While driving into town late one night the dash lights went out but not the headlights. After examining the problem further from the side of the road we realized we also lost our tail lights, power windows, power door locks so proceeded to check the fuses. To my amazement every fuse in the main power distribution box were good!
So, one day with nothing better to do I got my trusty meter out and went to probing. Long story short I couldn't find the issue. Obviously there wasn't power to the power side of either the door lock or window relays. There also was a loss of power to the power side of the running light fuse to include the interior light fuse. I did replace the complete fuse panel albeit with a used $75 unit from the junk yard rather than the $450 dollar one from Kia. The weird thing is it fixed it for about 45 minutes of driving and then bam all of a sudden we were right back to the exact same problem.
To this day I have no idea what the problem is. I do have a relay outside the fuse box attached to the left inner fender well that buzzes for no apparent reason for about 75 seconds after ignition off. I believe this is a power relay for the fans.
How do I drive the vehicle now at night you ask? Well I added two rocker switches to the under dash panel below the steering wheel. One is for the windows and one is for the running lights, remember the headlights still work. So, if you want windows flick the switch and I jump power to the power side of the window relay. If you want running lights flick the switch and I jump power to the power side of the running light fuse. Proper? Nope, does it work? Yep! Power door locks you ask, Ahhh, well I just use the in door buttons to lock and unlock or the key no power door locks just door locks. =)
While driving into town late one night the dash lights went out but not the headlights. After examining the problem further from the side of the road we realized we also lost our tail lights, power windows, power door locks so proceeded to check the fuses. To my amazement every fuse in the main power distribution box were good!
So, one day with nothing better to do I got my trusty meter out and went to probing. Long story short I couldn't find the issue. Obviously there wasn't power to the power side of either the door lock or window relays. There also was a loss of power to the power side of the running light fuse to include the interior light fuse. I did replace the complete fuse panel albeit with a used $75 unit from the junk yard rather than the $450 dollar one from Kia. The weird thing is it fixed it for about 45 minutes of driving and then bam all of a sudden we were right back to the exact same problem.
To this day I have no idea what the problem is. I do have a relay outside the fuse box attached to the left inner fender well that buzzes for no apparent reason for about 75 seconds after ignition off. I believe this is a power relay for the fans.
How do I drive the vehicle now at night you ask? Well I added two rocker switches to the under dash panel below the steering wheel. One is for the windows and one is for the running lights, remember the headlights still work. So, if you want windows flick the switch and I jump power to the power side of the window relay. If you want running lights flick the switch and I jump power to the power side of the running light fuse. Proper? Nope, does it work? Yep! Power door locks you ask, Ahhh, well I just use the in door buttons to lock and unlock or the key no power door locks just door locks. =)
- Jeff A., Columbus, MS, US