All dash lights out, please help!

So I was out off roading my 00 X and I attempted a hill climb which unfortunantly maxxed out my ground clearance at the trailer hitch. So the hitch rubbed and everything was fine except two of the wires for the trailer hook-up were severed. I've already repaired these wires, electrical taped everything really well, and tucked the wires so theres no way they can be cut again. The problem came after this, weather it does have to do with these wirings being cut or not i'm not sure. Later that day I noticed that all my dash lights were out. All guages still work fine, the stereo works.. But all lights aorund guages, vent controls, and stereo lights(except the ones on the actual screen) are out. Also my day time running lights don't work, but regual and high beam and fog lights do work. I've checked most if not all fuses and the fuse diagram and haven't found anything wrong. Any idea what's going on or will I have to pay an @$$ load of money to get it done at the shop? Thanks.

Its the fuse marked tail under the hood.

If it continues to blow you could have a short behind one of the YELLOW lights on the sid of the front bumper.

No doubt its the fuse.

Mine would blow out the fuse for the dash lights anytime i would use 4wd.It was the wiring harness that had the 4wd.indicator for the dash light, the wiring had a small tear and would ground out when shifted and kill the dash lights. Sounds like your problem has to do with the trailer wiring harness but may wanna check around the T-case too, dealer did mine under warranty when it still had it. I've dragged my hitch around alot but had no problems from that yet.

Hi. I am having this problem. Dash lights went out last night. I decided to check the board this evening and found this thread. It is indeed the fuse. We put a new fuse in and it blew right away. I'm not sure how to tell if I have a short. I am not good with wiring and electrical stuff....

Lindsey did you hit anything lately?? If the fuse keeps blowing you have a short somewhere. I hit a deer in a F350 last winter and didnt do any damage except moved the front bumper 1/30 of an inch and yet it caught a wire and caused the truck to keep blowing fuses. Hope this helps..

Also I have no tail lights.

No, I haven't hit anything ever.

Check the YELLOW lights on the side of the front bumper. More than likely the wire has rubbed on a screw and needs to be repaired/protected.

Maybe I am looking at the wrong yellow lights....I pulled both harnesses, pulled back the black protective stuff and electrical tape, and inspected. Nothing is wearing. Are you talking about the harnesses on the side in the front? To get to one, I took out my battery. To get to the other, I took off the whole air filter box. There is nothing unusual going on.

My hands are black and I am cold. lol

Help?

I'm giving up. She's going to a shop tomorrow.

The symptoms you are describing are a 'known issue' - Nissan even issued a TSB on this.. it's #NTB 03-018. and the title is "2000-2003 XTERRA; FUSE 39 OPEN,SIDE MARKER AND TAIL LIGHTS INOPERATIVE" It describes a wire chaffing issue where the front side marker lights pass through the body.

I'm sorry you couldn't find the the chaffed wire it may be hidden from view, if you had the TSB it might help because it has pictures and describes where to look. you may be able to find a copy of the TSb with a little help from Google..maybe even use Google to search this site. if i can find it I'll post a link.

also, I completely understand if you don't want to mess with it anymore electrical issues can be frustrating, but do yourself a favor. look up the TSB and take a copy with you to your local garage. who knows how many Xterras they see in a given year and they may not know about this problem. otherwise they'll probably waste bunch of time trying to find the problem and end up wanting to sell you an entire wiring harness..

Good Luck,
-Saturday

Thank you. I will be digging deeper tonight.

SWEET!!!!!!!!

I did some more research, thanks to you guys, and I found out I was looking in the wrong spot. According to the TSB, I actually have to pull out the lights. I wasn't doing that before. I was looking at the wiring under the hood on each side where the lights are. This gives me more hope!!!

Wires are all perfect. Sockets look good. I am at a loss here!

Well, darn.

I guess if you want to dig a little deeper I can tell you the route I'd take, but nobody would blame you if you just said the heck with it and took it to a shop.

What I'd do next (and what the shop would probably do) is try to rule out stuff one by one. I'd start by unplugging every thing that I could get to easily that is fed off of that fuse. I'll have to dig up the wiring diagram to get you a complete list but start with removing and unplugging the front and rear tail lights on both sides.

Then I'd put in a good fuses and turn on the switch. If it immediately blows, the problem probably isn't in anything you just took off and we'll have to dig a little deeper. If the fuse doesn't blow try plugging back in the tail lights one by one (with the switch still turned on) I'll bet you see where I'm going with this.. when you get to the one that blows the fuse... you know exactly where the problem is. look at it closely for a shorted socket, bad lamp, or wires that look bad.

Holler again if you want to try digging in deeper and fixing this yourself - I'll go pull the wiring diagram.

Good Luck,
-Saturday

YEAAAHHHH!!! It's fixed, baby!

Wanna know what it was? The trailer harness near the spare tire was majorly compressed and the insulation was squised so badly the wires were wet and exposed!

WOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO it works again!

Great! what a relief.. so glad it was an easy fix, sorry I lead you astray on that front marker light deal.

-SM

No problem at all! I was just getting bummed when I couldn't find anything. Everything works now and I AM SO GLAD I DID NOT TAKE IT TO A SHOP!

Good JOB!

Yeah, hooray! lol.

I'm just glad to know I wasn't going crazy when I said it wasn't the yellow lights in front.

Here is a good thread regarding that same topic. Good job Lindsay on finding that!-James

http://www.xterrafirma.com/index.php?nam...er=asc&start=15