Dead fuel gauge; Dead eng temp; and dead OBC
 

recently put all my interior back together from installing an aftermarket HU, RCA's and amp.
Everything worked fine but now I'm getting a strange electrical problem.:confused:

Car starts normally.
- After a few seconds after starting, the fuel gauge needle starts to slowly drop (move to the left).
- Then suddenly, the same needle and the temp needle all jump to the left (low range). In addition, the the fuel low light illuminates.
- Also, the OBC is dead. It has the -- lines as in waiting for me to set the correct time, but it will not allow me to set the time.
The OBC does not display any info (MPG, temp, etc.) after depressing the left OBC stalk on the turn signal lever.

Trying to retrace my steps right before the issue started:
- tucked in wires under the steering column (are there any wires there that would cause a problem?)
- finished up rear sub floor (had to manipulate battery cables a bit to make this happen).

Please let me know if you think of anything.
Thanks

Mine did this when I blew the brake light fuse. I would check that and then try to figure out were the short is

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black98,
Thank you for the help.
I checked the fuse as you recommended and it was burnt out. If I recall correctly it's in position #46 (15 amp) located in the engine bay fuse box.

So, I replaced the fuse with a new 15 amp fuse.
Car started right up as usual. Clock was operational and it accepted my inputs. :smile:
I depressed the OBC stalk and was able to retrieve MPG, time, temp, etc.
Gas gauge was normal. :smile:
Engine temp was also normal. :smile:
Let the car idle up to normal operating temp. :smile:

But...

As soon as I pressed on the brake pedal, (which I did not touch throughout this whole event) the problem is back. :frown:
- OBC and clock went blank.
- Temp dropped dead to the left.
- Gas gauge went dead and the out of gas light went on.
- rechecked the same fuse as stated above, and it was burn out again.

I have no clue how to trouble shoot electrical issues. All I do is replace fuses and pray it works.
If anyone can shed some light, I would really appreciate it. Heck, even teach me how to troubleshoot so someday maybe I can help someone else in the future...
Thank you very much.

Ok here is what I think is going on on the tailights there is 4 studs with bolts on them. The one closest to the inside of the car should have a piece of carpet over it to protect it from touching bulb houseing make sure its protected with the carpet or something so it doesnt touch the bulb housing

http://img.tapatalk.com/4babcb8e-32bd-c9e0.jpg

http://img.tapatalk.com/4babcb8e-32d8-8938.jpg

http://img.tapatalk.com/4babcb8e-32ea-0c95.jpg

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Just had this issue flare up, hope this helps :)

This can also be the result of a bulb burning out and part of the filament dropping across the other filament in the bulb, drove me crazy for a afternoon till I finally looked at the bulb. (It lit up but would also try and light all the marker lights which pops the fuse.

Cheers.
Dave

update: the fix worked perfectly. I had accidentally moved the piece of carpet behind the light assembly and the bolt shorted the circuit. Thanks a ton, it would have taken me forever to find the short

Awesome glad to hear that it worked for you

Great thread guys, I had the same problem this afternoon: Damn fuse 46 keeps blowing. After hours of research I think I have the same problem. I know for a fact that my carpet piece isn't in between the tail light housing and terminal housing. Tomorrow morning I will disassemble and put the carpet piece in between and hope it fixes it. I don't want to chance morning traffic with our working tail lights. I will definitely post results and if anyone wants pictures I can post some