Parking Lights

[jpetrovic]

Alllright,

Well i've been haveing issues with the parking lights coming on
(includes taillight illumination and dash lights illumination along with the amber turn signals) but head lights work fine including hi beams and break lights work.)

this has happend b4 and it was the combo switch on the stearing colum and i swaped it out and it was fine... 3months later same thing... i went to a JY and went threw 5 Combo switches they all didnt work?? Soo i checked fuese but im gona go over all of them with a test light to Make Sure they are working. i know the fuese on our cars are for more electronics then what the cover says they are for, soo do any of you know what fuese could or if any would be assoiciated with the parking, break, dash light illumination, or is there a realay i could look at?

since i tested 5 switches and got the same result im pretty sure the combo switch is fine. Plus i took apart one of them and jumped the parking lights it to make sure there was a connection.
and nothing happend.


Would the dimmer switch on the dash or the illuminatin box under the stearing colum have anything to do with this?

Need help asap. I cant go to night classes till i get this fixed.

[jpetrovic]

allright well i tested all the fuses, Working..... do u know if there are any relays i could test involving the lights?

[skittlez]

i think there is, this is just off the top of my head though. you could look over the schematics in the shop the manual to see.

[Dr_Snooz]

RussianKid created a how-to for rebuilding that combo switch. I'm too lazy to dig it up right now, but it's good. If your combo is anything like mine, you have crusties building up in your connections. I haven't yet got around to it, but me, a can of contact cleaner and that combo switch are going to be having a frank discussion before too much longer.

[jpetrovic]

RussianKid created a how-to for rebuilding that combo switch. I'm too lazy to dig it up right now, but it's good. If your combo is anything like mine, you have crusties building up in your connections. I haven't yet got around to it, but me, a can of contact cleaner and that combo switch are going to be having a frank discussion before too much longer.

well...
i dont know if its the connectivity in the switch... b/c i took one apart and jumped the parking lights and nothing.
the switch actaully isnt hard to open up and clean. i did that allready. there was some serious gunk in there. but still no Lights... :/


im open to more sugestions... Im still tryin to figure this out. i'll keep u updated.

[Dr_Snooz]

Sorry, I didn't read your initial post well enough. I'm still not completely clear, but I think you're saying that when you turn on the headlights, the headlights turn on, but the parking lights stay off, right?

The parking lights, along with the vanity light, radio light, glove box light, ashtray light and cigarette lighter are on a dedicated circuit. A 15A fuse in the #14 slot of the in-car fuse box governs it. I don't see any obvious relays, so I'm thinking this is going to be another cruddy connector or possibly a broken wire. Ugh. Good luck with that.

For what it's worth, the circuit comes off the battery via the white wire to the combo switch. From there a red wire goes to fuse box, then a red/black wire from there.

If you're going to keep doing this wiring stuff, you would be well served to buy a shop manual from helminc.com (www.helminc.com). There's a *.pdf manual you can download from this site, but you want the printed one with the big 11"x20" fold out wiring diagrams.

You should also invest in a proper multimeter. A test light just isn't going to cut it if you are diagnosing sensors and relays. You need to be able to see voltage and resistance values. Multimeters are as cheap as $15. Get a good digital one and it will help a lot.

Keep us posted on this too.

[Civic Accord Honda]

if the dimmer switch is not working this could happen i know if its unpluged nothing will work so try replaceing that

[lostforawhile]

cah when did your parking lights dim?

[jpetrovic]

I figured out what was wrong. the #14 fuse in the car that holds the 15A is loose. when i was touching the test light to it it would connect and show current. soo now i gotta bend back the metal that holds the fuse in place? lol im sure this might be a bitch to do.


Dr. Snooz, Your great man you've helped me alot.
all u other guys have aswell
Thanks! lol this site has saved me hundereds of dollars :D


oh i do have a multimeter, just never had a test light and wanted one :P i know i could have used the meter to check current, but for simple gereral checks the test light is more convenient to see if u have a charge.

[jpetrovic]

if the dimmer switch is not working this could happen i know if its unpluged nothing will work so try replaceing that

also iwas wondering about that.. i dont think that control is associated with the parking lights tho.

[lostforawhile]

you have a main fuse under the hood that sends power to the lights,it splits off in the switch between parking and headlights,then splits again between bright and dim,then you have power out for the parking lights that runs to that fuse, and two circuits out for the headlights,one for bright and one for dim,these circuits each split to two fuses for high beams and two fuses for low beams. this prevents both high and low beams from blowing at the same time. you start off with one wire and end up with five fuses.

[Dr_Snooz]

Dr. Snooz, Your great man you've helped me alot.


Thanks dude but I think you deserve most of the credit. That's a really obscure problem you sniffed out.

Lostforawhile is really the wire meister. He doesn't always answer these wiring threads, so I fill in as best I can.

I'm just happy to keep these wonderful cars rolling. Glad I could help.