Odd issue with parking lights

[jeffcoslacker]

This is an odd question, but I would like an answer just to understand better.

Now I have seen people post here before that their Accord's parking lights don't come on (in the parking light position) until they turn the switch all the way to headlights, then back to parking lights.

Some of you might remember the whack mine took when the wife hit that slip yoke in the road...it smashed the console from underneath, moved the shifter and knocked the radio outta the dash, among other carnage.

I've gotten it back to where the car is useable, but after the accident I noticed the car doing what I described above...and also even when the headlights were turned on, the parking lights were dark, and the dash lights were out as well...after 30 seconds or so it would all come on suddenly....

At the same time, the radio didn't work anymore after the accident, despite being put back in the dash and everything is hooked up.

Then one day, the radio suddenly came on and started working fine again, and at the same time this weirdness with the parking/dash lights resolved itself.

I realize this is a lot to consider, especially with the damaged console and all, but I'd like to know if there is some commonality with these issues that would be a good place to start looking, rather than just blindly looking for narfed wiring?

[somick]

I just checked my son's 95 LX.

The car is running. The first click turns parking lights on right away.

Your problem might be a broken wire. Might be poor contact inside one of the connectors. Might be poor ground.

Sam

[jeffcoslacker]

Here's another piece of the puzzle...

After the accident, the wife turned on the emergency flashers. When I went to get her, they couln't be turned off, the switch was jammed by the damage to the console and dash.

After I got the car back home, I was able to coax the switch button back out, but then after I got it roadworthy again, I found it had no turn signals. It took some time for me to connect the two in my head, but I pulled the emergency flasher switch out of the panel, and the turn signals started working....put it back in, they quit....switch is still being compressed by the distortion in the dash/console, must change how the contacts work inside it...so I left it partially out of it's hole...

I was amazed how many wires run into that switch...there was maybe twelve...I'm used to maybe four on a flasher switch...so I'm wondering just how much of the lighting system runs through that switch...?

now that it all works right, I may never know...but if it happens again I might try replacing the switch and see what happens...

[Greenblurr93]

sounds like kinked, crushed, split wires to me... even if the insulation is in one piece, doesnt mean the wire inside wasnt damaged.... time to break out the multimeter and start testing