ghetto dash lights

[ricebike]

k, soo my car was broken into & stolen radio/amp/=lizer...

some wires touched & now intermittent wipers & dash lights are out...

installed ghetto lights over the weekend since I didn't have a multimeter to test the TCU & other stuff.

any1 else did something similar?

[ricebike]

& routed switches next to the open hole by the cigar lighter...

[ricebike]

finally, the relays by the shifter boot. Agh I suck @ electrical but need dash lights & didn't wanna take apart the cluster...

:fruit

[[Zero-S]]

You DID check your fuses, right? Does your dome light come on? If not, it means you blew a fuse, make sure you check ALL of them, not just the ones you'd think would have to do with it. (It happened to me...)

[ricebike]

ya all fuses are good... dome light works too.

then did search & found out it may be the time control unit...

had only enuff time to rig these up w/in an hour's time from parts i found in my parents' garage. & works ok + using my lil bro's digicam for the 1st time.

[[Zero-S]]

hmm...thats really confusing me, cuz when I installed my stereo two of my wires crossed and it knocked out everything in my ****pit...I'm talkin intermittent wipers, dome light, guages, and my clock...weird. Hope you can get it fixed.

EDIT: Crossing those two wires most likely didn't blow out the cluster, so you really should have no need to take it apart. You know how to test your relays, right?

[240_Keyy]

lol you said cockpit

they should exclude that word from the filter...

[[Zero-S]]

Ha I didn't even notice they filtered it out. Yeah we should tell the mods that ****pit isn't a bad word;).

[ricebike]

Zero, nah i dunno how to test the relays? what relays u talkin about? i'm newB to electrical & don't even have a multimeter...

240keyy, haha

gonna keep it like that till i have some spare time... my priorities are to my lil girl

[ChavezSA]

Yeah I got the exact same problem. My cluster illumination lights and temperature control backlit buttons don't work, but my dome light works. Everything is functional otherwise though. It's most likely a bad ground somewhere I'd imagine, but that'll probably take an eternity to test and locate. The ghetto setup is a sweet idea though. If I can't find the problem soon, I may have to resort to it.

[ricebike]

kewl, glad i can give an idea to bypass this...

the ghetto lights i have on there now is kinda dim; didn't even need to run a relay on the shifter but i'm planning to put some brighter ones from a riceshop (pepboys/autozone)

I ran them directly to the battery since i have no idea on tapping the fuse box.

[[Zero-S]]

ok the relays are underneath your intake box (if you still have the stock one in....) in a little black box marked with which relay goes where. Find the positive side (its gonna take a while considering there are a ****load of connectors) and connect that to your battery's positive side with some wire (doesn't matter what gauge or anything). Next find the negative side (almost as hard as the pos.) and when you plug that to your batt, you should hear a click. If you don't, that relay is bad, you need to get a new one, and hopefully nissan won't charge you one of your balls to get it.

[ChavezSA]

I think I may put a little twist on your idea and get a mini fluorescent bulb, crack open the instrument panel, and rig it up behind the gauges somehow. I gotta look at it first, but I bet that would look sweet.

[slow s13]

there are 2 backlite circuits one for the buttons around the steering wheel and ac controlls and anothter for the quage backlighting. I have the HUD and my gauge cluster is intermittent and on the HUD equiped cars the HUD unit controlls the backlighting of the quages.

[1991240xs]

tcu...it's in the passenger kickpanel..go buy one at the junyard for however much..i only payed 5 because the guys didn't know what it was....test your intermittent wipers..if they don't work.a.nd your dashlights don't work..it's the tcu-

[ricebike]

tcu... pass kickpanel? i cracked that open only to see the ECU.

can i just pull the relay from the box to test it? i don't wanna fry others while doin that procedure, Zero.

hmm, u mean the temp control backlit buttons should be on when headlights are on???

nah i'm 2 lazy to take apart the cluster to put a fl bulb back there...

I'll prob eventually buy a multimeter & test the TCU & dimmer switch when I have the time/$, 91, thanx for the advice

[ChavezSA]

I'd imagine the temp controls are backlit..or at least the bezel around it should be; I dunno,I've never seen one that's functional lol. It'd be kinda gay for them not to be illuminated in some way, especially if you were trying to fiddle with the controls at night.

As for the TCU...my intermittent wipers work though..argh how frustrating.

[[Zero-S]]

Yeah you're supposed to take the relays out, and they can be tested with a 12volt (min) supply--which is why I said use your car battery. The only thing I am not ABSOLUTELY positive on is where the pos. and neg. poles are, cuz there are just too many damn connectors.

[nissanrcer240]

my dome light wont come on until i hit it or smack it, sometimes i have to hit it a couple of times but when it comes on its fine, but it gets annoying , what could that be?

[[Zero-S]]

A wire is loose...or your bulb isn't in the metal holder all the way...

[rousie13]

I just got my car back from the Nissan dealer, bad TCU. My wipers work though, but no dash lights and no heater control lights either. The stupid part is about $270, so trying to find one in a junkyard.

[[Zero-S]]

damn this thread was brought back from the dead.

[ricebike]

:ylsuper post-whoring... dayum ~$270???