I brought my car (2003 Mazda Protege 5, with 80k miles) in for an oil change and because the passenger rear brake light was out. When I got the car back, both the dash lights and the tail lights did not work. I checked the fuses and found a fuse in the engine block (the tail light fuse) was blown. I replaced it, but this didn't fix the problem.
The car is at a mechanic now. He suggested it was a bad wiring harness. Elsewhere on these forums it suggests that it could be a bad dash dimmer switch, and that the dash lights and tail lights are all on the same circuit.
My questions are these:
1) Is it true that the dash lights and tail lights are on the same circuit, and that by fixing the tail lights I will likely fix the dash lights?
2) Would the rear wiring harness (passenger side) cause the dash lights to go out as well as both tail lights? And what causes the rear wiring harness to go bad?
3) How likely is it that this problem was caused by the mechanic who replaced the brake light? The timing, to me, seems way too coincidental to not be the mechanic's fault... (and it's the same lights that he was operating on) but I'm not sure how I would prove something like that.
Thanks!
The car is at a mechanic now. He suggested it was a bad wiring harness. Elsewhere on these forums it suggests that it could be a bad dash dimmer switch, and that the dash lights and tail lights are all on the same circuit.
My questions are these:
1) Is it true that the dash lights and tail lights are on the same circuit, and that by fixing the tail lights I will likely fix the dash lights?
2) Would the rear wiring harness (passenger side) cause the dash lights to go out as well as both tail lights? And what causes the rear wiring harness to go bad?
3) How likely is it that this problem was caused by the mechanic who replaced the brake light? The timing, to me, seems way too coincidental to not be the mechanic's fault... (and it's the same lights that he was operating on) but I'm not sure how I would prove something like that.
Thanks!
