

[TSI_1G_90]

Short? Shoot a new wire.

 

[DailyDriver98]

I had the same problem with my 98. for weeks certain times when i would hit a good bump, my dash lights, head lights and running lights would go out. i checked the fuse and it was blown. put another one in and it popped, i went to the highest size fuse and it still popped. after a few days i would try the fuses again, and it would go in without popping. a few days later, no lights...repeat the process and in a few days i had lights. i did this for weeks trying to figure it out. so finally, i was fed up, i started to gut the cars interior and check every wire while the lights were on starting with the back. i got all the way to the front, started taking the radio out of place and the lights went out. i stopped right there, put another fuse in and started moving individual wire sets. shortly, i ended up seeing a few very small sparks. examine them better, realized that when the person before me put in the radio, they taped four wires together then cut them off, leaving four copper end showing. well, when the ends would hit the metal of the car due to them moving after hitting a bump, it shorted out my lights... I taped up the wires individually, then taped them together...problem solved, for 7 months i have not had a problem.

 

[luv2rallye]

The black-yellow wire on the dimmer switch is not a power wire - do not use it as such. It is the return side of the dash lights. The dimmer controls the dash lights return side voltage to adjust intensity.

And the stop light switch is actually 2 switches (DPDT) - one for stop lights (output is green) and one for cruise control (output is light green-black).

 

[luv2rallye]

i went to the highest size fuse and it still popped.

NEVER do this Larger fuses risk burning up the wires and/or fire! If it blows with the correct fuse, something is wrong.

 

[bduran1220]

Your head unit is causing a short, I know the same thing happened to me only at night, after the so called professional installation radio work done

I chewed them out the next day to have them fix it
Later. . .
All fixed!!! Turns out there might be 2 or wires hanging out under the head unit after an aftermarket is installed, they touched metal no lights no gauge lights. They remove the amp fuse too.