Electrical + Alignment

[Flw Sock]

My Festiva only has two problems, but for the life of me I can't figure it out and it's bugging the heck out of me because I've looked and looked. I'm praying to God that somebody here has a solution.

Electrical Problem:
My electrical problem is that every time I turn the light switch forward (to turn on the inside dash lights, and fog lights) it shorts out my radio, and I can't use my radio. I also cannot use them if I turn the nob all the way (to turn on headlights). When I bought the car there was no radio and the wires were hacked up, so if someone knows the problem and can isolate it by one or two wires, that would be great. I just took the wires that were given and I hooked them up to my radio and the radio works, until it shorted out.

Alignment problem:
I just aligned my Festiva, and it went out of alignment again. Does anybody know why it does this? I need to find this problem out fast because it's ruining my tires, it wears out the first ~1.5inches of treat on one side, and the tires are crap after that pretty much. Super uneven wear, etc.

I know there are some real pros here, please spread the knowledge to a fellow Festiva enthusiast!

Thanks!

[2xclutchin]

What do you have the Ilum wire hooked to behind the head unit? I know I had an issue with that being hooked up wrong and causing a fuse to pop.

I can't help at all with your second question.

[Flw Sock]

What do you have the Ilum wire hooked to behind the head unit? I know I had an issue with that being hooked up wrong and causing a fuse to pop.

I can't help at all with your second question.

I'll have to check that tomorrow or on Wednesday. I'm not sure what the Ilum wire is, but I do know that I'm not blowing any fuses. It's just that every time I turn on the lights it turns off the radio and I can't use it at all.

[2xclutchin]

Yeah, I had the Festiva Ilum wire hooked up to a speaker wire on the Head, which would shut the head unit off until the next time I started the car. Mixed up two different occurances, lol.

[KingFish]

As for the alignment, check all your mount points. I would start at the rack and pinion. Check the mounts for deterioration and looseness. Check the inner tie rod for looseness at the rack. Then move out to the control arms. Check the LCA to frame, LCA to sway bar and ball joint. Now check the outer tie rod by putting the front end on a stand, grabbing the tire at 3 and 9 o clock and shake it looking for looseness. Now grab the tire at 12 and 6 and shake it. Anything more than a very slight movement may mean wheel bearing issues. Check your lower strut mount bolts for looseness as well. Now grab the strut and try to move it. Not rotate it, but forward and back, and in and out. Any trouble here would be the upper mount.

[georgeb]

You need to redo your radio installation. As for the alignment, maybe it wasn't done right. Check it yourself with a piece of string hooked to the back wheel and pulled forward gently touching the front tire. It should touch the rearmost portion with a slight gap in front. Steering wheel must be straight and not under stress. Also check position of upper strut mount (front). Should be on inner setting.