Strange dashboard problem

[aaronjwood]

Hello all,

Tonight when I got in my car to go home, something really weird started happening with my dashboard. The interior lights wouldn't come on automatically like they usually did when its dark. Instead, the whole dashboard kind of flickered really quickly a couple of times. Later on, the high beam indicator stayed on (very dim) and flashed at me a lot. When I got home, I started playing with the switch on the blinker/high beam control stick (left side). I tried to turn the headlights on and they wouldn't come on. So I turned the switch all the way off. I turned on the parking lights only and that worked. I tried to switch it up again to turn the headlights on and this time they came on. I turned the switch to the off position after that and they wouldn't turn off! At this point, my car was shut off so it made a constant beeping sound to let me know my headlights were still on. I had to turn the switch all the way to the on position and back to the off position in order for them to turn off fully. A few seconds later, I smelled something very strange, but couldn't find where the smell was coming from. It was a very sour, musky smell (hard to describe).

Does anyone have any idea what this could be? My car has around 221,000 miles on it. I just had alot of work done on it but not related to this type of problem. I had a new cat put in, new spark plugs, new tires, a new tie rod, a front end alignment, a couple of cracks welded in my exhaust pipes and thats about it. I hope that info helps anyone that might try to help diagnose this with me.

Thanks

One more thing. If no one here really knows what this could be, I would gladly accept guesses. I am very nervous right now because I'm not sure if it's something like the electrical system (or maybe the computer). I am in a tight situation with where I work and the amount of money I make and it worries me that this could be something that would total my car. Again, I don't really know but if it was the electrical system I would guess something like that would be over $1000.
Does anyone know if this could be something simple like a fuse? Maybe something to do with the battery? Thanks very much again to anyone who can help.

[Highway_maniac]

Would start looking at the relay(s) - maybe it's at fault and is shorting out. Easy and cheap to check it out - replace with another relay (don't know if other circuits are using the same relay, if so you could swap them out and test your lights).

Next look at the blinker/high beam control stick itself - sounds as if this could be at fault. Maybe shorts out / contacts worn / something internal broken.

Maybe fault in daylight running lights (DRL)? Don't have that om my Corolla thus don't know how that works.

If that's not the problem, only thing left I can think of is a short in the wiring

Sour, musky smell -> electrical short where something gets hot and melts the wire isolation (plastic burning). Usually if this happens, a fuse should blow to protect the electrical circuit.

[aaronjwood]

Originally Posted by Highway_maniac

Would start looking at the relay(s) - maybe it's at fault and is shorting out. Easy and cheap to check it out - replace with another relay (don't know if other circuits are using the same relay, if so you could swap them out and test your lights).

Next look at the blinker/high beam control stick itself - sounds as if this could be at fault. Maybe shorts out / contacts worn / something internal broken.

Maybe fault in daylight running lights (DRL)? Don't have that om my Corolla thus don't know how that works.

If that's not the problem, only thing left I can think of is a short in the wiring

Sour, musky smell -> electrical short where something gets hot and melts the wire isolation (plastic burning). Usually if this happens, a fuse should blow to protect the electrical circuit.

thanks for your insight. I mentioned all this when I brought my car in this morning. haven't heard back from the mechanic yet but I hope it's something small and easy like the suggestions you made above.

thanks again

[aaronjwood]

i still haven't figured it out yet (and neither has my mechanic) but in case anyone was wondering, here is a description of almost EXACTLY the same issue i'm having:

Running Lights Won't Turn Off

hope this helps anyone who might read this