I have a 1994 Accord EX with about 400k-500k miles (spedometer stopped working), anyway, one day I was told that my tail-lights wasn’t working but my brake lights and signals were. Prior to being told, I knew my dashboard lights were out already, not long after (2-3 weeks) I had replaced my dashboard with a 1995 dashboard that was identical to my 1994. I checked my fuses under the hood and found a 15amp fuse had blown. Replaced it and I had lights again inside and out. About a week or more they went out again, change the fuse and had lights again…for a while, but then it got to a point where I put in a new fuse and turn on the headlights and it blow immediately.
I was told by a mechanic that the dashboard dimmer switch could be bad. I replaced it and afterward I had lights again…for about a month! This time I went straight to the fuse-box under the hood and the fuse wasn’t blown at all nor neither of the other ones under the hood. I got another dashboard dimmer switch from the do-it-yourself Pick-n-Pull junkyard and it didn’t make a different this time.
Can no longer take the risk of driving at night and can’t afford (right now) to take it to the shop to be checked out or fixed because I have been unemployed for quite a few months.
Does “anyone” have any suggestions with may be causing my park lights not to work?
PS: I have headlights ONLY, no other lights shine, front, back, or sides. Will check the fuses inside the tomorrow.
Thanks in advance for your time!!!
Signed, George
There should be another fuse under the dash… But this doesn’t solve the underlying problem of why your fuses keep blowing. Do you have an after market radio by chance? If it was hooked up but the hot wire for the dash dimmer was not insulated properly (covered with electrical tape) then it could be grounding to the radio bracket and blowing the fuse.
Like Carveaholic I believe you have one (or two) intermittent short problems. These can be difficult to find. Often it is a wire that has rubbed against a car part for thousands of miles and now shorts out, blowing a fuse, ever so often. These usually ends up tracing the wires until you find the problem.
Good Luck
If you are unable to find the cause of this problem, there is a solution other than fixing it.
My 1985 Buick Skyhawk had the same problem. By this time, it was almost as old as your Accord. Since I couldn’t find the cause, I found a hack solution. I mounted and wired marker lights like the ones you see on commercial trucks. I put two amber marker lights on the front bumper, and two red marker lights on the rear bumper. I also mounted a small light on the dashboard and wired all these lights to a dash-mounted switch. Since all the other lights (signal lights, headlights, etc.) still worked, this worked great.
I’ve attached two wiring diagrams that should cover your wiring problem. You could have a bad light switch (multi-function switch, ie dimmer switch), or connector, or ??? It will take a little probing. The hardest part might be finding the connectors referenced in the drawings.
You could have a bad headlight switch, or a parking/tail light wire that is broken or shorting. To avoid having to continually replace fuses thy getting a circuit breaker that fits.
I know about the fuse box under the dash, but hadn’t a chance to check the fuses. I did look fuse representation, and all the listed items for those fuses are working. At this point, my fuses isn’t blowing out as they were with my original dimmer switch, they went off without blowing the fuse. I still have my original radio that came with the car from day one (new brand car).
Thanks for response…think of anything else please let me know.
Couldn’t view the .pdf file for some reason…I have Adobe Reader 9.
They open for me, so maybe it is a technical issue on your end. If you are using Internet Explorer, you might try a different (better) browser.