Here's the low down.

There was an issue with my DEFI link head unit conector and apparently was overstressed. This exposed the wiring on the back of the conector and today it zapped. Sparked enough to cut through the 16 gauge ground wire and severed it free of the connector.

The "OH ****" factor kicked in because it was REALY bright. I quickly checked to see if there was any further damage visualy and totaly disconected the link unit even though the power connector was already disconnected. I began methodical electrical check to see what other casulties I had. Checked all the misc inline fuses for my other aftermerket parts and peices.

all the fuses I checked visualy were fine so I stuck the key in the ignition and turned the power on. Every thing worked normaly except for the backlighting of the triple gauge and combination meter. Car runs and drives fine, just no gauge back lighting.

So I checked all the fuses with an ohm meter in the kick panel area and the 2 in the battery compartment. They are all still good. At this point Im scratching my head so I turn to the Nissan service manual for further guadence.

I check out the obvious portions: Lighting, Power Ground, and the Driver Information sections. I found a decent wiring diagram on LT-228 and on LT 233 diagram LT-Ill 05. This points to fuse 14 which is a 10A fuse. I checked it again and its good. For a refrence the kick panel fuse block is illistrated on page PG-77 (power ground)

I keep looking and find DI-8 which shows wires 23 and 24 handeling the power needs for the illumination. Wire 23 provides ignition power to the illumination circuit through fuse 14 (mentioned above). Wire 24 provies battery power to the illumination circuits through 10A fuse 19 in the kick panel fuse block.

Alsa, checking these produce the same expected results The fuses were fine. So my question for you electronics guru's is what could cause this to happen? I have no clue. Generaly a fuse will blow in an event like this but I have no clue. Am I over looking another fuse block some where, or just clearly missing something?

 

Just got in from work and found another symptom... Mirrors wont work now. One is stuck in the same position I had it in to back into my stall yesterday before the shock and awe episode. The other one just isnt moving either.


I need to look up that circuit to see a common area with the other one.

So nobody??? Help here???

 

Fuses intact (none of these are blown, and wiring is intact)?… Sounds like a ground problem. That’s going to be somewhat difficult to track-down. At least you have isolated the problem to the failed devices.

--Spike

 

Or… maybe you fried the gauges or the controller. To test this, disconnect the car’s power source from the gauges, and then connect the gauges to a 12V converter and see if they work. If they work, the problem is in your car’s wiring. If they don’t work, then you know they are damaged.

--Spike

 

Im not too sure if its a ground issue. The grounding point for these portions of the system are like 8 guage wire or larger. These would be the only ones that would have to go out and make ALL the lights go out in the dash.

The issue is isolated to the triple gauge lighting, combo meter lighting and the power mirrors. The oil pressure and volt meter are still active on the triple gauges. All the misc. functions on the combo meter still work (haz. turns, cruise, high beam, SES light, brake, ect.)

I just re-re-re-rechecked the fuses and they are still good.

This is driving me nuts!!!