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Electrical gauge and NAV didn't turn on even though car did


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I have a push start button installed on my Spark, but sometimes when I press it (while having the brake pedal depressed at same time), the car doesn't start, only the electronics turn on (ie. nav, radio, etc). If I attempt to try it a second time, I notice the brake pedal is very stiff and it won't allow me to depress it again. So the only other way to start the car is by using the smart key chain and holding down the "start" button there for 2 seconds and then the car will auto start on it's own.

Today, however, I noticed that the nav system didn't come on, neither did the electronic dashboard. It was blank or off so I can't see my rpms, or odometer reading etc. Has anyone started their before and not had their electronic dash turn on either along with navigation? Not sure if it's an electronic issue in the car or something to do with my push start button/smart key system.

The car drives fine no problems, but another time, the speed gauge didn't work either, so while I was driving, the needle was stuck at 0.

Hmm.

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True true....this push button start was installed by the previous owner. Not sure if it has anything to do with the push button start, the electrical dashboard or the brake pedal switch? Hmm

You are going to have to test for continuity through the brake pedal switch, the actual push button, also check for power going to the dash display. If you are not handy with a Volt/Ohm meter, or some type of continuity tester, your best bet would be to take it to a shop that specializes in auto electrics. This setup wouldn't show up in a Spark wiring diagram, so I doubt if a dealership would be of much help. Good Luck!

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Thanks WaltK.

I have another question. For the Sparks, are all 3 brake lights (left and right and the middle) sharing the same fuse or do only the right and left share one fuse and the middle another fuse? Reason I ask is because when I put my brake pedal down, none of the 3 brake lights turn on. I recently even added rear LED bumper brake lights and those too didn't brighten red when stepping on the brake pedal. The lights do turn on though when I turn on the lights...they just don't brighten when pressing the brake pedal.

This to me says that it's most likely the brake light switch and not the fuses, since ALL of them don't turn on (assuming they aren't ALL sharing the same fuse). If they are sharing the same fuse, then that's a different story. Then it could mean that it's a blown fuse. But if they aren't sharing the same fuse, it's doubtful multiple fuses just blew out at the same time, so this would mean it's most likely the brake light switch.

I removed it and plugged it back in just to see if that helps but still didn't work. I took it in to a smal local mechanic just to get his opinion. He brought out I think one of those ohm/volt meters? He tried to test it but couldn't tell me definitively. He asked me if I could leave the car overnight or come back the next day and leave the car, I guess so he can inspect it some more? How long do you think it would take for him to find out what the issue is (its either the brake light switch, the fuse, or the worst case scenario and the most costly, a circuit issue).

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I was able to find out which fuse in the fuse box was for the taillights left and right. I pulled them out and took a look at them and the wires are fully intact, no burnt appearance, so I doubt it's the fuse, they were both perfectly fine looking.

Not sure if that completely deduces it to it being a brake light switch problem, but it's sure looking like it right?

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There is one thing that seems unusual. One time, when I started the car remotely, the electrical dashbord (where it shows odo and rpms etc) didn't light up.

It was just off like the computer didn't turn on. The GPS was also off (it's supposed to start on whenever the car starts automatically), and the speedometer

wasn't registering any speed. This only happened once, but during the same time as this brake light problem. So do you think it could be more than just

a brake light switch problem? That's the only thing that makes me wonder it could be something bigger (hope not).

I had another problem happen to me yesterday on the way home from work....i think it's unrelated. I'll be posting it in another section now.

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Oh, and not sure if this will be related either but a couple months back, my car horn stopped working. I haven't gotten around yet to fixing that either.

Now that this has happened, I wonder if the car horn not working might have anything to do with the brake light issue? Could it be some kind of electrical

issue? If the car horn fuse is fine, then it's either the horn itself that needs replacing or could it be some kind of electrical issue?

I thought it was unusual because my car only has 39k km on it, and I've barely ever used my car horn...why would it go out so quickly? I've own cars in the past

for years and never had to replace the car horn.

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Here is something I have seen before: One or more of the fuse boxes having corroded fuse terminals for one or more fuses/relays or corroded terminal at the main fuse box connection or battery terminals are corroded. Replace one of the fuses you think are good that affect the rear lamps with a known good fuse, if that works it is the fuse if not, try cleaning the fuse slot with a toothbrush and try it again. If it works, you have corroded fuse slots/fuses...if not working & is not the lamps, well, time to have an electrical person look at the problem.

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Ok, the mechanic in my little town took a look at it and he checked everything with the ohm/volt device(?). He said that it was not the brake switch either. The brake switch was perfectly fine he said. I don't know exactly what he did but he was under the dashboard of my car and then suddenly I saw the rear brake lights turn and he was able to start the car perfectly with the push button, too (which requires one to depress the brake pedal while pushing the start button). Since we weren't talking in english and I'm not fluent in his language, I couldn't fully understand everything he said. I was trying to find out exactly what was the cause then so I can make a note of it and maybe learn something. The best I got out of what he said was that it had something to do with the electrical line. He said that the electricity was dead. I don't know what he meant by that. Then I don't know exactly what he did to get the electrical power back but he didn't change out any parts or add anything. But the power came back on from the front to the back of the car and he said that it would require much more time and effort to find out what is causing the power drain. He said something else in the car is probably drawing more power than others and it's what killed the electricity from the front to the back (brake signals). He got it back on somehow and he told me that it could happen again anytime (the power gone/dead). Then he said I should take it in to an actual service center and get it examined to find out. He charged me a whopping 20 bucks though. I was a bit surprised the price was that stiff for just a short looksy under the hood, the fuse box, tested the ohm/volts and under the dashboard. It really only took about 30 minutes. Not sure why he charged me 20 bucks and the fact that this isn't really fixed since he said it could happen again at anytime.

So I'd really like to know what exactly he did to get it to work again that didn't require him replacing any parts. Either he just tweaked with a wire/plug or used something to inject some power (like a car battery starter).....don't know.

Right after he got the power back to the brake lights, I also asked him about my car horn and wanted to know if it was a fuse, the actual horn, or some electrical issue.....when he pushed the horn, it actually made a sound for the first time since months when it stopped. But it only worked once. After that he kept pressing it and the car horn didn't work again, but the power to the brakes was still working as he turned off the car and turned it back on just to see. So he said he thinks the car horn issue is something to do with electrical inside the steering wheel ....not an actual problem with the horn.

I wonder if the horn issue is related to the brake light issue and the drawing of lots of power somewhere that is killing the power. He did mention something about my add-ons. I added on LED rear bumper brake lights and LED side mirror turning signals about 7 or 8 months ago. Could any of those be drawing too much power that it would cause this "dead electricity"?

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that sounds like what he might have done to correct the issue temporarily. Maybe he checked the ground wire, did something to it, and the electrical was back and working to the brake pedal and brake lights. Does this make sense? I'm not sure what a ground wire is, where it is, and what it does for the car good and bad when working and not working. Is it located under the steering wheel where the brake pedal and the inside fuse box is? That's where he was when he somehow got the brake lights working again.

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The brake light issue actually WAS the fuse. It was a blown fuse (the 15A one for electrical) which is located inside the car underneath the dash bottom left side. My small town local mechanic replaced the fuse and bam, the brake lights were back on working fine. It worked fine for the next 2 days until today when I went to the Chevrolet car service center to get the car horn checked out. I didn't tell them about the brake light issue I had. After the inspection and telling me to come next week because they had no time to check my car horn issue today, I tried to turn on the car and the same problem happened again. The brake lights weren't working so therefore I couldn't start the car with the push start button. I turned it out the alternative way which was to just hold the start button for 7 seconds. When the car started, I noticed that everything was on, my fans were on near full and AC was on. The technician must've turned them on when he did the inspection. That led me to believe that I think the brake lights stop working because the fuse gets blown when AC is turned on. It never happened before but the first time it happened, it was when I had the AC on. It makes me think it might be related.

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Definitely a short circuit, the fuse will continue to blow, until you find where the short is, it's all related, electrical problem.

Wow, great job! You were right. I'm in the service center now and the mechanic found a wire (red and green i think) that had a minor tear and some wire exposed and may have been burnt too. He told me it was a short and this is what was most likely causing the blown brake light fuse.

The car horn was also replaced with an OEM one. They had to remove the bumper to do it. That cost me $40 just to remove the bumper. With the new horn, the bumper removal fee, 4 tire rotations, and replacing the back wiper arm (broken), the total cost today was $106. Hopefully there will be no more electrical issues.

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Yes, I will take a picture some time just to show where the wire was rubbing on the inner rear bumper and must've got cut or slightly torn where it exposed the wire. The mechanic taped it up and covered it with a nice plastic tubing....i praised him on having a good eye for finding that small little tear in the wire.

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