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.
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.
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.
