Installed Aftermarket cd player, now my gauge lights dont work

[97talon83]

I installed a aftermarket cd player in my 97 talon..... ok ill start off by saying i checked all fuses, under the hood (tail light) and the ones in the car. They are not blown. I did mix up the two power wires at first and it was shorting out my tail lamp fuse located under the hood, after rewiring my cd player and replacing the fuse i fixed the problem, gauge lights radio tail lights were all on. About an hour later i am going down the road, hit a bump, and my gauge lights go out... I recheck the fuses they are all good, i check my tail lights my radio, head lights... EVERYTHING WORKS!! but the stupid gauge lights!!! any ideas???

 

[Wobet]

I installed a aftermarket cd player in my 97 talon..... ok ill start off by saying i checked all fuses, under the hood (tail light) and the ones in the car. They are not blown. I did mix up the two power wires at first and it was shorting out my tail lamp fuse located under the hood, after rewiring my cd player and replacing the fuse i fixed the problem, gauge lights radio tail lights were all on. About an hour later i am going down the road, hit a bump, and my gauge lights go out... I recheck the fuses they are all good, i check my tail lights my radio, head lights... EVERYTHING WORKS!! but the stupid gauge lights!!! any ideas???

Loose wires. Make sure it's all taped up real tight.

 

[92AWDHX40]

I would check the fuses, all of them, then look for a loose wire, it could be bare and shorting out things.

 

[dj-t]

How did you go about checking the fuse? Just by looking or using a meter? Sometime the fuse breaks at the end and you cannot see it by looking at it. Does the light still comes on when you open the door? Definitely double check your wiring make sure there is no strand that punctured through the tape or is not fully taped.

 

[97talon83]

no i didnt use a meter because both fuses that are go to the gauges operate something else, and everything else is working, i may not have taped al the wires, as a matter a fact i know i didnt tape all the speaker wiring.... I had to rerun al my speaker wires because i didnt have sound coming out of them, so i rewired them and i bet i left a few of the factory wires uncovered..... could that be the problem?? If so when i tape them up what kind of damage could i be looking at??

 

[thach]

Check for loose wiring and make sure you get everything taped up correctly.

 

[90TSI717]

Soldering the wires would be a much better solution along with some shrink tubing. It will give you a much better connection and will ensure the wires stay together along with a much cleaner and neat job.

 

[97talon83]

Like I said, I know the speaker wires need to be taped....I'm going to do it after work today. Any ideas on how to get the gauges to light up again, could I have just shorted out my dimmer switch??

 

[unisonicz]

Did you disconnect the battery before installing it? I would pull all the fuses in the cab AND in the engine bay to check them. I was messing with my stereo and ended up blowing a fuse under the hood. It had the same symptoms that you are experiencing right now. Replaced the blown fuse and all was good.

Kyle

EDIT: I re-read your post and retract my statement, but it wouldn't hurt to double check all the fuses.

 

[97talon83]

ok update guys,i rewired the whole thing, made sure everything was taped up..... checked all the fuses again and they are all fine. Every single electrical thing in my car works examples are cig lighter, glove box light, ash tray light, cd player, sun roof, all the warning lights on my gauges aka oil lights door open lights ....that sort of thing.... tail lights and head lights work...... is it possible that i had a power surge from wires touching and it blew out my gauge lights, or could the dimmer have shorted out from the wires touching?? PLEASE HELP

 

[Wobet]

ok update guys,i rewired the whole thing, made sure everything was taped up..... checked all the fuses again and they are all fine. Every single electrical thing in my car works examples are cig lighter, glove box light, ash tray light, cd player, sun roof, all the warning lights on my gauges aka oil lights door open lights ....that sort of thing.... tail lights and head lights work...... is it possible that i had a power surge from wires touching and it blew out my gauge lights, or could the dimmer have shorted out from the wires touching?? PLEASE HELP

I've heard of people taking lights out of there gauge permanently over at Honda, so maybe you can. Surprised the fuse didn't go first, do you have the proper fuse in the spot for the gauge

 

[Big T-28 GSX]

ok update guys,i rewired the whole thing, made sure everything was taped up..... checked all the fuses again and they are all fine. Every single electrical thing in my car works examples are cig lighter, glove box light, ash tray light, cd player, sun roof, all the warning lights on my gauges aka oil lights door open lights ....that sort of thing.... tail lights and head lights work...... is it possible that i had a power surge from wires touching and it blew out my gauge lights, or could the dimmer have shorted out from the wires touching?? PLEASE HELP

If you had all the proper fuses and they were all ok then I would say it isnt possible that a power surge could have blown your gauge lights. I would double or triple check your fuses and then look into replacing the bulbs. maybe they just coincidentally went out

 

[steve]

I've heard of people damaging the dimmer by connecting the radio lighting input to it rather than to the taillight pin. Most aftermarket radios just want to know when the car lights are on so they can dim their display not be connected to the dimmer.

 

[97talon83]

Yea I have all the proper fuses in, and I've checked every fuse at least 3 times. I also didn't even hook up the dimmer switch on the cd player... ill check the lights when I get home from work and letter ya know if they are ok

 

[92AWDHX40]

Sounds like the dimmer switch got fried, it happens without touching it, done that with mine several times always keep a few on hand from the u pull it.