Parking Lights (TAILS)

[PiP]

I have searched, and the only "answer" to my question seems to be to troubleshoot which I have tried.

Caris a 1997 Eclipse

The problem seems to be posted a lot. It is:

1) Having no parking lights or gauge lights at all. The headlights do work, and the switch works as well.

2) The "Tails" fuse keeps blowing when the ignition is turned. It is a "hard" blow, so it is the car is grouding out somewhere.

3) We have put a testing light in the Tails circuit and have disconnected every bulb and even the dimmer switch and still havent found the grounding problem.
The radio is out of the car right now so that can be excluded from the answer.

4) We have taken a digital multimeter and tested the resitance of all the circuits and havent found the ground yet. I am at a loss.

The point of this really is to ask those who have had this seemingly common problem what was wrong in their car and what fixed it.

Thank you for any help!

 

[rghrdr18]

Has this just started, or has this been like that since you bought the car? Brake lights work? Rear turn signals too?

 

[luv2rallye]

To find a short, first disconnect the obvious devices (eg. taillights if blowing taillight fuse) to see if fuse still blows. Also try disconnecting everything that is or may be on that fuse’s circuit or anything suspicious or recently worked on that’s electrical. Disconnect anything electrical that doesn’t work. Examine the wiring and connectors on the things you disconnect to see if they are frayed, broken, melted, wet, or touching other wires or metal. 95% of the time you will find the short this way (which is also the quickest).

If it still blows you will have to use a tougher technique. Replace the fuse that blows (temporarily and only for testing purposes) with an actual small 12 volt light bulb like a marker light or license plate light (don't try to start the engine with it in). The bulb will limit the current so you now don’t have to worry about any short melting wires. You will have to solder wires on the bulb or put it in a socket with wires. Then insert the wires into the slots where the fuse was. If there is a short, it will lite brightly (no short may lite it half bright along with the a device doing the other half, or it may not lite at all). Then start disconnecting one at a time (1) things that don’t work, (2) suspected things, and (3) anything on that circuit. When you disconnect the item that is causing the short, the light will go out (so it's a great detection device). Keep in mind the short may be in the wiring or fusebox which is harder to find, but first check all the easier, more obvious devices and places.

Here is also a helpful link: http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=54846

 

[PiP]

Has this just started, or has this been like that since you bought the car? Brake lights work? Rear turn signals too?

Had the car for a year, then this just happened at random.

 

[PiP]

To find a short, first disconnect the obvious devices (eg. taillights if blowing taillight fuse) to see if fuse still blows. Also try disconnecting everything that is or may be on that fuse’s circuit or anything suspicious or recently worked on that’s electrical. Disconnect anything electrical that doesn’t work. Examine the wiring and connectors on the things you disconnect to see if they are frayed, broken, melted, wet, or touching other wires or metal. 95% of the time you will find the short this way (which is also the quickest).

If it still blows you will have to use a tougher technique. Replace the fuse that blows (temporarily and only for testing purposes) with an actual small 12 volt light bulb like a marker light or license plate light (don't try to start the engine with it in). The bulb will limit the current so you now don’t have to worry about any short melting wires. You will have to solder wires on the bulb or put it in a socket with wires. Then insert the wires into the slots where the fuse was. If there is a short, it will lite brightly (no short may lite it half bright along with the a device doing the other half, or it may not lite at all). Then start disconnecting one at a time (1) things that don’t work, (2) suspected things, and (3) anything on that circuit. When you disconnect the item that is causing the short, the light will go out (so it's a great detection device). Keep in mind the short may be in the wiring or fusebox which is harder to find, but first check all the easier, more obvious devices and places.

Here is also a helpful link: http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=54846

Thanks for the advice. If you see step 3 in my post you will notice we have already done that.
I have worked on 1Gs and 2Gs and never before have I had such a random and hard to trace problem!!!

We have taken every bulb out and the damn TAILS circuit is still shorting out.
I "assume" that the problem is somewhere under the hood then.
Since this seems to be a common DSM post (deal TAILS cirucit), I hope someone will tell me what they did to fix this same problem.

I just cant for the life of me figure this thing out!