Ok...so I bought this car fairly recently. Guy lied to me about a lot of issues.

The airbag light stays on all the time. Not sure why.

The dash lights, driver's side marker and driver's side brake light do not work. I've located the left tailight fuse under the hood and this is part of the problem. It shorts as soon as I flip the lights on.

At one point the dash was working for a few days. I had removed the plastic cover from the trunk hatch area (upper part) in order to replace the hydraulic lifts for the hatch. I was lazy putting it back on...so I left it off for a few days. I don't know if this is associated with why the dash lights, etc. worked for a while or not.

Messed with all the wires today looking for any spot they might be touching in that general area and don't see a thing. Even wrapped any possible ones with tape. Still popped!

The heater takes much too long to heat up and generally will not do so until I actually start driving the car. Sitting and idling will result in some untimely air conditioning. I'm guessing this is the heater core but would love some confirmation...

Really need some help...

Dear hip cool,

One problem at a time.

1) Airbag light stays on- Will require a trip to the dealer. Be aware that the seat sensors can fail, are pretty expensive to replace. The dealer explained to me for my bad seat sensor that it disables the affected airbag until the sensor is fixed.
2) Dash lights, driver side marker and driver side brake light-go to Autozone and buy the complete 40 piece fuse assortment WITH TESTER...costs just $16. Cars that are 10 years have fuse failures from 'thermal fatique', a hairline fracture that is almost invisible. Also buy an extra box of 10 amp fuses, the most common in your passenger fuse box. Replace every fuse with a new one of same capacity ....this solves so many headaches and time. [Learned the hard way on a 1991 Volvo 740]
3)Dash related to trunk hatch upper trim-No
4) Looked for shorted wires-verify that the fuse you are replacing is the correct rating. Also, replace the tail light relay under the hood engine compartment relay box. Go to hmaservice.com and register. The engine and passenger fuse layout is listed under Body Electrical.
5) Heater core slow warming- verify that the engine fan is not running all the time, it should be off most of the time in winter. Replace the engine thermostat...next cause would be a thermostat stuck in the open position. You may have a 10-year old thermostat. While the thermostat is out, flush the cooling system. Recommend Prestone cleaner. See:

http://www.prestone.com/products/coolingSystemTreatments.php

Your cooling system likely has not been well maintained, or you would not be having problems now.

Lastly, is yourmorning temperatures at startup less than 20 F? Your car will take a while to warm up, this is normal.

Byron

This post has been edited by byronguidry3732: Jan 28 2008, 01:10 PM