turn signals, tail lights, instrument panel
 

03 baja

sooo it all started with my turn signals acting funky from time to time. they'd get stuck for a second or click a little sporadically until i wiggled the stalk and turned them off or reset until they worked fine. no big deal. then one day my instrument panel went out - gauges for speed, RPMs, etc. still not a big deal, no immediate worry, until I figured out the hard way that the fuse for that also allows the alternator to function properly. so the battery died, i replaced the blown SRS fuse. the hazard/horn fuse blown as well, replaced. next day tried to use driver side blinker and it got stuck on - even with car off, keys out of ignition. wasn't in a position to unhook battery or anything else as i was heading into work in a hurry, left it on for about 45 min and it went off with blown hazard fuse. what I didn't realize is bulb burnt out (duh), but I only realized that after the tail lights died and fuse blew for that too. now i can't use blinkers or tail lights, and ohh, also, the shift lock has me stuck in park unless i use a screwdriver. what gives? how can this all be related? not sure to head toward flash relay, replacing stalk mechanism, brake light switch...btw the fuse for the trailer lights is already removed.

at one point when all new fuses were in and gauges working i tried to use blinker again and it blew the SRS and hazard fuses. as far as the tail light goes, it blows immediately.

thanks for any insight

Hmm -- sound like a 'short' somewhere, but finding it could be a nightmare...

I unplugged what I assume to be the flasher relay. The tail lights now come on without dying or blowing the fuse. But the brake lights are out and shift lock still engaged...

First job is to get a new flasher relay and plug it in.

Once done, report back.

You'd be surprised what other faults an electrical failure causes. I had a car YEARS ago that if you sat with your foot on the break pedal, the sidelights all came on...and you could turn off the ignition and remove the key and the engine would still run.
Turned out to be a bad earth in the rear lights.......

UPDATE

so disregard my last post. the tail lights coming back on lasted all of 5 minutes. I did discover, though, that the 20A STOP fuse was blown. I'll be getting the new flasher relay asap.

but here's a recap if anyone else sees any correlation. first symptom was the blinkers acting funky - left blinker stuck on (flashing) intermittently, then gauges went out (SRS fuse blown). after replacing fuses and attempting to use left blinker the left blinker became totally stuck (on dash and exterior) with solid light and remained on even after turning off the vehicle.

in the midst of all this i've had the following fuses blow: hazard, SRS, tail lights, stop lights. (and shift lock has me stuck in park unless I go manually with screwdriver)

at this point with all new fuses in the tail light fuse blows immediately upon engaging the headlight switch or the parking light switch. I've inspected the connectors in front and rear and don't see anything weird. replaced all the bulbs too for good measure.

i also removed the stalk from steering column and don't see anything visibly. but i don't see that as the cause since this all happens without utilizing stalk for headlights or blinkers (because it does it when i hit the parking light switch too).