most recent problem fixed,
the tail works now.
it was a fuse.

but now i cant figure out which fuse is to the climate control...
its not in the manual.

 

just pull em all out under the hood and dash and look at em

 

trie the owner manuel

 

i did try the owners manual... this is how i discovered what fuse needed to be replaced.

Ok given the situation, i really need to update everyone on what i have done and what i am noticing is wrong.


when the right tail was out, so was the left license plate light, i didnt think anything of it. Also the neons under my dash and two seats went out too as well as the lighting for the climate control.

i initially popped the fuse box under the hood open and saw in the 7.5 slot, a 10.
the 10 was blown.

upon realizing (because i read my manual ) that the 7.5 next to the 10 was for the left tail. so i figured since the previous owner had the two front neons set up via a relay, that this was probably to compensate for the extra need of power.

I tried using 7.5's, (2x) and they blew. I couldnt find a 10, so i tried a 15, it seemed to have worked. but the climate control and the neons never came back on, so it must have been short lived.

I noticed this on the way back from the mall, and was pissed.
i pulled over and popped the blown 15 out and threw another one in.
instantly blew.

In my frustration i found a 20 spare on the back of the holder infront of the internal underdash fuse box and decided what the hell. put the 20 in. Started the car. Neons came on, tail light was on and the license plate light came on. but the climate control is still off.

now were talking a fuse almost 3x what is normally in that slot. now here are my questions...

what kind of risk am i running for my car?
is this even safe?
Why wont my climate control lighting come back on?
Why was it ok with a 10 in there for 3 years and all of the sudden i need 2x that?

I'm really confused at what caused all of this, but electrical problems is really trouble.
Any advice would be great, and as for the pop all the fuses in and out to see which ones are blown, the fuses under the drive side dash are the biggest ***** to pull out and put back in... i really just wanna make sure this gets done right so it doesnt have to be done again.

 

as ive said a million times before, running power thru those wires is dangerous and your making it worse by putting bigger fuses in. the point of the fuse is that any "back" feed of power, blows the fuse, now your putting more stress on those power wires and letting them probably heat up even more. rewire the neons so that they run directly to either a larger power source or make up a way to power it to the battery. Your bulbs are possibly blown in your hvac control

 

i wouldnt say a million times :-P
though i agree, the problem is i need my tails on, not too interested in getting pulled over, and with todays rain, i needed em even in the day.
i have absolutely no free time until the weekend, so im gonna have to make this a whole project.

I know the previous owner hooked the neons up to a relay then he made it possible to change the intensity of light via the dimmer. (wonder how it was connected to the right rear light?

Ill have to take that all apart soon i guess.

i wonder what size the hvac bulbs are...

 

hvac bulb size-74

expect them to not look factory white

 

Im excited to rip into my dash :-(

 

its not hard what so ever to get those bulbs out. take off the knobs, two screws there, screw driver carefully off the front cover, then theres 4 screws holding together a plastic peice and theres your bulbs. pull hard.

 

Call me crazy, but my first step would be to remove the neons, not keep putting in new fuses/bulbs.

 

this is what i did tonight,
i didtnt do it right away cause i thought "this has worked for 3 years,
wonder whats wrong... oh the fuse is blown ill change that"

i rewired the neons.
the prior owner had a shoddy sodder job.

the relay was hardwired to the dimmer switch.
and it just wasnt connecting 100%.
i took the wires off the dimmer switch and rewired them to the lighter power lines.
now they come on with the ignition switch, not the dimmer...
eh, you win some you lose some.

best of all, the tail light stayed on.
so i didnt have any 7.5a fuses left... (dunno where they are...)
so i threw in a 15, and they stayed on.
tomorrow i will get some more 7.5a's and keep my fingers crossed.

thanks to all for help and advice so far.

 

Threw in a 7.5 the other day,
lights are all good,
all systems go,
and since i disconnected the negative from the battery and reset the ECU,
Ive been getting an extra 20 miles to the tank... (go figure!?)

So the problem has been corrected,
Mods can close this if they want.