Hey guys,

Just half an hour ago I was driving home from a friend's and decided to get some gas.

I fill up, pay, had a guy come talk about and compliment my car, then...

I sat inside, tried to start up the car and nothing.

NO cranking no nothing. THE WHOLE ELECTRICITY was down.
Every light wasn't on, my trunk didnt open; everything electric didn't work.

Went outside, noticed my ACCORD fogs were still working and on (wtf?). So I turn the switch off inside. They're still lit even in the off position. WTF?
So then I pulled the fuse for the accord fogs, and still no power so I ripped open my lower dash and unplugged the accord switch. Still no power.
(What I tried to do was eliminate the accord fogs)

Everytime I tried to start the car nothing happens except the (!) symbol that's dim. Not even a ding dong ding dong noise...

So basically, 30 minutes later (the gas station turned off all lights damn it), the car gets power back on and I was able to start it.

How does it just happen that my car randomly gets the power (without me doing anything I think), and starts up normal?

I think it has something to do with my Accord fogs, but it's so strange how waiting it out solved the problem.

If you guys have any insight, let me know.

Thanks!

What's also weird is that when the accord fogs were on the whole time and I'm playing with the on/off switch, I noticed that in the ON position there was no green indicator light (Weird?)

And when the fog switch was in the OFF position, the indicator was actually ON but really dim and flickering slowly.

I also noticed spiders pooped on my car from above because the poop wasn't there when the guy was checking out my ride.

 

Dude, I don't have any answers for your dilemna-I'm just glad you were able to get your TL started again!

 

how exactly do you have your fog's wired up?

 

are your cables corroded? mine was doing the same thing.. it was because my battery cables werent getting a good connection.. just a suggestion man

 

if a hard switch doesnt turn your fogs off something's shorted.

 

Well inside the cabin, I have the switch connectted to the ground, the parking lights, and through the engine bay.

I'm almost positive it's nothing to do with any of my wiring in the engine bay.

My first guess is it's my tap into the parking lights. It's weird though how it happens right at the gas station. I'm thinking if I drove straight home nothing would have happened (at least yet).

Thanks for the suggestion =)

Just a few months ago my car wouldn't start up due to bad connection too.
All I did was take some sandpaper to the rings and it worked fine again.

Am I supposed to change the cables too?

Can you please elaborate? I'm a electricity noobie lol

Does that mean maybe my parking light tap got disconnected and basically made my fogs be independant or something?

Just a note: when I removed the fuse for the accord fogs, the in-line fuse holder and the fuse were HOT. I don't know if it's from the engine heat but it was crazy hot.

 

means wires before the switch are making contact, therefore bypassing the switch rendering it not being able to control the lights. Could even be a faulty switch. Is it a rocker type switch?

Hard switch = physically breaks the circuit, vs. a soft switch = most if not all power buttons on the front of your computers. Controlled by software.

and hot wires typically indicates a short somewhere. a lot of current is being drawn through the fuse/wire. But it didnt blow the fuse so it couldnt have been really severe. Perhaps over time and vibration some insulation wore through somewhere. I'd double check the wiring.

 

That is strange man, not sure what cause it, but since you mentioned the accord was the only thing on and won't come off seem strange..just run thru the wires looking for any loose connections, GL

 

Check the battery terminal and tighten it. Your Accord fogs were probably on because it's wired directly to the battery and got juice from it. While the main cable wasn't tight/corroded on the terminal.

This happened to me when I changed my car battery and didn't tighten it well.

 

Sorry brother! hope you get things figured out.

 

It's the switch that came with my OEM Accord fog light kit.

Would a disconnected ground cause the problem?

I ghetto'd my ground and just used electric tape to extend the ground wire.

Weird thing is last night when I got home I put back the fuse and connector to the switch and everything works and starts up fine; I just hope it doesn't do it again so I have to find the culprit lol.

Will do thanks man.

It has to be the accord fogs since it only happened after I installed my accord fogs.

Thanks for the suggestion man but my fog power is wired to the fuse box bolt.

I suppose I'll check all the wiring again (there's not that many connections for the accord fog wiring anywho).

Thanks guys!

 

I'm glad that you got the car to start up again and was able to get out of there. I never liked the idea of tapping into parking light wires, fuse slots, & ect. Sometimes they work wonders, sometimes they cause more problems. When I bought oem fog-lights for my 02 AV6 coupe, I just wired them up with an after-market fog-light wiring harness kit. Saved me a head-ache lol.

 

WOW....that seems funny....the Accord lights were on when you had the switch turned off ?

seems to me like a faulty switch causing a short and hence the wire that goes thro the firewall was HOT (positive) and hence the lights were on until you took the fuse out....this would always explain the flickering inside the switch housing....i would start with replacing the switch....

GL and let us know how it works out....