Need help with a car electrical issue

ryanjoachim

I have a 95 Buick Century. It runs great, and only has a couple issues. No AC, and the motor for the window on the drivers side need replace, but I'm not too worried about those.

One that has got me frustrated is the illumination on my dash (that comes on at night). When the night-lights come on, everything on the dash and radio turns off. The radio still works, the indicator lights still work (blinkers, check engine, etc) but none of the ambient lighting works.

I've swapped fuses 4 times. Twice with 5's, once with 10's, and tried both a 15 and a 25.
The 5's and 10 both blew within a few hours of use. The 15 and 25 wouldn't even work.

Any ideas?

disneyjoe7

Sounds like a bad ground. Where I couldn't tell you, but clean / unplug re-plug anything that looks dirty.

Jstas

Is it an aftermarket radio or has the radio ever been removed from the dash and put back?

If yes to either question, you probably have a pinched lead grounding out. Or something like a dimmer lead on the head unit is wired incorrectly.

If no, you probably have a bad lead worn through some insulation or something that is grounding out.

tonyw

If your blowing fuses, you gotta short, don't replace with higher values unless you wana fire in your dash as your crusin down the road! But yea like guy said check your deck wiring, and if its an original stereo check the wiring anyway! Odds are its been replaced before and wirings prolly chopped up and shorted, if that ain't work geta schematic and a volt meter

gdb

Yeah, bigger hammers and bigger fuses are seldom the answer to a problem. (frequently enlarges the problem)

PolkieMan

I had a the light for the ashtray that had came out of the socket and part of the wire was shorting out on the metal part underneath the dash. I kept blowing fuses and the dealer could not figure it out either I just happened to buy a new cigarette lighter and that is when I noticed it.