Mitsubishi Repair: 95 Eclipse GS, dashboard lights, eclipse gs


Question
QUESTION: Hi. My dashboard lights will turn on, but more often then not after a few minutes they will flicker and turn off. I will turn all the lights off and switch them back on real quick, but they still just give a flicker and stay off. I took out the whole piece to check the wiring, and it all was good. Sometimes they wont be a problem, but most of the time I end up driving in the dark.
Thanks.
ANSWER: Peter: You have to replace your light switch. I would say you have a short in it. If that does not fix it, then your relay is going bad. In with the engine is a black box up on the driver's side of the car, up on the firewall or close to it. In that is larger fuses and relays, check those. I hope this helps and good luck! Linda. Ps. I had a car that use to do that too, it's light switch was replaced and it worked fine. But I must say it is not fun to drive in the dark with no lights.

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Ok. And I checked the knob for the lights. After I did this I realized the taillights just stopped working when I have the lights on. Is this just a fuse? And would it be in the same area as the light switch?

Answer
Peter: You know when you turn on the lights with that switch, that turns on both the headlights and the taillights too. So when it could be the switch, I looked up in my repair manual and see that there is a relay for the taillights and one for the headlights too. So you know this could be a relay, in that it gets to warm so it just shuts down. And it could be a fuse, but if it was a fuse it would blow and then you would have to replace the fuse. So I would be checking those black boxes, some cars have two and others has three. One is on the driver's side of the car and the other two are over by the battery. On their tops, they tell what relays or fuses are in those boxes. If you do have a bad relay, remember to unhook the neg cable off the battery before you put the new one back in and then rehook it up after the new relay is back in place. Still sounds like a relay to me. Hope this helps and good luck! Linda