Symptoms - Lots of unpredictable issues with various lighting elements, the cabin fan, and the center console. All of these happen with no regularity unless otherwise stated. Sometimes they have happened a lot over the course of a drive, sometimes not at all.
- Hazard lights will turn on and off randomly, can happen during driving or when the engine is off and key not in the ignition. Not related to the switch itself.
- Low beam headlamps will occasionally flicker rapidly.
- High beam headlamps will turn on and off randomly, sometimes staying on for a lengthy period, and will not respond to the regular switch for them. The dashboard light for the high beams will turn on and off with them. This has happened with the engine off and the key out of the ignition as well as during driving. Issue has not happened for a couple of days with no changes to anything, and high beams have been functioning normally.
- Cabin fan will turn on and off at random, and adjust intensity randomly. This can happen with the engine off and the key out of the ignition. I have been able to reproduce part of the issue. By turning the low beam light switch from the 12 o'clock position to the 7 o'clock position, the fan will turn on very briefly. This will happen during driving and with the engine off and the key not in the ignition.
- Center console display will sometimes turn completely off. This will also turn off the sound system. This has never lasted longer than 10 seconds, and usually is just a brief "blip" of off and immediately on again.
Background and information I've been able to gather:
The problem started shortly after I had my local mechanic do a heater bypass. I was having some minor coolant issues but was told it was an issue with the cabin heater. I live in a very warm area so my mechanic bypassed the heater and I am planning to replace it once cooler months roll around. I drove less than a mile home after that with no issues. Roughly a day later, having not yet driven the car any further, the electrical issues began. They were first noticed by my roommate who found my car with hazard lights flashing in the garage twice over the course of a couple of hours. It has been not quite a week and these issues have been happening regularly. The only way I've been able to reliably prevent the issues from happening while parked is to disconnect the battery.
I was finally able to make it back to my mechanic today, and he was unable to isolate the problem, saying he needed to do more research and recommended I look into it as well, thus why I am here. Before coming to that conclusion though, he did hook my car up to a computer and get some readouts:
He then cleared the history and ran another scan resulting in this:
He physically removed the light switch controls from the dash and still symptoms were regularly appearing. He asked me lengthy questions about the issue and we also drove around city streets a bit and were unable to find any solution to what it may be.
There has been no issue actually starting or driving the car.
I do remember having a similar issue over 6 years ago, unfortunately due to the time I don't have details. I do remember it was the result of some connection being knocked loose in front of the front passenger seat, behind the glove compartment (it was supposedly an unprotected connection getting "kicked loose"). I am working on getting information about it from the mechanic that worked on it at the time.
I'm hoping that this is just some kind of weird short or loose wiring connection somewhere that's causing all this, but I'm definitely no expert. Anyone on here experience similar problems or have a solution? Thanks in advance.