hondabinge

hello all. looking for some help please.
98 Civic LX auto. headlights, parking lights, taillights, instrument lights are not working. there is no power going to illumination switch. i tried another illumination switch that i know works and still nothing. i used jumper wires and re-ground illumination switch ground wire and used jumper wire to put power to illumination switch power wire. instrument lights work when i do that and when i first tried this the headlights came on very very dim for a split second then went off. all fuses inside car under steering wheel are good as well as engine bay fuses in fuse box by battery. hazard lights work. brake lights and back up lights work. i re-ground and cleaned engine ground off tranny and the ground off a/c bracket. i also re-grounded taillights individually. i cleaned ground on right of engine bay by headlight. i also used electrical cleaner spray in headlight plug-in's to headlight bulbs.
any thoughts?
is there a relay somewhere for lights?
just strange that there is no power to illumination switch and strange that the headlights came on very dim for that split second. i thought that seemed like a ground problem but what do i know.
thank you for your time.

Former User

Sounds like 30A hood fuse 48 is blown. Test the installed fuse for voltage at both top test tabs.

hondabinge

thank you for reply.
more investigating showed that car has an aftermarket alarm. i had no power to combo switch on headlight side. i didn't want to mess with alarm. so i ran some 10g wire and inline fuses, one from power wire on illumination switch to wire on headlight control plug in that is right above fuses on inside fuse box. ran a wire from white constant power wire in ignition wiring to what was suppose to be constant power on headlight control plug on top of fuses. by powering that one wire it made headlights work and the other wire i ran makes dash lights work like theyre suppose to. kind of ghetto but should be fine.
thanks again.

Former User

Before doing all of that work, did you test hood fuse 48 for voltage at both top test tabs?

hondabinge

i dont have a volt meter but do have a test light. with fuse plugged in and clear plastic top popped off i had power on both sides of fuse. with no fuse plugged in i only had power on one prong (the one closest to firewall i think it was).