So when I wired up the gauges I thought I used the correct dimming switch and every thing was working fine …until I hooked up the tail lights. Now anytime I hit the brakes the dash lights come on. I can’t turn on the dash lights at all. Any guesses of what it could be? Short in the rear or wiring issues in the dash?
The easiest way to hook up lighting to your aftermarket? gauges is to tap into the gray ash tray light wire. If you did something different, go back and undo whatever you did, and use the ash tray light wire.
Check the tail light harness ground and make sure you have a good connection. My bad tail light ground turned the Gen light on when I hit the brake pedal. Bad grounds cause odd issues
Bad grounds, aged terminals and switches. all lead to issues. Fixed lots of ground issues as a tech on cars less than 5 years old. Loren
I'll check that out but even the stock dash gauges have the same issue. I thought I had a good ground, there's only one for the tail lights on the passenger side right of the harness? I'll have to recheck everything.
Okay so I disconnect the switch pitch and now the gauges work. I tried to tie it into the downshift switch in the throttle. So I’m assuming that’s not good to do. Another issue that may or may not be related, the front blinkers all flash when I try the turn signals. Looking into grounds at the moment.
Sounds like you have a lot of unknown wiring problems. Switch pitch? Exactly how are you controlling that?
I would agree. The “idea” was for the pitch to be activated when I was on the brakes so it will idle higher at a stop. Then also activate when I push the throttle enough to active the kick down. So I tied into the kickdown on the throttle pedal and the brake pedal switch. I used diodes so it wouldn’t turn on the brake lights when I hit the throttle.
The blinking issue is coming from the real tails. I unplugged it and the blinkers work. Gotta bring down the bumper and inspect. The gauges issue has to be with the switch pitch. I’ll take care of the rear lights the move to the switch pitch and make sure I’m on the power side. Thanks Larry.
All the grounds to the tail light bulbs are good. When I plug the rear tail light harness in the problem re appears. Does that mean my issue is in the harness or it could be anywhere in that tail light circuit?
Alright so I went through the front and the rear harness and have torn apart the dash. I’m still not finding the issue. But when I have the headlights on the flashers don’t work at all. I’m guessing they’re crossed somehow. That or the led lights are causing all the problems. Help anyone?
Found the issue… I put the old style tail light bulbs back in the car and it fixed the issue. I have to look into it further to be able to use the LED bulbs but at least I found the route of the problem.
