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Old 05-25-2020, 07:17 AM   #26
Danelboy6
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Originally Posted by Cougar4 View Post
The lights are controlled through a illumination control module that is located on the return side of the circuit. Power goes to the lights usually on a violet wire and the orange wire then goes to the module which makes the resistance to ground change using the dimmer control. The problem may be due to a bad module. To see if the problem is on the return side you could ground the orange wire and see if the light turns on bright. This would indicate the module is most likely at fault.
This thread helped me out, cheers
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Old 07-23-2022, 04:43 PM   #27
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how did you ground it? im having same problem.

please help
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Old 07-23-2022, 04:43 PM   #28
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how did you ground it? im having same problem.

please help
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Old 07-23-2022, 04:45 PM   #29
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how do you ground the orange wire?
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Old 07-23-2022, 04:47 PM   #30
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After looking at the data I think the wire we are looking for is shown in your picture as the orange wire in the blue plug. It should be pin 14. Before placing a ground on that wire I suggest you first check for voltage on the violet wire in the gray plug. That should be pin 15 and it should have 12 volts on it when the lights are on. If that is so then ground the orange wire and see if the dash lights turn on full bright.

So far there has been no mention of the dimmer control but I assume you have already checked that and made sure it is on high position or selected the switched ON position of the control.

I would guess that a module from an '04 model would work but I can't say that for sure. It looks like there is a part number on the module in the picture. See if they match.
how do you ground it?
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Old 07-23-2022, 06:44 PM   #31
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In order to make a connection to ground simply connect the wire to a good connection to chassis ground of the vehicle. When you do that though that will bypass the dimmer control circuit and the light will be full brightness.
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Old 08-24-2022, 05:12 PM   #32
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I'm having a similar problem in my 06 impreza 2.5i. The cluster and hvac night time illumination does not work. no blown fuses. I want to ground that orange wire mentioned above, but i first checked to see if it had power, and it reads 12v. Grounding a live wire does not seem like a good idea. am i missing something here?
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Old 08-24-2022, 08:46 PM   #33
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If the lighting circuit uses the same wire colors as the earlier models, then the power side of the light is violet and the return side of the light uses an orange color wire. The return side is connected to the light dimmer circuit and then to ground. So, the lighting control uses the return side of the circuit to control the brightness. You are correct about not wanting to ground the power to the light (violet wire), you want to ground the return side (orange wire) of the light circuit. When that is done though there will be no dimming of that light because the light is now directly connected to ground instead of going through the dimmer control. Whenever you measure voltage on an open circuit, (no current can flow because the circuit is incomplete) the voltage reading will show whatever the voltage is from the power supply source. On a working circuit the voltage on the ground side of the circuit will be zero, it is connected to ground (the reference point). But when the ground lead to the circuit load is opened up then there will be full voltage on that lead.
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Old 08-24-2022, 09:12 PM   #34
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Cougar4 View Post
If the lighting circuit uses the same wire colors as the earlier models, then the power side of the light is violet and the return side of the light uses an orange color wire. The return side is connected to the light dimmer circuit and then to ground. So, the lighting control uses the return side of the circuit to control the brightness. You are correct about not wanting to ground the power to the light (violet wire), you want to ground the return side (orange wire) of the light circuit. When that is done though there will be no dimming of that light because the light is now directly connected to ground instead of going through the dimmer control. Whenever you measure voltage on an open circuit, (no current can flow because the circuit is incomplete) the voltage reading will show whatever the voltage is from the power supply source. On a working circuit the voltage on the ground side of the circuit will be zero, it is connected to ground (the reference point). But when the ground lead to the circuit load is opened up then there will be full voltage on that lead.
thanks for the reply. I just came inside so i'll mess with it again tomorrow. But i have power at both the violet wire(on grey connector) and the orange/white(on blue connector). I'm using a simple test light and when i turn on the light switch, both the violet and the orange/white light up.
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Old 08-25-2022, 03:06 PM   #35
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I just double checked. both the violet AND the orange/white light up my test light when i turn on the lights. both are live. even if i disconnect the connectors from the module. Do i sill ground that orange/white wire? that won't burn anything up?
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Old 08-25-2022, 07:19 PM   #36
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If you are trying to repair the dash lighting correctly then you will most likely have to replace the control module for the lighting. When you ground the orange wire that should turn on whatever dash lights that wire is tied to, to full brightness. You won't be able to dim the lights. The module changes the resistance to ground for the lights. When there is no or very little resistance the lights glow their brightest. When the module has high resistance then the lights are dim due to less current flow through them.

When you connect your test light to orange wire, with the power ON, see if the dash lights turn on a little bit. It may need to be fairly dark out to see them. If you do see some light that proves the lights will glow if you ground the orange wire.
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Old 08-25-2022, 07:20 PM   #37
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You need to understand what happens in a series circuit when it is connected normally to power and when the circuit is open, and no current can flow. Along with doing testing on the circuit and what the expected results should be.

If you are trying to repair the dash lighting correctly then you will most likely have to replace the control module for the lighting. The module is most likely damaged. When you ground the orange wire that should turn on whatever dash lights that wire is tied to, to full brightness. Grounding the orange wire will bypass the control module. You won't be able to dim the lights. The module changes the resistance to ground for the lights via the dimmer control adjustment. When there is no or very little resistance through the module the lights glow their brightest. When the module has high resistance then the lights are dim due to less current flow through them. This is a series circuit, so all the loads in the circuit share the power supplied to them and the total current is the same through each component.

When you connect your test light to orange wire, with the power ON, see if the dash lights turn on a little bit. It may need to be fairly dark out to see them. If you do see some light that proves the lights will glow if you ground the orange wire.

Last edited by Cougar4; 08-25-2022 at 07:39 PM.
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Old 08-26-2022, 12:23 PM   #38
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Cougar4 View Post
You need to understand what happens in a series circuit when it is connected normally to power and when the circuit is open, and no current can flow. Along with doing testing on the circuit and what the expected results should be.

If you are trying to repair the dash lighting correctly then you will most likely have to replace the control module for the lighting. The module is most likely damaged. When you ground the orange wire that should turn on whatever dash lights that wire is tied to, to full brightness. Grounding the orange wire will bypass the control module. You won't be able to dim the lights. The module changes the resistance to ground for the lights via the dimmer control adjustment. When there is no or very little resistance through the module the lights glow their brightest. When the module has high resistance then the lights are dim due to less current flow through them. This is a series circuit, so all the loads in the circuit share the power supplied to them and the total current is the same through each component.

When you connect your test light to orange wire, with the power ON, see if the dash lights turn on a little bit. It may need to be fairly dark out to see them. If you do see some light that proves the lights will glow if you ground the orange wire.
got it. I read this whole thread before commenting so i got your description earlier. I think i understand it. think lol. I'm just curious to see if the lights work at all at this point. then i will definitely tackle the issue properly.
My main question and/or confusion is about "grounding" a wire with voltage on it. I'm having a hard time understanding how that won't cause sparks, a short and a blown fuse or worse... I just want to make sure i'm not misunderstanding and make things worse.
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Old 08-27-2022, 07:10 PM   #39
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Follow the instructions I gave you in the last sentence of my previous post. The orange wire of the lights is the RETURN side of the light. The power is tied to the other side of the light. All current flow from the power source has to flow through the light. The resistance of the light is what limits the current flow. In order to make sparks fly you would have to connect the violet wire to ground.
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Old 08-28-2022, 10:02 PM   #40
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Cougar4 View Post
Follow the instructions I gave you in the last sentence of my previous post. The orange wire of the lights is the RETURN side of the light. The power is tied to the other side of the light. All current flow from the power source has to flow through the light. The resistance of the light is what limits the current flow. In order to make sparks fly you would have to connect the violet wire to ground.
i grounded the wire today. lights came on. what should be my next step to pinpoint the problem? Also, other than not having no dimmer, is there in any drawback to leaving that grounded? Just wondering as i rarely ever use the dimmer....

Thanks for your help.
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Old 08-30-2022, 02:21 AM   #41
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To fix the problem you will most likely need to replace the illumination control module or body control module. No problem leaving it as is if you want to.
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Old 08-30-2022, 02:22 PM   #42
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Cougar4 View Post
To fix the problem you will most likely need to replace the illumination control module or body control module. No problem leaving it as is if you want to.
awesome. my horn that hasn't worked for a while suddenly went off twice yesterday as i was idling. Any chance that same module has control over the horn too?
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Old 08-30-2022, 02:52 PM   #43
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The lighting is controlled by the BIM module. Look for blue and gray plugs connecting to it just to the right side of the steering column. The horn is controlled by the horn relay which have several things that can turn the relay on. I would suspect the horn switch as the most likely cause of the problem. The switches make a ground connection to turn on the horn relay.
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Old 08-30-2022, 05:40 PM   #44
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Cougar4 View Post
The lighting is controlled by the BIM module. Look for blue and gray plugs connecting to it just to the right side of the steering column. The horn is controlled by the horn relay which have several things that can turn the relay on. I would suspect the horn switch as the most likely cause of the problem. The switches make a ground connection to turn on the horn relay.
i deff have the BIM thing understood at this point. I'm just going to remove the orange wire from the blue connector and ground it directly to chassis using a 14gauge wire. Or i'll just replace the BIM.
I was just simply wondering if the horn was one of the 15 things subaru routed through there lol . But you already answered no. so i'll go check the relays. It's just weird that it honked just randomly, without me touching the airbag.
Thanks again for all the help.
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Old 08-31-2022, 05:20 PM   #45
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The horn problem is most likely due to an intermittent connection to ground located in the steering wheel or column, which controls the relay.
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Old 09-14-2022, 03:04 AM   #46
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Default Mystery harness plug

in this general area i noticed a 4 pin plug hanging around not married to anything. the plug itself looks as though it has no where to go. its near the dimmer and mirror control switches.

i am installing Bypass Module for a proximity lock/unlock feature. i noticed this when pulling the lower dash cover off and found it branching off the larger harness above interior fuse panel.

mystery 4 Pin colors: violet, black/yellow, orange, black/white
2012 WRX
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Old 09-18-2022, 04:42 PM   #47
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UPDATE:

Just wanted to share some info i discovered that in all my research(here and elsewhere) i did not see. The problem was not the BIM. And the horn issue IS related.
I replaced the BIM, nothing changed. so i decided to try and fix my horn. I figured, why not. I diagnosed my bad horn as a clockspring issue, replaced it, the horn started working, and so did the dash lights lol. Everything works just fine now, lights, dimmer stick, horn.

So you can go ahead and add "clockspring" as a potential fix, for the common, no dash lights issue.
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Old 09-18-2022, 04:43 PM   #48
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UPDATE:

Just wanted to share some info i discovered that in all my research(here and elsewhere) i did not see. The problem was not the BIM. And the horn issue IS related.
I replaced the BIM, nothing changed. so i decided to try and fix my horn. I figured, why not. I diagnosed my bad horn as a clockspring issue, replaced it, the horn started working, and so did the dash lights lol. Everything works just fine now, lights, dimmer stick, horn.

So you can go ahead and add "clockspring" as a potential fix, for the common, no dash lights issue.
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