Recently installed a switch for an LED bar, now I have no gear/HVAC/radio lights.

[Beansworth]

Hopefully someone here can help with my problem:

I recently installed a CH4X4 switch (same wiring as an AOB) so I can turn on my led bar. I did the normal hook-ups: ran a wire to a bolt for the ground, add-a-fuse from an "ignition on only" slot for power and hooked the correct wire to the LED bar relay. The switch works fine and lights up when pressed on.

The problem came when I tried to hook the switch wire to give illumination when the switch is in the off position and my headlights are on. To do this, I t-tapped into the green wire coming from the wiper de-icer switch. Every time I tried to hook the switch up to the tap, it would blow my 7.5A panel fuse.

Not knowing why this was, I very stupidly just increased the fuse size to 15A. I probably shouldn't have done this! I've since put a 7.5A fuse back into the panel slot, but the damage is done.

My lights for the gear shifter, HVAC knobs, and radio side buttons no longer turn on when I turn my headlights on! I've checked all fuses (both cabin and engine boxes) and all are fine. My tail lights still turn on. It's also not the dimmer switch, I've checked it and it still correctly dims my gauges.
I fear that I shorted the backlight harness and damaged something important, does anyone know what happened or how I can fix this?
Thanks in advance! You guys are the most helpful online forum I've ever seen... keep being awesome!

 

[Beansworth]

Recheck all fuses.

Thanks for the response, but I already did that (please check original post). All fuses are fine.

 

[Dillusion]

Better start sniffing for burnt stuff.

Not sure if this helps don't have time to go through the whole diagram.

http://www.toyota-4runner.org/attac...rawings-5th-interior-lights-2012-4runner-.pdf

But find where that green wire goes and have at it.

 

[Beansworth]

I wouldn't have messed with the wiper circuit for illum. I wouldn't have increased a 7.5A to a 15A fuse. There's a reason they spec them.

Your username is very appropriate!
To be clear, I didn't use the actual wiper circuit, I used the wiper de-icer switch circuit. If you look around on this forum, you'll notice that this is actually a very common place to tap into.

 

[Beansworth]

Better start sniffing for burnt stuff.

Not sure if this helps don't have time to go through the whole diagram.

http://www.toyota-4runner.org/attac...rawings-5th-interior-lights-2012-4runner-.pdf

But find where that green wire goes and have at it.

Thanks for the help, but this appears to be specifically for the cabin lights, such as dome, map, etc. It doesn't detail the console button/knob backlights.

 

[Dillusion]

I'm going to have to look more I think I got a 4R wiring on my home computer.

 

[Deep_palancar]

Here are the wiring diagrams

Attached are all of the diagrams that you should need to trace the path for the illumination wires.

As you will see there are a lot of bridges on the back panel of junction boxes 4 and 5 that interconnect to the different switch and knob lighting. With a multi-meter or test light with a pin probe you can track the power from the panel fuse pin 40 of connector 2B through to where it breaks.

If you are not familiar with reading these diagrams but have the time, equipment, and interest, I or others here can explain most of it.

As far as what went wrong, the symptoms indicate that the wire from the tapped green @ the deice was somehow providing a direct path to ground either by a rub, cut, or the wrong pin on the add-on switch. Fix one problem at a time....

 

[mynameistory]

Yikes. In the future, keep in mind that any time you snap fuses that quickly, it's because you've connected +12V directly to a ground. Recheck your switch wiring, the instructions OR your pin-out leads may be incorrect. Not to beat a dead horse, but a tiny LED light in the switch should only pull a few milliamps - not enough to merit bumping up fuse size.

You should consider yourself lucky. There's a thread on here of someone incorrectly tapping into the switch dimming circuit and smoking his instrument cluster.

Good luck with sorting the problem.

 

[Superjet]

Tail lights working? That is where panel fuse gets power from

 

[Beansworth]

Attached are all of the diagrams that you should need to trace the path for the illumination wires.

Wow, this is great. Gonna take some time to poor through this. Thanks!

Tail lights working? That is where panel fuse gets power from

Yeah they work, which is another reason why it doesn't seem like a blown fuse.