[nUcLeArEnVoY]

So I just got my T/A back from the body shop today after the front bumper was removed and repainted,and the headlight panel was replaced due to a minor collision. They did a great job on the repair.

My body guy mentioned that at one point through the repair job, he had to jump the car because the battery had died, and he had noticed that the interior dome light was staying on even with the doors closed, but was dim. When doors open, the dome light shone at the correct brightness. I noticed the same thing when I picked the car up today.

He said he had to disconnect the battery so that he wouldn't have to keep jumping it. Otherwise, for a simple bumper and headlight panel installation, I would *PRESUME* the only four connectors that needed to be unplugged were the 4 headlight terminals. Not even the turning signal or horn terminals needed to be unplugged, so I'm having a hard time believing it was something that happened while at the body shop.

So anyway, we just decided on removing the dome light bulb for now, and I decided I'd tackle it at a later date. But once I got it back to my storage unit and started testing out other devices/accessories, I've noticed some oddities.

• First off, for the heck of it, I put the bulb back in the dome light and now it *MOSTLY* works the way it should, as in it fully turns off when the doors are closed and fully brightens when the doors are opened. However, I now noticed that if I turn the radio on, the dome light also turns on at the same dim brightness even with the doors closed. What the heck??

• Automatic power antenna stopped working. Was working fine before I brought the car to the body shop.

• The clock now stops running when the dome light is on, but will run when the dome light is off.

• The footwell convenience lights stopped working, both with doors open and when headlight switch is turned counter clockwise to turn them on manually.

• Power trunk release stopped working. Was working fine before I brought the car to the body shop.

• Key buzzer stopped working. Was working fine before I brought the car to the body shop.


• I haven't put my timing light on to check the RPMs, but according to my tach and oil pressure gauge, and even just the seat of my pants, I can feel my idle RPM is just a bit lower by like 20-35 RPM. Something drawing power somewhere??

Everything else still works, including all exterior lighting; tachometer; gauges and gauge lighting; glovebox light; wipers; radio; blower motor; and AC.

So what is this? Is there a ground that all these devices have in common? Or a simple fuse issue? I know there is a fuse that has pretty much all the abovementioned devices/items in common, but if the fuse was out, then why is the dome light and clock still working under certain conditions, and why is the power antenna out? Can a fuse be partially bad? Is something drawing power? I'm at a loss seeing as how random this is and how many devices have been affected by it. I don't know if the headlights being swapped to a new headlight retaining panel would have anything to do with this, I thought that was its own harness?

Anybody that knows T/A's, please enlighten me lol.

[gtohurstjudge]

You obviously have a bad ground situation. If you mean by headlight panel the radiator support, and the radiator support was changed, then your problem is that one or more ground wires that attach to the radiator support behind the front bumper were not reconnected when
the car was put back together.

[nUcLeArEnVoY]

^^^ I'll make sure to check the ground for the front end harness. It's supposed to be grounded on the radiator support, so I don't see any reason it would be messed with if the headlight panel was all that was replaced, but I'll check regardless.

Also, the issue as to why everything was not working or working funny was because of a blown fuse. Had to actually remove the CLK-ACC-CTSY glass fuse to see the gap and that it had blown. When I glanced at it initially, it looked fine. After replacing it, everything now works like it should - in fact, my radio reception is clearer now than it was before on various channels. It's weird how a blown fuse on one bank of the electrical system can affect devices that operate off another bank, and that how some very minimal draw devices on the bank the blown fuse is for can still work in the presence of a blown fuse such as the glovebox light. Either way, after replacing the fuse everything works again. I also replaced the dome light bulb just in case.

I'm well aware a blown fuse is a symptom rather than a cause, but I'm not really sure what could have caused the fusion to blow other than just bad luck or age. Maybe that bulb for the dome light shorted or something, I dunno.

[gtohurstjudge]

Wow......in 47 years of being in the car repair business I have never seen a bad fuse cause problems like you were having......that is bizarre.

[johnta1]

Only thing I can think of, is that a piece of the fuse on the 'ground' side shorted to the case. This provided some other circuit to see a better ground than it had when off?


The same way a light bulb filament can do the same thing sometimes.

[johnta1]

Upon further thinking (with clearer head?) the fuse would not do what I said.



Light bulbs yes.

[nUcLeArEnVoY]

The bulb in the dome light was a little loose. When I replaced it, I had to squeeze the two tabs closer together so that they hold the new bulb more securely. Maybe that's what originally shorted and was why it was dimly lit even with the doors closed. The way the bulb mounts in the dome light is a crappy design - my dome light is not the typical round one, it's the option C95 "pimp" dome light with the reading lights. Could've also just been a partially blown fuse at first over the course of years before it finally just gave up the ghost.

Overall I've been fairly lucky with the electrical system on my car, seeing as how pretty much everything still works and the wiring is unmolested. The only "mod" is I see is that a PO snipped the thick purple wire for the clutch neutral safety switch.