# Tail lights, HVAC, Dash lights all out. fuse is the problem but keeps blowing. help!



## sentra1.6L (Dec 1, 2002)

It seems my dash lights and hvac lights went out a couple of days ago. As i was driving down the road last night a police officer pulled me over and let me know that my tail lights were not working. It totally sucks. I checked the "tail light" fuses under the hood and it was shorted out. I replaced it. the lights worked for a sec then the fuse blew again. I don't know what the problem is. if anyone could point me in the right direction as far as find the problem i would greatly appreciate it. 

thanks in advance guys


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## Playa123 (Jul 27, 2003)

hmm, do you have a stock radio in the car? If not, and if you had it installed by someone else(best buy, circuit city) they tend to wire the fuse to it into someting completely different in the car. My friend did his install there, and they wired his radio to the speedo. He was listening one day and the fuse blew and his speedo went out.


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## wickedsr20 (Aug 8, 2002)

*Re: Tail lights, HVAC, Dash lights all out. fuse is the problem but keeps blowing. help!*



sentra1.6L said:


> *It seems my dash lights and hvac lights went out a couple of days ago. As i was driving down the road last night a police officer pulled me over and let me know that my tail lights were not working. It totally sucks. I checked the "tail light" fuses under the hood and it was shorted out. I replaced it. the lights worked for a sec then the fuse blew again. I don't know what the problem is. if anyone could point me in the right direction as far as find the problem i would greatly appreciate it.
> 
> thanks in advance guys *


Believe it or not, all of the above can happen when your dimmer switch is either overloaded or goes bad. Have you wired anything (radio, gauges, tach) to the dimmer wires that could be overloading the circuit? If no, it's your switch itself. Pop in a new one and I bet all your problems will be solved.


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## Nostrodomas (Jun 15, 2002)

^^^ exactly what I was going to say.


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## NismoB14 (Nov 1, 2002)

same thing happened to mine. my battery wire, the yellow one going to the cd player was touchin metal and shortin shit out.


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## sentra1.6L (Dec 1, 2002)

thanks guys i'll give it a try in the morning to see how things are.


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## pearsont74 (Oct 1, 2002)

also check for a loose ground wire...i had a similiar issue when i installed my spoiler with 3rd brake light and the ground wasnt good...it kept blowing the fuse when i pressed the brake pedal.
What fuse are you replacing cause if your brake lights are out theat is a different fuse then the dimmer and HVAC lights. What i did was put a new fuse in there and pressed the brake and I saw the spark of the fuse blowing...its hard to overload a DC power so you may want to look for a short somewhere...overed circuits would just make things dimmer due to the lesser amount of juice.


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## sentra1.6L (Dec 1, 2002)

HEY GUYS.

I JUST REALIZED I REALLY KNOW NOTHING ABOUT MY CARS ELECTRICAL STUFF. IF SOME ONE COULD POST A REPLY THAT WOULD TELL ME STEP BY STEP HOW TO FIND MY CARS PROBLEM I WOULD GREATLY APPRECIATED IT. OH I DON'T KNOW IF THIS MEANS ANYTHING BUT WHEN I PUT MY LEFT REAR WINDOW UP THE DASHLIGHTS, HVAC, AND TAIL LIGHTS ALL COME ON AS IF THE CIRCUIT IS COMPLETE. I REFUSE TO GO TO THE DEALER IF IT IS A PROBLEM I CAN FIX MYSELF.

THANKS 

PLEASE HELP.


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## jer28 (Jan 20, 2003)

I believe the recomendation here is to 
1.) Go to dealer and buy dimmer switch.
2.) Install new dimmer, use any style of connectors you want (solder, crimp, wire nut).

*Do a search if you can't figure out how to remove the dash to get at the dimmer switch. Its not very hard to get at.


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## Peakboy91 (May 15, 2015)

I have this same problem going. Is this referring to the "dimmer switch" or the "instrument cluster dimmer switch" (autozone parts listings)


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