97 SL1 parking light circuit blows fuses

[Dan Hicks]

Has anyone had this problem? My wife will be driving along at night
(it's her car) and the entire instrument panel goes dark (save for
the indicator lights). Worse, the tail lights go out.

It's somewhat intermittent (will blow a fuse and then be OK when the
fuse is replaced, only to blow another fuse ten minutes later). I
metered the circuit, and when it's OK it's drawing a hair over 5
amps on the ten amp fuse. Once I managed to catch a short and it
pegged the 20-amp meter -- it's not just a marginal fuse situation.

All of the exterior lights are working (when the fuse hasn't blown),
so it's unlikely that it's a broken filament (which can sometimes
rattle around in the bulb and cause a short). Also, I can seem to
provoke the problem by pounding on the side of the console, though I
had the console apart and everything in it disconnected and still
saw the problem. Blows even when the IP dimmer knob is turned all
the way down.

Note that there is nothing "after market" like a trailer light
hookup that might be involved -- everything is factory.

So I'm suspecting a short in the instrument panel (which excites me
to no end).

I don't want to tear the IP apart if I don't have to. (Disable air
bags, drop steering wheel, etc -- a real fun day in the park.) So
if anyone can give me any suggestions I greatly appreciate it.

Also, if anyone's been back there, I'd like to know what I'll find.
Chilton's is a poor replacement for the shop manuals that Saturn
won't sell you, so I have no idea what the "I/P junction block" is
like or where it is.

 

[Dan Hicks]

Well, with the application of $316, this problem is solved. I had a
local shop take care of it, since I didn't want to tear apart the IP
and since the Saturn dealer drew a blank. It helped that I had
managed to rattle it enough that it was no longer intermittent.

Turns out that it was, according to the mechanic, a bundle of wires
above the console that was rubbing against a bracket. The bracket
had worn the insulation off a wire. It was a tiny hole, and the
mechanic first had to narrow things down by unplugging cables behind
the IP, one by one.

 

[Guest]

This is like a problem I had on me 2000 SL2, except it was the two wires for
the driver's air-bag. I would get an air-bag fault code, warning light, and
even stalling. Sent a leter to Saturn, they did call me to tell me that my
letter was going into the suggestion system. Not to engineering as a safety
item. Dealer wanted $1400.00 to MAYBE fix the air-bag warning by replacing
it. I went with, I'll burn one or two weekends looking at it myself 1st.