Lights out

mdaudioguy

I installed my head unit and new speakers several days ago, and all was good. Then, last night I get in the car and notice that the lights around my heating/cooling controls are out. I'm thinking maybe I pinched a wire somewhere along the way - no big deal, I'll pull some things apart and hopefully find it later. Then, a friend who's following me calls to say I've got a taillight out. Later, while looking for the manual, I realize the glove box light is out... Anybody had lights go out after an install? I'm going to be checking fuses and everything, but is there a common problem I might look for?

Vital

What car are we talking about here?
What headunit?

mdaudioguy

'09 Eclipse, Pioneer AVIC-X920BT.
I wasn't really thinking specifics would help. Just more or less looking for possible generic problems.

Vital

Def check your fuses.

btw - here's another threads just like yours.

http://www.nissanclub.com/forums/car-audio-multimedia-ice/311127-2005-altima-factory-stereo-avh-p4200dvd-no-tail-lights.html

Jstas

Dunno what kinda car it is but I had an auto-dimming feature on my Thunderbird. I didn't use it with the Kenwood headunit I had in it because it wasn't compatible. So I taped the lead from the wiring harness up and shoved it off to the side.

After I finished the install, I played with the radio a while and felt proud of myself! Went back inside and vegged out for the night. The next night, no dash lights at all. I spent 6 hours trying to figure out what happened. Pulled the radio out several times and nothing. So I uninstalled it all. I pulled out the mounting collar and pinched in one of the clips that holds the head unit in was that dimmer lead from the dash. It was live and tied in to the rest of the dash so I couldn't pull the fuse. Well, it grounded out on the chassis and killed the lights. I pulled it out, taped it up better and then taped it to another spot on the firewall to keep it out of the way.

Reinstalled everything and it all came back. Lights, dimming features and all.

I doubt you have a fuse busted but rather a pinched lead or something's grounded out somewhere. Check your connections. Make sure they are solid and that you made the correct connections. Also, check what's stuffed where. A friend once had his right side speaker leads pinched by the blend door lever in his '78 Malibu. He couldn't figure out why the right side cut out when he ran the defroster. He just stopped using the defroster. Then, about a year or so later we pulled the headunit when he was installing amps and I found the pinched wires. He felt like an idiot.

mdaudioguy

Thanks for the answers! Encouraged me to pull everything and check all my wiring. I had two leads coming from my car harness - dimmer (orange/white) and illumination (orange). I originally connected the lighting wire from the HU to the dimmer wire - perhaps a bad choice.

Also did some googling, and found this is not necessarily uncommon: http://www.club3g.com/forum/problem-reports/141535-wiring-issue-round-two.html. As a matter of fact, many people also reported that their right rear taillight and right front marker lights went out after an install. I did have to replace a blown 7.5 amp fuse for the right side lights. Apparently, these are tied to the dash lights that are also affected by the gauge light dimmer switcher. We'll see how it works now.