tailight probelm

[ndice87]

First of all i have no tailights, parking lights, or dash lights. My car was blowing the tail fuse like it was cool, untill if found a short in the dash harness and replaced it. now i dont blow the fuse at all but still no tail park or dash lights. So i went to the junkyard and got a relay, but still nothing. It is way too cold outside for me to be fiddling with all this crap. I was just wondering if someone had any ideas for me to check into. Btw the headlights work just fine.

[MONSOON]

Is it possible that the short you had also took out the headlight switch on the column?

[FB71]

what year car? that makes a difference.

[ndice87]

its a 92, and i dont know the year of the dash harness or relay, maybe that could be the prob. If it took out my headlight switch i believe the headlights wouldnt work either.

[ndice87]

really nobody has any clue

[FestYboy]

need more history to problem and attempted repairs.

[ndice87]

i really dont have too much history. i bought it this way. I guess i just got to find some wiring diagrams and start to do a bunch of continuity testing to pinpoint the problem

[surfnk8]

Exact same lights were out on my 91. No tail lights, no parking lights, no dash light, and no interior overhead light, even though the bulbs and fuses were all fine and all the other lights, brake lights, head lights, turn signals and emergency lights all worked. Turns out it was the parking lamp relay which is located on the front right (passenger side) behind the head lamp and under the VAC. You may need to replace the parking lamp relay.

[sanjeet]

I think you should start at the fuse and check the wire code, buy a 12v probe with a sharp point and an alligator clip for ground, trace the wire and check for 12v, it appears the lights have a common ground rail so look for the ground connection and make sure it is sound.

I have a kiwi assembled Festiva and the wiring circuits are a lot simpler than American assembled Festiva's..

My manual states the wire is R/G which could mean green red trace or red green trace so look at the fuse holder marked tail, what I have done is checked the loom under the plastic door guards but going to the hatch is OK and find the correct wire and test it with a good ground connection.

If it is OK then it will be a ground connection that you need to find and correct, sometimes the cowboys try to hook up extra lights and perhaps trailer connections and really stuff things up with bum connections so look for any taped up bits that shouldn't be taped or a strange connector.

when you check the cable check at the entry point from the loom inside the hatch (forget the lamp holders) and at the fuse end do the same test directly on the fuse terminal, if OK check the first light fitting and then check the ground wire is OK.

At the very worst you could have the loom damaged because of a chassis repair , if so you will need to open the plastic covers below the doors to check and the rear seat as well, some people do so very strange things and I really had finding a loom that has been tampered with.

So....any taped connections (open and check the connections are secure).

Good luck Masta

[ch33z3x]

If it had a stereo installed recently, check the illumination wire! If it grounds, it'll pop that fuse.

[GK89]

Sorry to bump such an old thread.

If it had a stereo installed recently, check the illumination wire! If it grounds, it'll pop that fuse.

THIS! This helped me. Thank you so much. I tried everything, replacing the relays, replaced the fusible links with long legged fuses, looked at all of the wiring and made sure there were no shorts I could find and that everything was grounded properly. The dang 15amp Tail fuse kept blowing the moment I would switch the running lights on. I was almost ready to give up when I saw this post and figured I'll check it out. Thank you so much ch33z3x.