Why are my lights on (by themselves)?, Switches are OFF and keys in my pocket! Options

[ovilla]

This is a really weird one! Went to jump in my 914 this morning and the battery was totally dead. I thought I may have left something on and validated that I had not left any interior lights on (both doors were closed) and that the light switch, fog light, and turn signal switches were all fully pressed in.

Anyway, I hook up my battery charger this evening and immediately notice that the rear license plate light, the light in the engine compartment, and the dash guage lights (above the steering wheel and in the factory center console), along with the word FAN, are all dimly lit. With the light switch still pushed in, I was able to dim and/or control the brightness of all dash lights too (with the keys still in my pocket). I then pulled on all the light switches and pushed them back in, and nothing changed. I then put the keys in the ignitiion (power was at 6 or 7 volts) and turned the key to ON and then pulled my light switch. My front lights then kept opening/closing, as expected from too little voltage.

Any ideas??? Did my ignition switch short out and leave my light's on? Note that my parking brakes don't come on since the light switch is pushed in, but what is lighting the engine bay and rear license plate light? Do these normally come on as part of turnining the ignition on, and if my igniion failed, that's what's causing them to come on and stay on now? Could my light switch have partially melted in a position that left only the dash lights, engine, and rear license plate on??? I have been having a consistent issue for a while now in which my passenger side headlight does not open up. I've been turning my lights on, manually moving my passenger light to the "UP" position, but then when I press in the lights switch, BOTH lights have come down.

By the way, the very last thing I did to my 914, while it was parked in the driveway (last night), was change all four spark plugs. That's it!

Your help is very much appreciated!! I have a voltmeter and know how to use it. I just don't know where to even start with this one. Should I replace the ignition switch to rule it out?

[Cap'n Krusty]

Where to start? First, you need to determine what MY car you have. As you didn't tell us when you asked for help, I'm guessing you don't know ............... Next, obtain a wiring diagram or current track for your car. They're available on the Pelican Parts website, and they're in color. I suspect you may have a feedback problem. That is, there's voltage from a 12v+ source somehow getting to a wire at the light switch not normally "hot" when the switch is in the "off" position. Since the turn signals, one side or the other, are illuminated with the key off and the turn signal switch in the on position with the car all shut down, that might one place to look. For example, if you had a single filament bulb in one of the front turn signal bulb positions in the front, power would feed back into the parking light system and light up every one of the bulbs you mention. Might want to check that. Be nice if you'd report back with your progress and with any more questions.

The Cap'n