Any armchair car mechanics out there?
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My girlfriends' car is currently doing something very odd. When you turn on the headlights, the dashboard lights and tail lights don't come on. All of the "idiot lights" (low gas, high beams, check engine, etc) work fine, just the rest of the dashboard is dark. The really odd part is whenever you touch the brake pedal, all of the lights come back on. So what do you people think? Fuses or wiring? Jeremy "Grease Monkey" Kimball
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My girlfriends' car is currently doing something very odd. When you turn on the headlights, the dashboard lights and tail lights don't come on. All of the "idiot lights" (low gas, high beams, check engine, etc) work fine, just the rest of the dashboard is dark. The really odd part is whenever you touch the brake pedal, all of the lights come back on. So what do you people think? Fuses or wiring? Jeremy "Grease Monkey" Kimball
Jeremy Kimball wrote: So what do you people think? Fuses or wiring? Alien intervention. :-D --Colin Mackay--
"In the confrontation between the stream and the rock, the stream always wins - not through strength but perseverance." (H. Jackson Brown)
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Jeremy Kimball wrote: So what do you people think? Fuses or wiring? Alien intervention. :-D --Colin Mackay--
"In the confrontation between the stream and the rock, the stream always wins - not through strength but perseverance." (H. Jackson Brown)
Actually, I was thinking more like demon possession. I'm having an exorcist come over first chance I can get ;) Jeremy Kimball
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My girlfriends' car is currently doing something very odd. When you turn on the headlights, the dashboard lights and tail lights don't come on. All of the "idiot lights" (low gas, high beams, check engine, etc) work fine, just the rest of the dashboard is dark. The really odd part is whenever you touch the brake pedal, all of the lights come back on. So what do you people think? Fuses or wiring? Jeremy "Grease Monkey" Kimball
What kind of car is it? If the headlight switch was going bad it could prevent the dash lights/tail lights from coming on but pressing the brakes and having stuff work again is very weird. I would check all the connections to the break light switch and headlight switch (under the dash). It's highly unlikely to be a fuse. If it were a fuse, stuff would never work until the fuse was replaced. Rob Whoever said nothing's impossible never tried slamming a revolving door!
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My girlfriends' car is currently doing something very odd. When you turn on the headlights, the dashboard lights and tail lights don't come on. All of the "idiot lights" (low gas, high beams, check engine, etc) work fine, just the rest of the dashboard is dark. The really odd part is whenever you touch the brake pedal, all of the lights come back on. So what do you people think? Fuses or wiring? Jeremy "Grease Monkey" Kimball
I'm not a mechanic, but I've had something similiar happen to me before. I fixed it with buying a new battery and new connectors that connnect the battery to the car (don't know the "real" term for them, but the rings that go on the battery). He'll it even helped the car crank quicker. Jeremy Falcon
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I'm not a mechanic, but I've had something similiar happen to me before. I fixed it with buying a new battery and new connectors that connnect the battery to the car (don't know the "real" term for them, but the rings that go on the battery). He'll it even helped the car crank quicker. Jeremy Falcon
I would say wiring first, with the possibility that the motion of the brake pedal is making/breaking a connection or short. Another, more remote possibility is battery/alternator. Its best to take the car in and have the alternator checked, because if its at fault complete death of the car somewhere inconvenient is imminent. The difference between a pessimist and an optimist is that while the pessimist is always a victim, the optimist is always a target. - Brady Kelly
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My girlfriends' car is currently doing something very odd. When you turn on the headlights, the dashboard lights and tail lights don't come on. All of the "idiot lights" (low gas, high beams, check engine, etc) work fine, just the rest of the dashboard is dark. The really odd part is whenever you touch the brake pedal, all of the lights come back on. So what do you people think? Fuses or wiring? Jeremy "Grease Monkey" Kimball
A "Loose Connectioon" :~ Smitha You are never given a wish without also being given the power to make it true. You may have to work for it, however. -- Richard Bach
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My girlfriends' car is currently doing something very odd. When you turn on the headlights, the dashboard lights and tail lights don't come on. All of the "idiot lights" (low gas, high beams, check engine, etc) work fine, just the rest of the dashboard is dark. The really odd part is whenever you touch the brake pedal, all of the lights come back on. So what do you people think? Fuses or wiring? Jeremy "Grease Monkey" Kimball
sounds like a wiring problem (lost earth on your rear lights maybe) If they feed the rear lights trough the dashboard lights then this is possible, could be corrosion at the back end of the car (is it an Italian car maybe :) ) rutger
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My girlfriends' car is currently doing something very odd. When you turn on the headlights, the dashboard lights and tail lights don't come on. All of the "idiot lights" (low gas, high beams, check engine, etc) work fine, just the rest of the dashboard is dark. The really odd part is whenever you touch the brake pedal, all of the lights come back on. So what do you people think? Fuses or wiring? Jeremy "Grease Monkey" Kimball
Probably wiring. How old is the car? If it's > 6-7 years old, there's a good chance that the problem is a bad ground wire for the dash lights. Sometimes what happens is the ground wire corrodes (or some other part of the circuit between the device in question and the battery) and the circuit is broken. If this is the problem, it's usually a simple case of creating a new ground for the circuit (running a wire from the ground on the back of the dashboard to a good piece of metal, or in some cases all the way back to the battery. What's happening now is when you step on the break pedal, it's completing the circuit. David
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My girlfriends' car is currently doing something very odd. When you turn on the headlights, the dashboard lights and tail lights don't come on. All of the "idiot lights" (low gas, high beams, check engine, etc) work fine, just the rest of the dashboard is dark. The really odd part is whenever you touch the brake pedal, all of the lights come back on. So what do you people think? Fuses or wiring? Jeremy "Grease Monkey" Kimball
Either a loose conection, but if it is an old car you probably have an earth fault, those symptons are fairly clasical. You will probably find an earth wire that is connected to the body that has corroded, try cleaning it, if you can find it. Or if you can't put a new earth wire in, somewhere in the system.
"Committee--a group of men who individually can do nothing but as a group decide that nothing can be done." - Fred Allen
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My girlfriends' car is currently doing something very odd. When you turn on the headlights, the dashboard lights and tail lights don't come on. All of the "idiot lights" (low gas, high beams, check engine, etc) work fine, just the rest of the dashboard is dark. The really odd part is whenever you touch the brake pedal, all of the lights come back on. So what do you people think? Fuses or wiring? Jeremy "Grease Monkey" Kimball
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My girlfriends' car is currently doing something very odd. When you turn on the headlights, the dashboard lights and tail lights don't come on. All of the "idiot lights" (low gas, high beams, check engine, etc) work fine, just the rest of the dashboard is dark. The really odd part is whenever you touch the brake pedal, all of the lights come back on. So what do you people think? Fuses or wiring? Jeremy "Grease Monkey" Kimball
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My girlfriends' car is currently doing something very odd. When you turn on the headlights, the dashboard lights and tail lights don't come on. All of the "idiot lights" (low gas, high beams, check engine, etc) work fine, just the rest of the dashboard is dark. The really odd part is whenever you touch the brake pedal, all of the lights come back on. So what do you people think? Fuses or wiring? Jeremy "Grease Monkey" Kimball
I had something like this in my old Civic. All the lights, other then headlights, didn't work unless I pressed the break. Turns out a single turn signal bulb in the right rear tail-light was burnt out, when I replaced it, all systems go.
.................Zack................. Developer Extraordinaire
"Wait, my brain is working!" - Ed "Everyone, I know something!" - Freakazoid! "Revenge is a dish best served with pinto beans and muffins!" - Ricardo Montalban "You don't fight destiny.. No sir! And you don't eat crackers in the bed of your future or you get all .. scratchy." - The Tick "Defining and analyzing humor is a pastime of humorless people." - Robert Benchley
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My girlfriends' car is currently doing something very odd. When you turn on the headlights, the dashboard lights and tail lights don't come on. All of the "idiot lights" (low gas, high beams, check engine, etc) work fine, just the rest of the dashboard is dark. The really odd part is whenever you touch the brake pedal, all of the lights come back on. So what do you people think? Fuses or wiring? Jeremy "Grease Monkey" Kimball
Classic ground fault symptoms. Look for an open lead under the dash that is common to the dash lights and tail lights; it may not be physically located there - possibly it's at the fuse box end - but that's a good place to start looking. But rather than spending untold hours searching, check first with some parts stores to see if you can find a wiring diagram for that year and model. They're usually sold separately from the basic repair manual, often advertised for sale in the back of the owner's manual. "Your village called -
They're missing their idiot."