I have a 98 and i just got the car for free put a head gasket brakes and head unit in. The car was driving fine for 2 days then i hooked the head unit up and accidentally hooked the orange wire from the car to the rem amp on the radio, ( had no wiring diagram for radio) I turned the car on then pop the speakers buzzed and everything was fine. I fixed the noise by unhooking the orange illumination wire from the rem amp. I also drove it sense then and everything was fine. But one day later I was going to class and turned my lights on and pop sounded like something blew and no gauge lights or tail lights. Fuses look good. Does anybody have any advice or similar experience? Thanks

 

shoulda bought an install kit from WalMart

 

I did buy the "kit" which doesn't help any when you don't have the wiring diagram for the radio. Which was my original problem. The kit really does nothing besides have a connector so you don't have to cut factory wires.

 

so what your saying is the van already had an aftermarket radio that someone hacked in and cut off all the original connectors? I can give you a great deal on the original connectors with 8" of wire comming off so you can fix it right

 

The connectors on the car are fine, i also have the connectors that connect w the factory connectors with a good amount of wire coming out, when i was wiring it up i accidentally hooked the remote amp wire from the radio to the illumination wire for the car (as the original post said). This is the cause of my problem my problem, the problem is no gauge lights and no tail lights. The problem has nothing to do with the "kit". Hopefully this clears up the confusion.

 

wire the radio as it should be wired. so, brake lights work but tail lights do not? well check the fuses again and then try replacing the signal switch in the steering coulmn

 

should be a 15a runs the rink/red to the headlamp switch and from there turns to a blk/yellow running the tails, stop lights, license plate light, all blinkers and marker lights, and the radio...i would however check fuse 12, 4a and also get a DMM and check power and or ground at the source,being the taillights, and would also make sure that the orange power wire to the illumination in the cluster is good along with its org/blk wire that is its ground check them with a DMM as well

 

thank you, and yes i have the radio wired correctly now. I got online and looked up sony wiring diagram. The radio was not the same but the connector for sony radios seem to be the same for the most part. But the good news is i do have the tail lights fixed. All though the fuse did not look blown I tested it with a voltmeter and it was open. Now for the gauge lights I have Printed several diagrams out from alldata and finally went to mitchell to get a good one for radio and instrument illumination. I think i might have fried the variable resistor on the headlight dimmer switch, but i will test it today when i wake up. Thank you to everybody for the good advice!

 

DOHCgarrett t3
I am just wondering is the signal switch a common problem with the 1st gens? This is not the first post I have seen where you have suggested this. I just got this neon running after sitting for 2 years. When I drove it first the blinkers worked, but then the next day they didn't. After working them for a little while they have worked fine sense (possibly just a little coroded from sitting car had some mostiure at some point in time.) But the hazards don't work right still. NO BIGGIE just curious.

 

yes the signal switch it made really cheap. and tends to wear out fast. it is related to a few "lights not working" issues.