akacoke

its a 93 eg sohc, everything manual.

when the car doesnt get driven for hours it does this light thing.

park lights , tail lights and all the dash lights dont come on after 30-50 seconds, headlight turns on and off no problem.

when the ignition is off key not in, everything turns on and off ok, but once turn the key to 2nd position or turn on the engine , park lights and dash lights will have this delay


when it happens, if i just turn on the driving lights, nothing actually happens if i turn it on and off , on and off still nothing happens, after 1- 2 mins of idling, the driving lights and the dash lights would turn on by itself. once the lights turns on normally, all the lights can be turn on or off immediately whenever the switch is twisted.

deschlong

iTrader: (8)

Bad dimmer switch. Common problem.

Former User

A bad light switch on the steering column is more likely.

deschlong

iTrader: (8)

After a re-read, I agree. OP says the driving lights don't come on either - wouldn't happen with just a bad dimmer.

OP check DIY/FAQ section for a way to clean up your light switch.

akacoke

thanks for the input guys, i checked it again, when the car doesnt get driven for hours it does this light thing. when is happens, if i just turn on the driving lights, nothing actually happens if i turn it on and off , on and off still nothing happens, after 1- 2 mins of idling, the driving lights and the dash lights would turn on by itself. once they turn on, they works normally when i turn them on and off, on and off.

john666

maybe the switch is just dirty making bad contact. i toasted mine afew times

akacoke

any more ideas?

grumblemarc

iTrader: (4)

What ideas? Replace or clean the switch. If that doesn't work then come back and ask for more ideas.

akacoke

dude , i already took it apart before i ask for more ideas, the internal of the switch is very clean just as i expected, not that i dont trust you guys, but i just dont think its the switch, because once the lights turns on normally, all the lights can be turn on or off whenever the switch is twisted.

how can a switch only be bad everytime after the car doesnt get driven? and how come it only stays bad just for the 1 min after you start the engine?


PS druing the 1 mins that all the lights dont work the turning signals dont work neither

Former User

Realize that you are mentioning this for the first time. No one could have possibly known except you.

This is referred to as an intermittent problem.

Again, this is being mentioned for the first time here. Why not include all of this relevant information in the first post?

Test the switch and the front and rear ground wires for the lights.

akacoke

i should've mentioned all the details when i first post, my bad.

maybe i dont get the term " intermittent " in english, i thought it meant just randomly happens. i know for sure it would happen everytime when the car doesnt get driven for few hrs.

is there a way you can briefly tell me how to test the switch or ground, i honestly dont know much about electrical, i wish i know what to do so i wouldnt have to post . thanks for taking your time with the diagram and answering my question.

Former User

Intermittent simply means the problem doesn't happen all the time.

The continuity tests for the switch require a multimeter. Do you have one? Then pairwise test each terminal (open circle) connected by the line for continuity (= <100 Ohms resistance).

akacoke

i have a multimeter, i will try to test it when the car comes back, and this time i will clean it real good before testing the Ohms resistance. then i will report back


thanks

Former User

Actually, the tests are only informative if you do them when you are having the problem.

akacoke

problem still here, please help

grumblemarc

iTrader: (4)

Did you do this? What were the readings?