Hey everyone,

 

This morning on the way to work my dash lights died. After getting there, I noticed the tail lights and all the marker lights are not working either. ALL FUSES ARE GOOD! Headlights are still working.

 

Gotta get this fixed fast, as I can't exactly drive at night with no lights... and the days aren't getting any longer.

 

Ideas?

Not sure; here's some related '94 Legacy wiring diagrams... I would double check that fuse 5 with an ohmmeter or just replace it to see if that helps; it seems that is a common fuse for many of these lamps.

[...]This morning on the way to work my dash lights died. After getting there, I noticed the tail lights and all the marker lights are not working either. ALL FUSES ARE GOOD! Headlights are still working.[...]

Did the previous (possibly related) problem in http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=78992 ever get resolved? If so, how?

Turns out they were indeed related!

 

Last time I had taillight problems, the problem went away. This time it didn't. After the first time I was blowing fuses, I went crazy checking wires and testing with a multimeter, and never could find anything- but it was a moot point because it quit blowing the fuses for over two months, until today..

 

I noticed today's problem on the way to work, and checked the fuses when I got to the office, didn't find any blown ones-then made that first post.

 

About halfway through the workday it dawned on me that I hadn't checked that single fuse under the hood for the marker lights, labeled LIGHTING SW. That one was blown! Put a new fuse in, and it blew within a quarter mile. Put a third one in, and it blew when I shut the door. So I put yet another fuse in, and went around banging on all the lights- left front turn signal blew the fuse when I banged on it. It turns out the positive lead for the marker light was chafing on the body of the car, and had rubbed the insulation off.

 

Problem solved! Such a pain to find though, had to get to the point to where it was almost a dead short before I could track it down.

 

I hate electrical troubleshooting. Makes me feel like such an idiot whenever it turns out to be something so obvious.

Intermittent problems like that are the hardest to find. Glad it's fixed!

Very good on your method of finding the problem. The vibration test can find a lot of trouble areas.