Electrical problem - NO MORE TEARS! (I'm almost in tears)

[rockabillyjon]

Hey guys,

So, here's my story.
I have a 2000 Corolla, manual transmission. I bought it almost new many years ago and I absolutely love it. Much better gas mileage than my previous car, a 1988 Lincoln towncar. lol. anyways.

I'm having trouble with some of the electrical in my car.
At night, when my headlights turn on automatically, my dashboard console illumination lights do not come on, nor do my climate control illumination lights or tail lights come on. Also my cruise control does not work anymore.

I checked the dimmer, no luck.
I tried turning on the headlights manually, no luck.
I checked the fuses with a multimeter, no luck.
I jiggled some of the wiring behind the radio thinking it was a loose ground or something, no luck.

All of these things worked a few days ago. The only thing that changed was that I took out the old, crappy, cheap generic brand CD player I installed when I bought the car, and re-installed the original factory tape/radio deck. The Cd player broke. I thought I might have done something when I re-installed the radio, so I tried taking it out and feeling around for loose wires, no luck.

I tried removing the tape/radio deck all together, no help.

Now, I am an electrician, so I used my multi-meter on all the fuses without removing them, and they all had a tone. I don't have the owner's manual to my car, and I'm not very familiar with the cryptic acronyms written on my fuse box cover, so I was just guessing at which fuse does what. Not that it matters. I do know about how to read wiring diagrams, but I don't have any for my car. Do you know where I can get some?
I tried removing some of the east-to-get-to panels to look at the wiring. Jeez! This Corollas are complicated little buggers!

My guess is that either I have an open ground somewhere, or that I blew out a relay when swapping radios. But what do I know?

So, I'm at my wits end and about to just push the car into a lake. Do you guys have any suggestions? What should I do? What should I check? Where should I look? please, anything would help. I've scoured this site and others but ahve not found anything useful for my situtation.

Please Help. Any replies will be eagerly read.

Thanks Very Much,
Jonathan
Milwaukee, WI

P.S. Thanks for actually reading this long-winded post of mine. I guess I had a lot to get off my chest. =)

[Dave's]

Sorry to hear, mine are all Camry's and there's fuses to the left of the steering column behind a small flip-out utility holder. There are also fuses under the hood. Personally I would pull them to check them by sight as well as by meter but I'm just wierd. Good luck.

[toyomoho]

Check the Corolla threads at the bottom of this page for more info. Some fuses have a lot of circuits on them. Make sure you have discovered all fuse panels, Toyota tends to hide them. The owners manual should have their location.

[retiredat44]

try the relays, in older toyota's some relays are under the hood in the engine compartment... other relaays are under the dash and on the side where your leggs are.. drivers side.

[rockabillyjon]

Well, I gave up and took my car to My-duhs.
Turns out, there's a fuse box behind the change compartment on the drivers side dash.

WHY DIDN'T YOU GUYS TELL ME THAT?! haha.

so, it was just a blown fuse after all... and I'm a spaz, apparently.
But, 35 bucks is a easy price to pay so I can sleep better and drive safer at night.
Let this be a lesson to everyone with this and similar problems.

THERE IS A FUSE BOX IN THE DASH TOO!

Thanks for all you help and support.

Love,
Jonathan

[Dave's]

Originally Posted by rockabillyjon

Well, I gave up and took my car to My-duhs.
Turns out, there's a fuse box behind the change compartment on the drivers side dash.

WHY DIDN'T YOU GUYS TELL ME THAT?! haha.


THERE IS A FUSE BOX IN THE DASH TOO!

Thanks for all you help and support.

Love,
Jonathan

Gald it worked out but HUH? See Dave's above, "fuses to the left of steering column behind small flip-out utility holder." Also. see toyomoho, "...discovered all fuse panels, Toyota tends to hide them."