Why don't I have any lights?! Options

[JohnnyWadd]

Hey, guys. I feel like a dumbass because of all the technical help I've been seeking off of this site. Anyway, I'm in the process of reassembling my stolen car, and I keep running into little problems. The latest one has to do with the lights. For some reason, I don't have any. And I don't just mean the headlights. No foglights, no dashlights, no tail lights, no back-up lights... hell, even the little LED on the rear defog switch won't come on. I do have blinkers and brake lights, but that's it. Anybody got any idea where to start? I'm wondering if there is a relay or a fuse that runs all of this. Unfortunately, there are no lids to my fuse / relay boxes. If you know what to check, I'd be forever grateful.

Thanks
Jon

[The Iron Goat]

A simple check of all the fuses in the car would be the best place to start. It doesn't matter what they do, if it's blown, just replace it. I believe the headlights feed off of one of the relays/circuit breakers on the interior fuse block. (the bigger pieces above the fuses)

You really need to get ahold of a Haynes or Chilton's for your car. It'll have all the wiring schematics you need to do the necessary troubleshooting for your problem. I'm going to bet that you're dealing with a cut wire rather than a blown fuse due to the fact that it was stolen, and I doubt they were gentle with it.

[SCCA Stang]

did the ungrateful thief hack into your wiring harness.... cause I was talking to akamiami and he was haveing similar lighting issues... his fix was replacing the wiring harness in it's entirety.... might want to pm him for further advise... might also want to to some diagnostics for continuity and current with a volt/multi meter.

[turbohcar]

Do you have your dash completely assembled and plugged in. If that black cluster trim piece (the one that houses the pop up headlight button, fog light button, and dimmer switch) is not plugged in, none of that will work.

[fastclipse82]

yeah, you just have to find out what controlls all of that. It would be very odd if all the fuses that control your lights blew, plus the headlights are on their own circut with a relay. It sounds to me like the wiring near the switch is fucked. Id just take your dash apart and start there. And dont feel bad about asking questions, you'll never know unless you ask.

[JohnnyWadd]

Okay, I solved this problem, and it was an odd one. When the car was stolen, they decided to take all of the fuses and circuit breakers from the three spots under the hood. They also took the lids so that I couldn't tell what was what. When I went to the parts car, it had the lid for the AC Relay block, but not the one for the main relay block on the passenger's side. It did, however, have all of the relays intact. So, I took them all and put them in my car.

After posting this problem, a guy sent me a picture of his lid so that I could know which relay was which so that I could start there. I was convinced that the relay wasn't the problem, considering that there are seperate relays for the head lights, tail lights, fog lights, and such. I thought that there was no way that all three relays could be bad.

Well, I was wrong. I don't know what the deal was, but for some reason, the relays I got from the parts car were not working in my car. It was a '90 and mine was a '91, but I can't imagine that being the problem. I don't know what the deal was.

I have access to a '92 Talon, so the first thing I did was pull the headlight relay from it and put it in my car. I figured I'd start small and work from there. Viola!! I have headlights. Still no fog lights, tail lights, back-up lights, or instrument panel lights. So, I pull the relay from the '92 for the tail lights. That, too, fixes another problem. Now I have tail lights. So, I decided to go for three. I pulled the fog light relay. That worked as well. I was dumbfounded. At least three out of the six relays that I got from the parts car didn't work in my car. So, for good measure, I just decided to pull the other three and swap them out as well. Not sure whether they were working or not. I just decided to be safe rather than sorry.

Thanks for your ideas, though, guys. I was lost for a while.
Jon