No Parking Lights

Hello,

First of all the car is a 1992 sentra 1.6L coupe. A week ago my parking lights shorted out but came back on. Now the parking lights are gone. I have headlights, turn signals, and brake lights. I checked all the fuses they are fine. I dissasembled the dash and found nothing visually wrong. I think it is the light switch on the steering column as there also is no warning sound that you have left the lights on. I am using this car as a family car until my other car is fixed. It is just not safe to drive without parking lights.


Thanks for your help.

A real man doesn't need parking lights.

parking lights...? lol, just use your headlights if you really need to.

Are there any adults here who can help. If you read the whole thread I am driving my kids in this car. At night you cannot see my car enough to be safe. It may be a joke to some but I am trying to fix a saftey problem with my car. It is very possible after I have lost my parking lights my HEADLIGHTS will be next. Please help me with this problem if you have any electrical knowhow. Thanks

i still dont get how you cant be seen in your car. if the headlights and turnsignal lights work, what else do you need? the early 90s sentra has ambered taillights.

maybe instead of parking lights, you mean the tail lamps? otherwise im confused on what you are asking exactly. take a picture, as im trying to help you out here......

Thank you for trying to help. It is the parking lights. If you are driving behind my car at night distance is harder to judge. My car is without any lighting(on the rear of the car) until I brake, then it is only the brake lights. If a cop Pulled up behind my car and saw this I would be towed. To try to be more specific, on the headlight switch on the steering column there are 3 settings. Off, Parking lights, then headlights. The middle setting(parking lights) does nothing, but the last setting(headlights) works. This problem also effects my dash lights, and my reverse lights(they are both gone). If anyone here had this problem they would also want to fix it as it might lead to further electrical malfunction. I do not want to lose my headlights next to this problem. I noticed last night when I apply my brake the parking lights stay on until I release the brake. I have had no stereo or car alarm installed recently or any blown fuses. I removed the headlight switch from the steering column and inspected it. Nothing visually wrong or no burning smell.


Thanks for any help, but please do not act like if your car was having electrical problems that are progressively getting worse you would'nt fix them asap.

William

oh now i get it. the regular taillamps dont work, unless you ride the brake pedal down the street at night. hmm.

i'd recommend you ask this at this board here

www.sr20forum.com

these people specialize in the b13-b14 chassis, and would know everything about them.

Or you can just ask a real man to fix it for you.

Hello, I am new to the forum and I joined for this exact reason. I have an 88 Nissan sentra. My tail lights don't work, but the other lights do(turn signal, brake lights). I know it is probably just something simple so I don't want to take it in just yet. Have you figured out what the problem may be?

I also want to say that I understand your frustration to the replies you have been getting and hoping that you and I both find a solution, an inexpensive solution, to this problem. I too am driving children in the car and only God knows what could happen if they or anyone in the household needs to be rushed to the hospital in the middle of the night with no tail lights.

Thanks Chiquae07 for the response. I believe I will just rewire the Parking lights to a toggle switch and bypass this problem altogether. Inlo21 as you can understand it is just not safe to drive without these lights. I am no mechanic Inlo21, but you can see where the parking light wire runs out of the headlight switch on the steering column. On my 1992 sentra the wires are red with blue stripe and red with green stripe. They may be different on an 88 sentra so you may need a wiring diagram from autozone(a hayes or chilton manual specific to your car). I usually can get more help on the internet for car problems, but not with this. I did'nt want to rewire but that is cheaper than putting the car in the shop. Also inlo21 these sentras are really bad at water getting through the taillamps. Pop the trunk and take apart your taillights and look for water in your electrical lines to the bulbs. We can try to solve this together.
William

check this out:

http://www.phatg20.net/modules.php?name=Downloads&d_op=viewdownload&cid=78&min=10&orderby=titleA&show=10

you are going to want the one that says b13 sentra, as that is your chassis code. pdf file.

they dont have any up for the b12, which is right before the b13.

That will keep me busy, thanks Chiquae07.

no problem :)

Hey Will:
Hopefully, this will help a bit. In electrical terms a "short" is where the positive (hot) lead goes directly to ground. it can and does cause fires if the fuses/circuit breakers do not trip. what you really have is technically an open circuit. if the circuit is closed, then you have lights.

so, you do not have a short, youo have an open circuit somewhere. if you have an multimeter/ohmmeter, you can work on figuring out where. you can use the meter to check the switch. that way you can either eliminate it, or figure out that it is faulty. if it is at fault, replace and problem solved!

other wise, you will need to look at other wires and components. there may be a relay in the circuit. But if none of the lights work, it has to be something before they split. Just ot be safe, check for power at the bulbs.

hope this helps.

Thanks JudoJohn.I will buy a multimeter/ohmmeter and try that. I think it is the switch....

will1976, i got a 1987 nissan sentra se, andi hope somebody had some good news for you, and i hope you're willing to share it with me, I've got the same problem, i think it's the switch because i found that my tail lights turned on as soon as my dash lights came on, the problem is for me that it can take as long as 15 min for the headlights to turn on, and even longer to get tail lights and dash lights,

its the switch

spread this around to everyone you know everywhere. this goes out to the world:
if you install an aftermarket stereo, make sure its done correctly, with a harness adapter if possible. ive seen it time and time again, when someone hastily installs the stereo, they hook up the illumination wiring wrong and since its on the same circuit as the tail lights but not the brake lights or turn signals, it causes the tail lights to fail. it sometimes is as easy as a fuse but it can and does melt wiring and thats not easy to find all the time.

95% of all aftermarket decks out there don't use the factory stereo illumination. they have their own illumination run off the power source. tape off and secure any loose wires to make sure nothing shorts or grounds out for any reason.


EDIT: i know this may have nothing to do with the OP's question or problem, i just wanted to post it in here for all the people with no taillights looking for reference.

Interesting Slideways I didnt know that..Thanks

so basically i just had the same problem after messing with my cdplayer and i checked the fuse marked tail lights and it wasnt blown 4 hours later of trying to get them to work i checked the fuses agin and it was the fuse right above the tail light fuse ((( so i just wnted every one else to know to check all the fuses):frown: