lighting problem

[mtchll50]

why are my corner and tailights stuck on ever sense i put a cd player in my 93 eclipse i have a ground running to the body and not to the harness so i know it isn't that but cant think of what else it would be?? any help is greatly appreciated

 

[ericismyname]

are you sure u didnt bump the little switch to turn all the lights on but ur head lights?

 

[luv2rallye]

Could you have connected the power wire of the cd player to the tailights control wire instead of a true +12V ?

 

[mtchll50]

i know i didn't bump the switch because they have been stuck on for about a month now and i have messed with the switch but the 12V i am not sure about that i havent tried hooking the wire you are talking about up to anything cuz i dont wanna blow anything, i have a green wire with a white stripe not going to anything is this the wire you are talking about?? and if so where does it hook to?

thanks for the help

 

[luv2rallye]

Where EXACTLY did you hook up the power and ground wires of the CD player?

According to my '99 schmatics (probably same as yours), the green/white wire is the (control) wire that is supposed to go from the column lighting switch to the tail light relay (activating side). If you hooked either the CD power or ground wires to it, the relay will activate and keep your tail & marker lights on. You need to find a true +12 volt switched (with ignition key) wire for the CD positive wire to attach to. And if the green/white wire is not hooked back up properly, the tail/marker lights will not work.

 

[mtchll50]

i hooked all the wires up right ground to body not harness power to 12V and accesoary i did not hook anything up to the green and white wire or the black and yellow wire where are these 2 suppose to go??? that is my biggest question because if i ground the green and white it blows my tailight fuse and if i dont connect it to anything the lights are stuck on so i knw i am issing something with these wires but what????

 

[luv2rallye]

First of all remember all my discussion is from my 99 Eclipse schematics manual and I'm assuming it hasn't changed in this area from your 93.

That said, one green/white wire goes to all the tail lights, etc. It's the +12 volt supply wire for them. So if you ground it, yes it will blow the fuse since that is a direct short.

Disconnect your CD player and see what happens with the lights. If they are still always on, then it means the tail light relay is always activated. This would be a defective relay or column switch (or god forbid someone permanently grounded the wire which goes to pin 1 of the relay (btw this one is also green/white) which would keep it on).

If the lights never work without the CD player then the relay is never being activated which is a different problem.

Many people when hooking up stuff just look for a wire with +12 volts on it. THIS IS NOT ENOUGH! It must be a true +12 volt wire that is not going through any loads. Otherwise strange things can happen.

I suspect you may have fused the tail light relay permanently on.

Either that or you connected your CD power wire to the wire that goes to pin 1 of the relay. This would measure +12 volts when the column switch is off misleading you into thinking it's a valid +12 supply (turning on the column switch grounds this wire). Then the CD player is providing enough of a ground to activate the relay.

 

[mtchll50]

i tried un plugging the cd player and it was still the same no change at all so i dunno what to try next... i have the power hooked up to a blue wire the accesory to a red wire and it grounded to the body does that sound right???

sense they where on does this mean i may have a bad relay or coumn switch?? where is the relay located so i can check it or how would i check the coulmn switch? thanks very much sorry for my lack of knowledge on this subject

 

[luv2rallye]

The tail light relay should be in the engine fuse box. They look like a bunch of small boxes in a row (not the fuses). Mine are black, yours may be different. Pull each one out one at a time until your tail lights go off to find it (it should say on the fuse box cover which it is also). When they go out, tempararily insert one of the other working relays of the same type in to see if the lights now work properly (if so the old relay is bad and needs replacing). If they are still on all the time it is going to be more complicated - I'll stay tuned... ;-)

 

[mtchll50]

i tried the relays and still the same thing. i unplugged the tailight relay they stay on they i tried pluggign another relay in no change.. this problem has turned me into a mental midget an di am stumped with the whole situation any more help at all?? thanks alot guys

 

[mtchll50]

i did some more research and according to this web site i have my constant and my accesory wires backwards do you thik that could be the reason it is doing this??? i thin i am going to try and fix this tommorrow and see what happins

 

[mtchll50]

my mind is slipping and i forgot to put the link here it is sorry

http://www.vfaq.com/mods/wiring-gen1wir.html

 

[luv2rallye]

You said:
"i tried un plugging the cd player and it was still the same no change at all".

Are you saying the tail lights are constantly on even with the CD player AND ALL OF IT'S WIRING THAT YOU INSTALLED are completely removed? Or did you leave in the wiring? This sounds suspicious.

You said your problem started when you hooked up your CD so you obviously hooked one of it's wires to the wrong place. Normally radios/cd's have a thick black wire goes to ground (chassis or battery -), a thick red wire goes to an ignition switched true +12 volts for the power, a thin memory power wire (colors varies - could be red, blue, green, almost anything) goes to a source that's +12 volts all the time, speaker wires, sometimes a wire that goes to dashboard lighting circuit to operate cd lighted controls brightness, and sometimes audio out wires to go to an optional power amp.

If your tail lights are on without the tail light relay installed, you somehow have put 12 volt power directly onto the tail light wiring (bypassing the relay). You shouldn't even be in any of that wiring anyway! You must have done more than just splice in the cd wires. Did you cut any wires? Did you do anything in the engine compartment or everything under the dash?

Undo ALL of the wiring mods you made for the cd and tell me what works and what's left over. Also make sure your cd player isn't the short - try connecting it temporarily directly to the battery to see if it works.

 

[mtchll50]

my tailights are on no matter what i do when i take the relay out they stay on when i put a new relay in they stay on when i unplugged the cd player they stay on(i left in the wiring i just unplugged it form the back of the radio )..... the only time i can get them to shut off is when i unplug the fuse under the hood...

i did not touch anything under the hood or the dash other than the wires that ran straight into the factory radio plugs... this is why it is boggling my mind to

i have had the cd player in 2 other vehicles prior to the eclipse and no problems i will try cutting the cd player out seeing what happins and re wiring it once i get some more connectors

thanks again

 

[luv2rallye]

"i did not touch anything under the hood or the dash other than the wires that ran straight into the factory radio plugs... "

Did you change these wires under the dash or under the hood?
How exactly did you change them? Did you cut any or just splice into them? What colors are they and where exactly are they?

Did the car have a working radio in before you started and are you just replacing it? Or could this have been a problem waiting to happen (example: a previous owner messed up the wiring and that is why there was no radio there). Does it look like the wiring has been altered before you started?

Accoding to my ('99) book: if the tail light relay is pulled and you can only shut the lights off by pulling the tail light fuse, the only way this can happen is if +12 volts is connected somehow between the relay and the fuse. Someone messed up this wiring.

With the cd player in, does the player go off when you pull the tail light fuse?

Defiant has some older manuals. Perhaps you should ask him to look this up and see if the wiring is the same as my 99 2G manual.

Does anyone else have the 1G schematics?

 

[mtchll50]

i just spliced the wires running into the factory radio those are the only wires i touched, the factory radio was in the car and everything worked fine....

and yes the radio stays on when the fuse for the tailight is pulled i bought the car from a mitsubishi tech so i dont think the wiring was messed up. i would bet that some how when i went to put in my new radio that i was the one who messed it up i just dont know what i did or how to fix it...

thanks a lot

 

[luv2rallye]

Does this look like the connector you spliced into or help any?

http://www.vfaq.com/mods/wiring-1genplug.html

 

[mtchll50]

those are the ones i spliced that tells me io have my wires backwards for my constant and acc

 

[luv2rallye]

Well be careful - you'll have to check those two supply wires out. Just because it says +12 batt doesn't necessarily mean it's 12 volts all the time (it might be switched through the ignition switch - which is what you want for the cd power wire). And the one called 12 volt ACC might only have voltage when the key is in ACC position and/or the ON position(your other cd power wire for the memory has to be on a +12 volt all the time line to remember stations, etc).

But before you do any of this I recommend strongly that you undo all the wiring mods you did and put all wires back the way they were and make sure the tail lights work correctly first.

 

[mtchll50]

i got the wire situation figured out.. i found this awesome thing called a test light haha..

my next step is to cut the wires i ran to the radio find a connector from a junkyard put the connectors back on a buy the aftermarket connector to connect the factory plug to the radio and if taht doesnt work i am gonna give up.... thanks for everything

 

[luv2rallye]

If you still blow the fuse, you can find the short easier by replacing the fuse with a 12 volt light bulb (should light). Then start temporarily disconnecting the wires in that circuit (from the furthest point away from the battery like the tail light wires themselves) and work your way back until the light goes out. The last wire disconnected has the short.

 

[crotchkiller]

Buy a harness at the radio shop and get a copy of the stereo wiring diagram from the dealer. It will all work just like factory equipment.

 

[mtchll50]

my thought exactly i am done dealing with this that is teh first thing i am doing when i get paid this week

thanks for everything guys