[Shotimes] Dash Lights

[George Fourchy]

On Thu, 28 Aug 2003 15:17:37 +0000, bobsteig@att.net wrote:

>When I first turn on the 
>ignition everything's ok, then when I start the car the dash, clock, and 
>windows don't work.

Those things are powered directly from the battery, through the ignition switch, not
through fuses (other than the clock).  (The windows have a breaker, but that won't
help here)  Something isn't making contact, and if that something is getting loose,
then it can short to ground VERY easily, which is what potentially caught all those
recalled cars on fire.

> I now think it's the ignition switch, but I'm 
>not 100% on that. Meanwhile it doesn't seem terminal, just a PITA. 

I'd think twice on that.  If it is the same problem I had, you can fry your battery
in just a few seconds, and where do you think all that energy is going to go.....? 
It isn't going back into a thunder cloud.

You'd be well advised to change that ignition switch while it is still changeable.

Remember, these cars are getting OLD...much older than most anything else being
driven this hard or this much, and things that don't normally wear are wearing.  I
have to watch my cars all the time for symptoms of things failing that we don't
normally think about, if I want them to last another 10 or 15 years.

George