alright about 3 years ago, i was in an accident and ever since, my parking lights and instrument lights don't work when you turn the headlight switch on. so i figured must be a short somewhere. so after a while i finally tapped into the red/black (parking light/illumination) wire and hooked up a toggle switch. worked perfect for a couple years now.

well the other day the switch snapped and didn't work, (which it'd do every 6 months to a year, i guess cause they just burn out?). so i went to autozone, bought a new one and replaced it. all's fine and dandy, they work with the switch, BUT my parking lights don't flash with my alarm anymore. didn't think much off it and put off looking into it. well then the new switch i just replaced went bunk as well after two days. it would still turn the lights on, but there was no click, the switch was "limp". after playing with it for a minute, the lights just went out and i coudln't get the switch to turn them back on.

so this morning i finally got a chance to look at it all, and after consulting my alarm's instruction, i found out the parking light wire has a 10a fuse. so that's the first thing i check and sure enough it's blown. also the fuse in the underdash fusebox for the tailights is blown as well. i checked the fuse i put in the power wire (straight from battery to switch) and it's fine, it hasn't blown. i don't have any extra fuses or switches so i have to wait till later so i can't just replace them right now.

but what would cause the fuses to blow out of nowhere like that? they've worked fine for over 3 years now. could i have blown them when i plugged the new toggle switch in? so where would the short be if the power wire fuse is good, and both parking light fuses have blown? does that mean it's (the short) is in the tapped parking light wire somewhere? could the blown fuse in the alarm's parking light fuse caused the switch to go "bad"? this is frustrating me!!!

tia for any help

 

ok so here's another question since i don't know WHEN the fuses blew...

if i splice into the taillight wire, attach that wire to the middle prong on the toggle switch, attach a ground to the toggle, and run a wire from my battery to the switch with an inline fuse...will the taillights work EVEN if the fuse in the underdash fusebox for the taillights has blown???

i was thinking if the taillights could still work with the blown fuse, maybe that would force the toggle switch to get too hot and burn itself short/out?

 

ok well first let me explain what happened so far ...

i got fuses and a switch. i replaced both and same things happened. the taillights worked, but the fuse blew in the alarm harness when armed. now when i replaced the switch a few days ago, i noticed the ground wire (for the toggle) was disconnected with the wire it was spliced with, with no signs of the wire. so what i did was grounded the switch at the same point (spliced into) as the alarm. well so once it blew the fuse again today in hte alarm harness, i moved that ground from the alarms ground. i armed the alarm and the parking lights WORKED. then i went into my stereo to splice into the ground there and ground the switch. again the taillights work, but once i armed the alarm, it blew the fuse in the alarm harness again. !!!

so when the taillight switch IS grounded, the parking lights don't flash with my alarm. but when the switch isn't grounded (connected), the parking lights work. so what does that mean? also fyi, the alarm's parking light wire is tapped into the wire that connects the parking lights to my toggle switch.

the fuse in the fusebox for my taillights is 10a. the toggle switches that i was using were rated at 20a. today i picked a toggle up that handles 30a.

today i went through and taped up any exposed wire i saw. i don't know how to solder, so i twist and tape EVERYTHING (ghetto, i know, but i've never really had a problem until now).

[qutoe]Get a multi-meter and start making measurements !!! [/quote]
i actually got one for chirstmas, but i have no idea how to use it. DC, AC, ohm, i don't know the difference. i tried reading on the internet how to use it, but mine's analog, and i can only find decent "how-to"s on digital which seem totally different.

thanks for all the help so far. i think i understand everything you're saying. i hope what happened today might help as well though. you see i had the alarm professionally (circuit city, if you call that pro.) installed on my LAST vehicle, but before i sold the vehicle, i yanked the alarm to put on my next car. so i installed the alarm myself, and i don't want to say "half-assed" because it DID work, but now i'm contemplating taking it someplace, have them yank the alarm and connect everything the RIGHT way. but i just don't want to spend the money for something i might be able to take care of....if i can find the problem area....

sorry so long.

 

ttt

 

ttt

the tailight fuse pops everytime i turn my headlights on. the alarm's parking light fuse pops everytime i connect ground to the switch i'm using.

also, fyi, my front bumper lights are connected to my headlights (done waaay after accident). so the ground for each of the bumper lights is shared with parking lights, but the power wire was cut and connected to a splice in the headlight's power wires.

electricity sucks. can somebody exlpain what i need to do with this multi-meter that would help me locate WHERE the problem is...??? please...