Dash lights and tail lights out
Thread Starter
Joined: Feb 2007
Posts: 848
Likes: 2
From: Gainesville,FL/Riverdale, GA
Dash lights and tail lights out 99 Camaro V^ 5spd.What does work are headlights, radio, hazard lights, rear turn signals, 3rd brake light, all warning lights upon key being in on position and once car is started, and interior lights. I checked #16 fuse and its good. Did a search om google couple days ago that had some info on this issue but now i cant find it. hoping i can get some help here. TIA
Thread Starter
Joined: Feb 2007
Posts: 848
Likes: 2
From: Gainesville,FL/Riverdale, GA
P/u a cheap multimeter and thought it had beeping but it did not. Never used one and can’t get a reading so I’m sure it’s user error. With visual check both #5 fuses were blown. Replaced them but that didn’t solve issue. Also swapped the headlight switch and problem still remains.
Joined: Nov 2003
Posts: 11,328
Likes: 346
From: Jacksonville, FL (originally from Toronto Canada)
Check your #5 TAIL LPS fuse again. If you have some sort of short in the parking/running light circuit then the new fuse could have blown as well, causing a repeat of the same symptoms.
Thread Starter
Joined: Feb 2007
Posts: 848
Likes: 2
From: Gainesville,FL/Riverdale, GA
Joined: Nov 2003
Posts: 11,328
Likes: 346
From: Jacksonville, FL (originally from Toronto Canada)
The issue is the parking/running lights or the dash lights but almost certainly the parking/running lights because the dash lights run through a 5A dimmer fuse that would have blown first if they had a short. Diagnosis could get tedious because tracking down a short like this takes time.
Does the fuse blow as soon as you plug it in or only after you turn on the lights? If it blows immediately then you know the short is in one of the orange wires running from the fuse to the headlight switch and the DRL module. That's actually good news because it limits where you have to look. Another easy one to check is the fog light circuit... turn off the fog light switch and replace the fuse again - if it doesn't blow when you turn on the lights then you know that the problem is somewhere in the fog light circuit. Again, that's a good thing for narrowing down where to search for the short.
Otherwise, you're just going to have the tedious job of tracing the brown wires to find the short. You can confirm the short with a multimeter by checking continuity to ground on the brown wire at one of the running light sockets but that will just confirm what we've already surmised. Unfortunately, all of the parking/running light wires are spliced together not far from the headlight switch so confirming that there is a short to ground from one of the sockets doesn't help locate it - every socket will show the same short.
Does the fuse blow as soon as you plug it in or only after you turn on the lights? If it blows immediately then you know the short is in one of the orange wires running from the fuse to the headlight switch and the DRL module. That's actually good news because it limits where you have to look. Another easy one to check is the fog light circuit... turn off the fog light switch and replace the fuse again - if it doesn't blow when you turn on the lights then you know that the problem is somewhere in the fog light circuit. Again, that's a good thing for narrowing down where to search for the short.
Otherwise, you're just going to have the tedious job of tracing the brown wires to find the short. You can confirm the short with a multimeter by checking continuity to ground on the brown wire at one of the running light sockets but that will just confirm what we've already surmised. Unfortunately, all of the parking/running light wires are spliced together not far from the headlight switch so confirming that there is a short to ground from one of the sockets doesn't help locate it - every socket will show the same short.
Thread Starter
Joined: Feb 2007
Posts: 848
Likes: 2
From: Gainesville,FL/Riverdale, GA
The issue is the parking/running lights or the dash lights but almost certainly the parking/running lights because the dash lights run through a 5A dimmer fuse that would have blown first if they had a short. Diagnosis could get tedious because tracking down a short like this takes time.
Does the fuse blow as soon as you plug it in or only after you turn on the lights? If it blows immediately then you know the short is in one of the orange wires running from the fuse to the headlight switch and the DRL module. That's actually good news because it limits where you have to look. Another easy one to check is the fog light circuit... turn off the fog light switch and replace the fuse again - if it doesn't blow when you turn on the lights then you know that the problem is somewhere in the fog light circuit. Again, that's a good thing for narrowing down where to search for the short.
Otherwise, you're just going to have the tedious job of tracing the brown wires to find the short. You can confirm the short with a multimeter by checking continuity to ground on the brown wire at one of the running light sockets but that will just confirm what we've already surmised. Unfortunately, all of the parking/running light wires are spliced together not far from the headlight switch so confirming that there is a short to ground from one of the sockets doesn't help locate it - every socket will show the same short.
Does the fuse blow as soon as you plug it in or only after you turn on the lights? If it blows immediately then you know the short is in one of the orange wires running from the fuse to the headlight switch and the DRL module. That's actually good news because it limits where you have to look. Another easy one to check is the fog light circuit... turn off the fog light switch and replace the fuse again - if it doesn't blow when you turn on the lights then you know that the problem is somewhere in the fog light circuit. Again, that's a good thing for narrowing down where to search for the short.
Otherwise, you're just going to have the tedious job of tracing the brown wires to find the short. You can confirm the short with a multimeter by checking continuity to ground on the brown wire at one of the running light sockets but that will just confirm what we've already surmised. Unfortunately, all of the parking/running light wires are spliced together not far from the headlight switch so confirming that there is a short to ground from one of the sockets doesn't help locate it - every socket will show the same short.
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Joined: Nov 2003
Posts: 11,328
Likes: 346
From: Jacksonville, FL (originally from Toronto Canada)
That probably indicates that there is a wire somewhere which has been chafed from rubbing against something metal but isn't always making contact with that metal (causing a short). There's really not much you can do but wait to see if it happens again. You could start tracing wires looking for where the insulation has worn or you could try wiggling/shaking wires to see if you can make it happen again but it really depends on whether you drive at night a lot. If you do then looking now could save you being stuck without lights later on but if the car is mostly fair weather driven then lights might not be critical and you could wait to see if it happens again.
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