[eightbitonline]

Hi, long time lurker, first time poster.

Here's my problem:

Last week the fuse that controls the instrument illumination (fuse 32) blew. I changed it and it blew again soon after. So I drove around for a little while without any fuse in slot 32 and without any dash illumination. When this weekend came I thought I'd do a little testing. I put a fuse back in and turned on the headlights. The dash illumination came on but something weird happened: the trunk opened. When I went to go shut it it wouldn't stay closed. If I turn off the headlights and shut the trunk it stays shut, but then pops open again when I turn the headlights back on. When the headlights are off (but there is a fuse in slot 32) popping the trunk from the button on the dash (to the left of the steering wheel just above the headlight switch) turns on all the dash illumination for the brief moment that the signal's being sent to the trunk.

I'm no electronics whiz but it's clear to me that the circuit that controls the dash illumination when the headlights are on, and the circuit that the trunk "popper" is on have become one and the same circuit. Most likely this is because there is wire-to-wire contact between these two circuits somewhere inside the car.

My question is: Where in the car's wiring do these two circuits come in close proximity? Obviously they come close at their source (behind the dash, to the left of the steering wheel) but are there other places in the car that I should also look for the connecting wires?

Any help would be greatly appreciated, because if I do have take my car to the dealership to get this fixed, I'd like to minimize the labor time by directing them to the area of the problem, so that they don't have to go hunting for it.

Other things to note are:
When fuse 32 is out none of these other components work: the marking lights including tail lights, the "ding ding, you left your lights on" warning, the lighting around the radio and climate controls, the lights on the automatic transmission indicating what gear i'm in. All these things also light up when I pop the trunk from the button on the dash.

[hardk0re]

Do you have anything installed like a remote starter or something allong those lines?

[ZX5]

there most likely is a short some where.....ill look it up for you and ill get back to you soon.....

ZX5

[meford4u]

Sniff, sniff sniff. Looks around the car and asks the wife " Do you smell smoke?"

[imack]

One possibility would be the wires that run into the rear hatch. They take a lot of stress with the open-close cycle of the hatch. You'd think they might use more flexible wire for this, but it's the same stuff they use everywhere in the car.

I had a problem on my '91 Escort wagon where the "door open" warning light would come on intermittently. After playing with the latch mechanism for a 2-3 hours, I noticed by accident that the light changed state as I was moving the hatch up and down. I opened up the rubber "grommet" that runs between the body and the hatch and found the broken wire.

[eightbitonline]

hardk0re/s2,Aug 30 2004, 04:29 AM Wrote:Do you have anything installed like a remote starter or something allong those lines?

nope, the car's completely stock.

Quote:One possibility would be the wires that run into the rear hatch. They take a lot of stress with the open-close cycle of the hatch. You'd think they might use more flexible wire for this, but it's the same stuff they use everywhere in the car.

is it really likely that the problem originates in the trunk? i'd think it would be much more likely to be inside the dash, but if it was in the trunk i could probably figure it out myself.

[eightbitonline]

okay, it's fixed. it was crumbling sheilding around the wires (about 10 of them) that go from the roof through to the hatch. i took off a rubber cover and a ton of cheap shielding flaked off. i just wrapped the individual wires back up in elec. tape and the problem stopped.

yay! :D

thanks for all the help.

[Clutch]

Good Work Focus Guru's! This is something I will have to watch for as the wagon ages...

~ Clutch