94 pathfinder tail and dash lights went out

[Guest rmally]

Was driving home last night when the dash lights suddenly went out. I pulled over at a gas station to check the fuses and another car followed me in to tell me I had no tail lights, so for some reason my dash and tail lights just went. This morning I checked every fuse and they are all good. Any suggestions?

 

Thanks for any help.

[packie88]

one of the fuses have to be bad or a wire went bad or something like that. the dash lights go out when you tail lihgts go out just to let you know that ur tail lights are out and hopefully they want you not to drive

[Simon]

The other possibility is a bad light switch. There are instructions around here somewhere for reconditioning the contacts in the switch. Do a search. Otherwise, find a switch assembly at a scrap yard, and replace. It's pretty easy....took me about 20 minutes.

[88pathoffroad]

Packie88: that's not how they engineered it, it just happens that both lights are on the same fuse, so when it pops you have no lights on either end.

 

It's either a fuse or a switch problem. If the fuse is still tested good for continuity with an ohmmeter or voltmeter, then the switch is the next thing to look at.

 

Do your brake lights still work?

[Guest rmally]

Yes, the brakes lights work fine. Do you guys know how the fuse is labeled? when I pull the cover off their is no listing for tail lights or dash lights, which fuse is it.

 

Thanks......

[Simon]

I believe it's the bottom far right fuse. According to the FSM, it's 10A.

[packie88]

hmm intresting cause i was talking to a cop at my school and a friend had his rear lights were out alon with his dash and the cops said most cars were enignerred this way so you could easily know when your lights were out.

[88pathoffroad]

It's simple wiring logistics. They both go on the same fused circuit because they both need to come on at the same time for the same reason, when you turn the switch on.

[Guest PointGiven 2000]

Gotta be the switch. Same thing happened to me.

Remove the plastic shrouds around the steering column. unscrew the switch housing that the turn indicator stalk terminates to. Disconnect the wiring harneses.

You will see a thin opaque cover. Remove this and you will see a bunch of copper fingers that lift up and down when you turn on your parking lights and regular lights.

Turn the switch on and off via the stalk knob. More than likely you long copper fingers have fatigued over time and are not making contact anymore. Take a pair of needles nose plier and gently bend it down to make better contact. But dont bend to far or they will make constant contact and keep your lights on all the time.

 

Hope this was comprehendable.

[Mr. Pickles]

Retest all of your lamp, meter, and tail/turn fuses, or better yet replace them one by one with a know good one, just to be sure. Couldn't hurt to rule that out for sure.

[Guest rmally]

Yea , it was the switch.....the copper fingers were just flat out fatigued. Thanks for all the help.