Hey all-

I have a very odd problem with the interior lights. By interior lights I mean the steering wheel buttons, window buttons, center stack buttons including climate and navigation, and sunroof buttons. Basically every light that is supposed to be backlit with the headlights and parking lights on.

What does work are the ambient blue lights, navi screen that dims with headlights, and speedometer that also dims...

I checked ALL fuses under dash and under hood. All fuses are good, and I triple checked them... What I do rememberis one day is and "electronic" burn smell one night and then and week later, no backlit buttons... It is terribly annoying and dangerous at night now...

Any ideas? A body control module shot? If so, which one? Anyone have a wiring diagram so that I can trace all wires? Any suggestions will be loved!

Thanks!

Chris

 

Before anything burns your fuses should pop to protect the wiring harness. Did you have anything aftermarket installed as far as radio stuff, alarm, lights ect? If your 100% non of the fuses are blown which there are a few which control Radio, interior lights ect and all of them are good then you have a harness issue but should have been saved by the fuses blowing 1st. Silly question but how did you check the fuses? Did you pull out the ones that control the affect circuits?

 

All fuses were pulled one by one and inspected carefully. The dome lights still all work, as does the dimmer for the speedo, but nothing with the parking lights/headlights. All the wires under the steering wheel look okay one first glance, but I suppose the next thing is to start tracing all the wires involved with the interior lights?

Car does have a Viper 5900 remote start, but no add on modules. Otherwise, car is stock with no extra led's or non-oem bulbs... Car has been slowly grenading itself I feel...never had so many electrical problems before with a car before.

 

You have no exterior lights also? Does your blue tooth unit work by any chance? And was there anything done in the trunk as like did you load up the trunk with a lot of things and it was hard to close the trunk lid? Anything bang around in the trunk. Did you purchase the vehicle with the alarm already installed or was this installed after? Basics are the vehicle has to be 100% stock, there could be a possible issue with the blue tooth got very hot and shorted out the harness which is also tied into some interior lights. There could be a possible issue where something in the trunk may have shorted out which will also cause exterior light problem. After market alarms this causes many problems if wired wrong. It may not show up right away but certain wires may have juice at all times and which are not rated for such things could melt over time causing issues. If indeed you have some form or warranty on the vehicle or at least with the alarm I would start with having them check the alarm 1st or disconnect it from whatever it's attached to and see if it fixes any problems.

 

^^^ couple things here:

1> check - recheck all the fuses....I know you said you did that but I would do it again on the interior fuse box and exterior....

2> check your ground connections at couple locations: (i) 2 locations in your wheel well....(ii) main fuse box ground (iii) interior fuse box ground

I think either your fuse is blown or the ground for something has come loose....

does your battery drain out if you dont drive couple days ?

 

Have had the car since new in 04 and remote start was put in 4-5 years ago. Just double checked grounds and Bluetooth and all appear normal... Also, all the exterior lights work, hazards turn signals work, door locks, windows all work, and even the steering wheel controls and trunk all work... Super frustrated... I doubt the remote start did anything bc the only interface it has is with the parking light trigger and unless they've changed much since I stopped installing 5 years ago, it's a pretty benign bit of voltage and current. The parking lights do still flash with remote.

I'm almost ready to take it back to the company that installed the viper as it was installed before I met my wife, whom the cat belongs too. I'm getting too old lying upside down in the footwell!! Please help

 

^^^ ur just 29

but yeah thats all i got.....taking it to the dealer/instal shop might help

 

If you said that your gauge lights were also out, I would have said to replace the fuse in the underhood box. I blew a fuse there and it took my entire dash out. I believe it was #20, but would have to check my Electrical Manual to confirm.

 

^^^ he said he checked and rechecked all the fuses

 

Man I wish it were a fuse problem! I've checked and rechecked, and even confirmed all possible fuses with a mulitmeter and all have a continuous connection... I appreciate the fact that it indeed sounds like a fuse problem, but had it been as simple as a fuse, I wouldn't be asking...

Believe me. I'm HOPING it's something asinine so I can get it fixed, and then hopefully rid of the car.

But I apprecaite all the comments! I'm hoping someone has the magic solution!

And dwb993, fortunately my speedo still lights up, otherwise driving at night would be next to impossible!

 

So here's an update...

I've noticed that the power window switches DO light up under the ignition ON key setting, remain on with retained power, and then obviously switch off when the door is opened. This is regardless of whether the parking lights or headlights are on or off.

What does NOT work still are all the button lights, HVAC, steering wheel, sunroof etc with the headlights/parking lights.

So, that leads me to believe it's not a ground issue... If anything I think it's an issue with the BCM? Anyone with the wiring diagram kind enough to scan the pages that have the wiring associated to the interior wiring?

EVERYTHING else works... outside lights, sidemarkers, turn signals, hazards, parking lights, fogs, speedo lights, ambient lights...

Something must of shorted somewhere, and unfortunately it's not as easy as a fuse... help?

 

Well from my experience....

the driver side HVAC lights (4 of them - HI/LOW/AUTO/MODE) went off on me at the same time....then the bottom 4 (DUAL/FAN HI/LOW and another one) went off on me at the same time...

I dont think the bulbs are blown but they are connected in Series ? and one of them leads to couple of them going off....or a loose connector....

I am thinking some connector came loose/short circuit behind the dash and if you tear everything apart there is a good chance you might be able to find the problem....I am too lazy to do mine and will do it when I am all set to mod the interior of the car....

 

So I've ordered the Helms ETM for the TL, but combing through the service manual, I've located the exact trigger/area that seems to have gone wrong...

It's highlighted here in red:


All those are EXACTLY what have gone out on my car, and needless to say, it's been annoying. I'm going to the dealership to pick up a new dimmer switch, as a quick physical inspection in that area proves nothing wrong. I'm also going to tear apart the area and trace the wire back if the new dimmer switch doesn't solve the problem right away.

Any suggestions, tips, advice before I tear apart the dash tomorrow to finally hunt down this problem? My ETM is still on it's way, and with my luck, I"ll have it fixed before it arrives... anyone with the ETM care to shed any light on this? Especially the "Power Supply Circuit Controller Area Network Controller"? Whatever it is... it sounds expensive....

 

I am having similar issue with 2012 TL with tech pkg. Just changed the trunk light with LED and lost the trunk light plus most of the interior lights. When the parking lights are turn on, only the interior lights on the left and right door are on and also the top center map lights. The lights on the Audio system, steering wheel and gear position indicator lights are all out.

The fuse # 16 in under-hood fuse box is fine. The fuse # 18 in driver side interior fuse box is fine. The fuse # 6 in the passenger side interior fuse box is fine. What can I do to resolve this issue?

All other functions in the car is fine and operating normally. Just got the car on Nov 30 and this is my 3rd TL (traded in 2005 TL with Nav). Never had issue like it with my other two TLs. Please help.

 

Light switch... the thing on the steering column that you twist forward and backwards.

 

Thanks. Not that. Trunk light is still out. And the interior instrument lights when you turn on the headlights or parking lights are not working. Like Audio Unit lights, VSA switch light, A/T gear position lights, select/reset/information switch light and etc... The lights on the left an right door are working ..like gas cap switch and trunk open switch lights, and power window switch lights.

 

It is $35. I had the same issue on an accord and after every fuse, harness, etc. I replaced this and it was fine. In some way, or form, almost every light goes through that thing.

You don't even have to put it in. Just hook the new one up at the harness and see if it works. If not, then take it back. If it works, then put it in.

 

What is it that cost $35?

 

Headlight Switch:

http://www.rockauto.com/catalog/x,ca...TL%2B3.2L%2BV6

 

Many Thanks.
: )

 

AAPL3TLS, Did you replace the headlight switch and did it resolve your issues? I have almost identical problems with my dash backlighting.

 

Since I just got the car end of Nov, I took it to dealer. Took 3days but they gave me a loaner. They replaced two multiplexes, one on the driver side fuse box and one on the passenger side fuse box. Not the light switch behind the steering wheel.

 

Do you know if replacing both units was necessary to get the lights working again?

 

Here is what I have on the service invoice ($0):
Tech installed new multiplexes:
38200-TK4-A12 : Box, Driver Fuse
38200-TK4-A02 : Box, Passenger Fuse

 

I had the same problem yesterday morning. I went on a trip and had my trunk and back seat packed with stuff (dont know if that had anything to do with it) but the problem was in the fuse box under the hood. Small lights (#4 10amp) i took out the blown and replaced it with the extra about 5 fuses under and all the lights are back on again

 

just wanted to say thanks, this thread saved me i didn't realize the fuse for the small interior lights was under the hood

 

I know this post is so old, but I just wanted to give my 2 cents for those of you viewing this forum for assistance. I had the exact same problems as chrisyoon described above. All of my interior lights went out except for the window buttons.

I am in the process of doing LED conversions on all of my interior lights and one night I was replacing the "Passenger Airbag" light and I saw a spark and all of my lights went out. I checked all of the fuses three times and they all appeared fine. However, after the fourth check I saw that the #4 "small light" 10A fuse did have a little corrosion on it an I replaced this fuse with a new 10A fuse. (This fuse is located in the fuse box under the hood).This solved my interior light problems and they all appear to be working perfectly.

However, now my "engine emission control" light is on and I'm not sure why. The owner's manual said this could be due to a lose gas cap, but this light has never come on until I blew my fuse. Any suggestions with this?

 

Please help me my RDX is having same issue. No lights on the headlights/parking lights and all buttons on the dash console. All fuses are good. Please bro have your resolved the issue?

 

Were all of your lights working recently? What occurred to cause your issue? Did it just happen randomly or while you were working on your car? What year is your RDX?

 

RDX is different than TL. I suggest posting in RDX section of the forum. You also forgot to post which year your RDX is, so even if I would like to take a look at schematics I can't.

 

The year is 2007.
It suddenly happened when I drove in a flood and the car started over heating. I checked it and found out power wasn't going to the cooling fans, the headlights/parking lights and d the dash buttons lights doesn't turn on anymore. I managed to tap power from the alternator to power the fans so I can use the car pending when I find the fault, but the headlight/parking light and dash lights are all still off

 

Flood damage? That's way above my pay grade. That sounds like a nasty electrical problem that you might need a diagnostics technician to help you with.

 

If the owner of this thread can tell me if he got his issue fixed and what he did to fix it, I may know where to look at, cos we share same faults.

 

1. The owner of the thread is long gone
2. The owner of the thread didn't drive through a FLOOD..

 

Well, I spent just a few seconds researching for you. Check out this thread as a place to start:

https://acurazine.com/forums/1g-rdx-...orking-966764/

 

Here's another one:

https://acurazine.com/forums/first-g...-issue-977627/

 

Was car sitting in the water for a long time, or you drove through deep water / heavy rain and it immediately stopped working?

I don't thing you will find thread with 100% solution.

So you got:
- no headlights
- no tail lights
- no dash lights
- no cooling fans

Anything else broken?

Here is some schematics:
Look for common points between things that don't work, like same grounds, same fuses, etc.
Test fuses with test light - using voltmeter or visual inspection is not enough.
Look for signs of green corrosion.

Most of the things get controlled by under-dash fusebox (and MICU), but under-hood fusebox is first. I would start with fans, and when they are sorted out I would move forward. Fans are powered through relays, and relays are controlled by PCM.
Having a bi-directional scan tool to turn fans on/off would be best, but leaving key in ignition and turning AC on should be enough to command both fans ON.
Figure out what's missing on the relays - do they miss power, or signal from PCM?

Tail lights / headlights will be more tricky - less space and relays are build-in into the fusebox - so you can't take them out and find out what is wrong (easy way).