electrical problem

[jturek02gs]

So I was getting off of work and when I went to my car the some of the dash lights wont turn on and the tail lights wont stay on either (at night of course) The light that wont turn on are the Tac, MPH, gas and engine temp. My after market boost gauge wont turn on either. So I messed around with the dimmer swtich, parking brake and the wires to the dimmer swtich(i tapped in there for electrics for gauge) Nothing worked so far, so then I tried the fuses and soo far the dash and tail light fuses looked ok.

Any ideas to help the regal and my headache out??

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[Turbocharged400sbc]

sooo basically your whole parking/marker light system is dead...did you check for power at the fuse? or did you just remove and look at the fuse? start with the boost gauge...find where it got tapped into the circuit ive seen all sorts of messes from impropper tie in's aka scotch locks can be quick but they can also just as easily sever all the copper wire strands and still look "ok" from the outside...
then start pulling out the headlight switch and check for power at the dark brown or dark tan wire with the marker lights switched on (you didnt say anything but do the brake and headlights work?

 

[jturek02gs]

yes the headlights come on, the brake lights will come on when i hit the brakes.

 

[Turbocharged400sbc]

use a test light and check for powe at your fuse and then pull your switch and check it

 

[jturek02gs]

ok well im going to re tape the boost gauge lines and make sure they dident slip out anywhere, then ill test the fuses by the passanger seat, then go under the hood and check the box and see whats up

 

[Turbocharged400sbc]

the fuse for the marker/parking lights is seperate from the headlights, you should probably start at the headlight switch if the fuse is good and has power

 

[jturek02gs]

ok found part of the problem so far

I checked the fuse for the Tail Light lamps. LIC Lamps....fuse was fucked, so i changed it and it worked for a sec then the fuse busted again.....soooo i am checking the wires in my trunk right now and WTF is LIC? somthing with the lights in my cluster?

 

[jturek02gs]

i have a short somewhere, blah!

 

[jturek02gs]

LIC = license plate lamp?

 

[Turbocharged400sbc]

yeah the lic plate lamp is fed off the parking/marker light system so yeah that would be it...

start doing things the easy way

unplug all your marker bulbs, and take a quik look at the filaments, as one may have shorted, put in a new fuse and see if it still blows, if it does clip you boost gauge light wire and retest.

with the good fuse in start plugging iin one lamp/bulb assembly at a time till the lights/fuse go out

dont forget the plate lights

or you can put a paperclip in the fuse holder and look for smoke

if after all the marker bulbs are unplugged/removed the fuse doesnt blow, start

 

[jturek02gs]

ok well i just took the whole trunk apart, moved some stuff around and looked for any possible links to shorts, checked bulbs and moved it all around, tried new fuse and so far so good no blown fuse

 

[jturek02gs]

thanks man, pulled in the garage to see the light and there all good and working...i can only assume since i dident replace anything or find a problem that this will happen again but im more prepaird now