Hello everyone,

Over the weekend I was making some changes to my aftermarket radio and had the dash pulled apart. During the process of plugging everything back in I accidentally touched the end of the white ribbon coming from the hazard switch (with the battery still connected) and it smoked and blew the radio fuse.

I replaced the radio fuse,but the climate control backlights stopped coming on. Any thoughts on how to fix this?

Thanks!

 

Do each of the controls still work? I've had my center console out multiple times now but I don't remember the climate controls being on the same harness as the hazard switch module. I could be wrong though.

 

Yes, each a/c knob works as it did previously. It's the glowing orange lights that don't come on.

I've been doing some investigating but I'm stuck as I have little experience with electricity/wiring.

So... when I touched the live ribbon wire originally. It burned the tip of my finger and smoked. A small piece of the ribbon is now damaged. And the radio fuse blew.

When I plug the hazard switch harness back in. If I manipulate and twist the white ribbon (I'm assuming two wires within the ribbon are touching at this point), I can get a few things to happen depending on how I twist it:

1. the steering wheel lights come on. and stay on.

2. The climate controls function normally and turn on and off as they should

Not really sure what this means? Electrical short? Or is something grounded that isn't supposed to be?

 

I think you damaged the harness from what it sounds like. How hard is it to just replace that part?

 

1. ALWAYS unplug your battery before doing any work on your car (oil changes and tire rotations excepting) especially anything electrical.

2. I agree with hooba. It sounds like when you shorted out that ribbon cable, it burned one of the connections up. I don't know about a dealer part number but this little guy is the same cable type and will work as a replacement: http://www.digikey.com/product-detai...U-06-ND/200987
I'd be willing to bet that replacing the cable fixes your issue.

 

Thanks for the responses guys. It definetely was a mistake on my part not disconnecting the battery beforehand. Lesson learned.

I ended up simply pulling out the ribbon cable and the steering wheel still lights up fine, so I'm thinking it's not the ribbon. (Aftermarket radio btw so it was only connected to the hazard switch)

Hooba, are you referring to the harness/wiring that plugs into the back of hazard light switch that could be damaged?

Also important to note: The airbag lights still come on. The hazard button still works. A/C controls work. Just no backlight.

 

ehhh I was thinking maybe the ribbon cable, im assuming you already checked all of the fuses to make sure there was no other one it could be?

 

Considering it's a $3 cable I think it's worth a shot lol. I'll keep you guys posted once it arrives.

 

Did you fix it? I have the same situation