OK - I'm a newbie to the Suby world and I need some help. My daughter's '90 Legacy (had an import engine swap 6 months ago) has developed an electrical problem and I want to know where to start looking.

She cleaned her car out (!!!) yesterday afternoon, including vacuuming (you have to understand this is atypical of this 20 year old) but, possibly unrelated, now the parking lights won't turn off! I went out a few hours after she was done and noticed the tail lights were on very dimly. I tried the switch on the steering column and it turned the headlights on and off when the key was turned, but didn't effect the running lights. With the key off I can't turn the headlights on, which she says is normal, but the taillights remain on. The only way I could shut them off is by disconnecting the battery.

Also, probably unrelated, I noticed when she steps on the brake pedal the brakelights work normally but the driver's side tail light goes out. She says this has been happening since she bought the car about 9 months ago.

Any suggestions? Ideas?

Contact me directly at pliley @ bmi.net (remove the spaces)

 

Thanks, Pat

There is a parking light switch on the top center of the steering column.

 

She bumped it when cleaning the car.

 

One of the more common *newbie* Subaru problems

It's on the EA82 cars too. My fiancee did it on an 89 gl-10 we had, drove her nuts all day untill I got home and hit the switch.

There is a parking light switch on the top center of the steering column.

 

She bumped it when cleaning the car.

 

One of the more common *newbie* Subaru problems

 

 

THANKS. Problem solved. Also encouraged me to clean the battery terminals. :-)

 

Pat L.

Welcome to the forum. Glad you found the switch.

 

For the taillight problem you mentioned it sounds like the ground connection for that light assembly needs to be checked for a bad connection. With a bad ground connection the higher current of the brake light will cause a higher voltage drop across the bad ground. This will make the lower current running light go dimmer. The brake light will be dimmer than normal also.