Hi all,
I've got a 99 Altima with a strange problem. The running lights suddenly are lit dimly when I have them turned off at the turn signal / headlight switch. They operate properly when I actually turn them on with the switch however, and work fine when I turn on the hazards or lock the car with the remote. Also, when this is happening the dash lights are on dimly, and there is a small amount of smoke from the switch.. there is one contact on the running/headlight slider inside the switch that was slightly burnt from this.
I had a problem with the switch once before, where the signal light wouldn't cancel properly after making a left turn, at which time I greased the moving parts and put dielectric grease on all the contacts inside the switch, which fixed the problem. Today I cleaned all the grease away and wiped everything so it's clean, but the problem remains.
I'm going to try and test the switch with a meter and see if anything's shorted, but is there anything else I should be looking at? Maybe a bad connection or a short somewhere else, say at one of the bulbs or sockets? Or maybe a relay somewhere is stuck?