Poor design or...

[bnam]

---messed up wiring?

I recently realized that the reverse lights on my car come on when the tranny is in reverse -- even when the ignition is off. Is that by design?

I drove my car to work this week and left the car in reverse as I pulled back into a parking slot and left it like that without realizing I was still in reverse.

Luckily I had a new battery and when I started the car in the evening it started right up. When I got home I noticed that the left side reverse light had burnt out.

So tonight I removed the lens to replace the bulb. I found that the plastic above the bulb had melted and is now fused to the bulb. @&%^%

Looking up the wiring diagram -- the reverse light and the horn are connected to Fuse 6 which is powered by the ignition switch. I would have expected this to be on only when the ignition is on. Apparently not -- or I have some miswiring near the ignition. Will have to check tomorrow.

Byas

[andrey]

That of course is not by design. You have a problem with your ignition switch or other wiring.

[bnam]

Went through the wiring and found the culprit -- for reason I cannot yet fathom, the switched wire that is provided for the radio circuit (at the hazard switch) was spliced with an always powered circuit -- so it was feeding voltage backwards through the fuse (#6) and many circuits that should have been on switched voltage were always powered.

Fixing this fixed the original problem. My wipers and flashers which used to work even when the ignition was off now only work when ignition is on.

Byas

[John_in_VA]

and repairing that pro quality splice!