Hi, I helped my sister remove the car stereo in her '99 Magna today and replace it with a new Kenwood stereo out of the box. There were a couple of spare wires that were connected to the old stereo that I didn't need to use for the new one, all I needed was the 4 x 2 speaker wires, earth wire, battery wire and ignition (this left 3 wires that I didn't connect up).

Anyway, I got it all back together with no problems and the stereo was working fine but now she tells me there are no dash light or tail lights. She said all the fuses inside the car are ok.

Any idea where or what to look at next? Are there any other fuses under the bonnet?

I did disconnect the wires from the cigarette lighter and air con etc to install the stereo but plugged them all back in again.

???

my guess would be fuse . check them with a test light.

probably shorted some thing out some where,will be a fuse under the bonnet.....it will be one of the parker fuses...one of them runs the dash lights as well

Thanks but apparently she has replaced the fuse just to be sure and still nothing.

I found this post in another thread (but can't find it again now):

"Is there an after market headunit? if there is check the wiring at the back sometimes people don't hook the dash light wire up and leave it hangin around"

Anyone got any more info on this please?

This may be what I have done???

probably shorted some thing out some where,will be a fuse under the bonnet.....it will be one of the parker fuses...one of them runs the dash lights as well

Will check this first. Thanks.

You need to either blank off the illumination wire as it is touching something metallic, or you have earthed the new stereo through the illumination wire. It can look like an earth wire when the lights (parkers) are not turned on. Basically you'll just keep blowing tail light/parker fuses.

Thanks but apparently she has replaced the fuse just to be sure and still nothing.

I found this post in another thread (but can't find it again now):

"Is there an after market headunit? if there is check the wiring at the back sometimes people don't hook the dash light wire up and leave it hangin around"

Anyone got any more info on this please?

This may be what I have done???

Has she checked the fuses in the engine bay and not just the ones in the drivers kickpanel?

lights and indicator loss can be caused from not plugging back in the hazard button? that one had me stumped for hours!

lights and indicator loss can be caused from not plugging back in the hazard button? that one had me stumped for hours!

indicator yes,lights no,the fact that dash lights are out ,suggests that it is the parker fuse in the engine bay fuse box.

I had a very similar problem in my TE exec. it was the two spare wires i beleive it was amp and electric aerial touching caused a short which resulted in similar electrical problems. pull it back out and see if there are two un accounted for wires touching or grounding themselves on something

lights and indicator loss can be caused from not plugging back in the hazard button? that one had me stumped for hours!

I had this exact problem last year. Kept blowing the fuse (one in the engine bay near the battery, I think it is a 10 amp (red)). The problem was the hazard light switch and wiring. The wiring to it was rubbing against a frame causing it to short and blow the fuse at the worst possible times (like going for rego). No dash lights no parker lights. The auto electrician identified it in under a minute, he recognised the car as a ex police and knew it would be behind the dash, it was the first thing he checked. Nearly 12 months now and no problems.

Dash lights and Tail lights are on the same fuse. I can tell you what the issue is already. When you wired up the new head unit you used the existing earth in the harness.?? That earth wire is too small and cant handle the load from the aftermarket headunit. Pull the head unit back out and run a new earth wire to the body somewhere and not back into the original Harness. I know it sounds bizzare but trust me on this one, you will think im a genious. Ive fitted about 50 headunits now and that was always the cause for tail and dash fuse to blow. It only blows when you turn the headlights on.