Lighting issues. The blind leading the frustrated

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Fox & Eponine

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Yeah no idea, totally not a car girl here
Okay I'm going to be very very upfront. I am not a car person. I'm also not helpless. I believe that with a little bit of instruction and the right set of tools there's very little that I can't accomplish.

So original problem was my headlights, they turned off randomly and the fuses were fine. Did some troubleshooting and narrowed it down to a loose connection OR the headlight switch thingie that the pull out on off sorta button goes to. Cool. Got one picked up, took apart the dash (after disconnecting the battery), neighbor helped with the wiring, flexed my mighty get it done muscles and had a small party as my headlights now worked (The switch had definately gone back and was melted in one spot soooo yeah). It didn't occur to me to check and see if my dash lights would come on, or my interior dome would turn off.

Went to drive home from a friends house last night and the dome lights wouldn't turn off at all. The dash lights wouldn't come on. I drove the 1/2 mile home with things taped over the lights so that I wouldn't get pulled over. Today I must get this figured out. I have an 8 hour drive tomorrow with 5 children and 2 dogs, and the possibility of having to work around when the sun is up is just...no.

Dropped older kids off at school today, and after disconnecting the battery got the dash bit taken off, and through trial and error got the interior dome light to turn off when the headlights were on and the doors were closed. The dash lights still don't come on. Hints, diagrams, what color is the right wire for me to even be mucking with? Any of that would be appreciated, particularly because it's raining off and on while I do all this (garage was torn down a week ago to make way for a replacement that won't be put in until next spring).

Okay that's a big long ramble, sorry. Just wanted to be clear with the trouble.
 

quietpeen

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welcome to RF, hopefully somebody that knows chimes in
 
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Did you mess with the wiring that leads to the plug-in for the light switch? If your dash lights are not working check to see if your marker lights are working. What exactly did you replace? Be specific, "thingy" does not count as a part and makes it even more difficult to diagnose a problem through a computer screen.
 

GhostRam94

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i guess he is talking about the light switch that controls the heads, fogs, cargo, marker lights and the dimmer switch on the dash lights

oh and welcome to RF!!!!!
 

Micchi

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Did you mess with the wiring that leads to the plug-in for the light switch? If your dash lights are not working check to see if your marker lights are working. What exactly did you replace? Be specific, "thingy" does not count as a part and makes it even more difficult to diagnose a problem through a computer screen.

Definitely be more specific. Was it a brand new switch or one from a pull yard? If your dash lights and dome light worked correctly before you changed the switch and you didn't mess with the wiring then maybe the new switch is bad.
 
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