Question on electical......please help!!!! Options

[dabazied]

Well as I've posted before, my dash lights don't work on my car so I have one of those ghetto rigged cig lighter plug accent lights to see it or just use my cell phone for light. When i say the dash lights don't work, I mean the ones that light up the gagues, all blinker, check engine, low gas, air bag and all other lights work on the dash. Also the lights that are supposed to come on as a "backlight" on my temp control(for heat and ac) doesn't come on, but when I press the buttons, those light up. This all started happening when someone put in a new cd player a while back. I was trying to clean up some wires so the interior wouldn't look so ghetto and found that a couple wires seemed loose. I looked under the hood and found these:

http://i154.photobucket.com/albums/s245/da...ed/DSCF0345.jpg

http://i154.photobucket.com/albums/s245/da...ed/DSCF0346.jpg

Now, I know that the orange one should be hooked to the positive terminal since it has the little fuse connected to the wire, but I'm not sure about the green one and dont wanna mess anything up. Should the green one go to neg or pos?

Thanks for the help guys

*Editing was to fix the links to the pics*

This post has been edited by dabazied: Nov 11, 2007 - 1:30 PM

[MarcoGTS]

whoa.. never seen them under my hood before...hmm...

[lubu]

The oran/grn are from previous owner, most likely to power an amp. As for the backlights check ur, located near the driver's kick pannel.

[dabazied]

I've already tried that fuse box next to the "pop hood" lever, the one under the hood, and have replaced all the bulbs...... This has been going on for about 3 months now and I'm tired of my dash and stuff being ghetto lol..... I thought it might be for an amp but I wasn't totally sure....... Any ideas on what to try next other than pulling out all the wiring and redoing it? lol

[lubu]

Sounds like you've got a damaged power wire somwhere, as much as i hate to say it, ur probably better off tracing the damage wire. Before doing this though check and see if the illumination switch works (which i think it is, ur headlights work right?), use one of those voltage measurer or place a bulb across and see if it lights up when the switch is turned, from there trace to where the damage is and perform the surgery.

[dabazied]

Yeah, my headlights work.... Btw, I was curious and followed those wires. I have had this switch under my steering wheel and didn't know what it went to, funny enough the wires went back to that switch so obviously there used to be fog lights on my car at one point probably lol....... anyways, I've never done any electical work but i'm not paying $1500 to toyota for it like they quoted me lol...... so, when I use the multimeter, what am i testing? is it the group of wiring thats on the side panel behind the kickpanel fuse box or where should I start? thanks so much btw

[lubu]

you are testing to see if the switch works as it should, I cant remember the wire colour that powers all the illuminations but it should be one of the wire located underneath the steering wheel.


pic courtesy of malpaso

[stevest202]

some of our cars have dimmer switch for panel lights has yours got one if it has it could be that has gone faulty

[celicadude04]

Sounds like a fuse, but could be something like the dimmer switch is bad or wires could be cut. That maybe something to look at and I hope you fiqure it out.

This post has been edited by celicadude04: Nov 11, 2007 - 5:00 PM

[SilentNight]

Take apart the gauges. Start by takin out all the plastic then remove the gauge unit itself. and make sure evrything is connected or try jiggling sum wires to see if they work. It could also be a bad backlight bulb. You can pick up a new one at pepboys or autozone for like 3 bucks.

[dabazied]

Thanks for the pics lubu. I haven't had time yet to work on it but am going to check tomorrow.

It's not the fuses celicadude, I've checked/pulled every single one in the car. lol

Yeah, I have a dimmer switch for the light panels and was thinkin that could be a possible issue, but i think i'm gonna check the connections/wires first before blowin out 50 bucks for another dimmer switch/knob lol.

Silent, I've changed out every bulb that I saw connected to the gauge panel lol.... that and the fuses were the first thing i did. I haven't gotten mad enough/frustrated enough to start jiggling the wires back there yet, but they are all hooked up back there lol.

Thanks so far for everyone's help/ideas on this work in progress lol.

[AudioFreak]

My guess, based on the fact that the problem started when a new cd deck was installed and all the lights seem to be backlight related. Is the illumination/dimmer wire. I've seen cars do wacky things when the dimmer wire is hooked up incorrectly.

First thing I would do is pull the radio and disconnect the wiring harness. Hopefully there is a adapter harness and your stock wiring isn't cut. If not at least unplug from the back of the radio. Then try your lights. Also make sure the plug is seated in the dimmer switch. It needs to be connected.

The illumination wire you are looking for is green on the cars wiring and it should be a yellow wire on the radio. Check to see how it's hooked up. If it did get hooked up wrong it's possible the dimmer is shot. But not likely.


All of the lights are on the 7.5 amp "panel" fuse. Should be under the hood. I know you have said you checked/pulled everyone. Did you check them by looking or with a meter. I've come across many fuses that look fine but don't test when using a meter. Since the problem has been around a while and you've checked as much as you have you really need to get back to basics and start from square one.

You may find the fuse bad replace it and it still doesn't work. There may still be a wiring problem.

I would disconnect the radio and replace the fuse to start and go from there.

Hope this makes sense... it's 3am and I can't think or see straight.

[dabazied]

Thanks for the input. I'm gonna use the long weekend to start on it again cause i didn't have time before.

I tested the fuses by pullin em and also by one of those little fuse testers you get with a package of spare fuses.

I'm gonna try the testing the wires thing from before and then head on to the radio pullin cause when they put in the radio, one of the screws is stripped and stuck in there and I can't figure out how to get it out right now cause I don't have the right drill to bore it out right now lol

[trdproven]

If you say it happened after you installed a player. I would remove the player and see if everything works again.

Also, is your harness rigged (splice) or is it using a legit harness? If it is rigged, clean up the wiring.

This post has been edited by trdproven: Nov 22, 2007 - 11:45 AM