No dash/rear lights on 97 Suzuki Sidekick

Hi all,

I have what looks to be some sort of electrical problem with my 97 Suzuki Sidekick. When I turn on the lights, the headlights come on but that's about it. No running lights come on, and none of the rear lights come on at all. Also, the warning beep saying the lights are on when the car is off does not come on. The radio and everything else as far as I can tell works.

I have checked (with a continuity tester even) all of the fuses under the hood and under the driver's side dash and they all are ok. I also checked all of the bulbs in the rear and they were all good too. The only bulbs in the back I didn't check were the bulbs that light the license plate - I couldn't figure out how to get to them.

Anyone have any ideas on what else I need to check to get all my lights working again? They just stopped working one day for no apparent reason. I haven't done anything to the elecetrical system recently (I did install a car radio myself about a year ago but never had any problems). I do NOT have a trailer hitch/wiring installed.

Any help/hints would be much appreciated. Please post replies instead of emailing. Thanks!

brian

Reply to
Brian Pipa
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When you installed the radio, did it have a place to connect the dash dimmer wire? If not (most don't), did you seal off the unconnectable wire (tape it up, etc.)? If that wire is still laying in there, it might have bounced around until it shorted against something. The last two times I have seen this problem, this was the cause. On many cars, the dash illumination and the tail lights are on the same fuse.

Surely there is a fuse designated for either dash lights or tail lights? Try replacing it anyway, even if it checked out as being good.

Reply to
E. Meyer

Well, I can't figure out what the problem is. I guess I'll take it to a mechanic. For something like this, is it better to take it to the dealer or to a good local mechanic?

Reply to
Brian Pipa

I just totally removed the radio and still no luck.

Just tried that too. Still no lights. Guess it's off to the mechanic.

Reply to
Brian Pipa

Hi, Brian. If u know a good local mechanic who's good in electricals, he'd be usually cheaper. In our 3-town area, the new-car dealers all send their "we couldn't fix it at the dealership electrics" to one local independent mech--best around. Better believe I quickly made a personal friend here! Also, car mfg's. usually put dash and taillites on same fuse/circuit so driver is warned when his taillites fail by the lack of lite in his dash. HTH & good luck, sdlomi

Reply to
sdlomi2

(for those not familiar with my situation, I included my original post at the bottom of this one)

Well, I took it to my local mechanic and he said the combination switch is bad. He called the Suzuki dealer and it's $652 new (special order too). I poked around online and found a used one for ~$150 shipped (with

90 day warranty).

He said they tried splicing the tail and dash wire into the headlight feed and that seemed to work, but he didn't know if doing something like that would work as a permanent solution. He said he wasn't sure if adding the additional draw from the dash and tail-lights onto the headlight path would blow the headlight power feed.

I looked on ebay and found some combination switches for other cars

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it looks like it is the part that has the turn signals on it and is mounted just behind the steering wheel (on the column). Would it be worth my while to call around to some local scrap/junk yards and try to get one? is $150 shipped for a used one with 90-day warranty a good price?

Any thoughts/advice would be most welcome. I REALLY don't want to spend $650+ on this but I really know nothing about this. I definitely want to get this fixed somehow though since the car only has 40K miles on it.

Help! Please post replies instead of emailing. Thanks!

Brian

Brian Pipa wrote:

Reply to
Brian Pipa

One more question. Anyone know if a combination switch from a Geo Tracker of the same year would work? I am almost positive that their parts are interchangeable - anyone know if this includes the comabination switch?

I found four switches for Geo Trackers for $39-$60 - much cheaper than the $113 for the Sidekick one.

Brian

Reply to
Brian Pipa

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