Hi all,

I got my 1999 Sebring about 4 months ago for my first car. I'm very satisfied overall with it.

Anyway, I have always been the type to modify things I have myself rather than send them to professionals. This time MAY have had expensive repercussions. I bought a some LED lights and wanted to replace the light in the back of the middle console. I pried the cover off and saw that there was a clip and bulb on the inside. A friend of mine gave me an explanation on the phone of what to do to change the power of that bulb over to the LEDs (he installed them in his own car). I cut the wires for the bulb because it was a clip on and I was going to splice the wires. I am a careless amateur, I know. However, following the cut the radio and lights did come on. After a few minutes, they stopped coming on. My battery has always needed charges if I left the radio on or door open for SHORT amounts of time. My doors were open during the process so all the lights were on. The battery is charged though and my car will start, but there is no power to the radio and lights. Even my lock/unlock functions lost power. I even tried turning it on with a battery charger connected, still nothing.

That being said, is my battery finally completely dying or did my rookie antics kill my interior's power? If so, is there any solution I can use without going to the mechanic? I know that I completed the process in the wrong way so please don't criticize me too much lol. Thank you guys.

 

its a fuse my man look in owners manual for teh fuse lay out and check them

 

Sounds like the battery is on its last legs too, but that's a different problem.

If you don't have an owners manual, look on the underside of the fuse box covers (one at the left end of the dash, one under the hood) for a description of what the fuses do.

 

Thank both of you guys.

As you guys said, it was the IOD fuse. I went out and got a replacement 10A fuse. I figured I'd take it out and replace it and be back in business. However, things are never that easy for me. Especially for someone like me who's always tampering with something. I bought a 5-pack of 10A fuses and put the first in and it blew out immediately. I tried again with a second and it did the same. The car was turned of as well. I'm sure others have had this problem and I think others say that I have grounded wires. Is there a fix?

Thanks again everyone.

 

Yeah there's a fix. Find the shorted wire and repair it. Start with the wires you were fooling around with. If that's an aftermarket stereo in there, double check the installation of that and look for a short. There might be melted or burned insulation. That would be a strong clue.
You had the car door open when you changed the IOD fuse. That would mean the interior lights were on, so that circuit may be part of the problem.

Sometimes the wires leading to the driver's door break from the flexing that occurs from opening and closing the door. You can pull back the cover on the harness at the hinge and look at the wires there. You might find the problem there. Shorts aren't the usual problem from that area, though. The usual problem is an open circuit.

 

Thanks a lot DCotter. I was able to fix the problem! I wrapped the wires I wrapped the wires I was fooling around with in electrical tape. Then replaced the fuse now all is well! Thank you guys.