Long story short, I performed a rush job at a DIY garage in order to install a new valve body and TCM into my g35, I never unplugged the battery and I think it has caused a lot of my electrical issues. Immediately after rushed install (in attempt to save money) I noticed my drive display was gone along with my speedometer and gas gauge sticking and reading improperly also ses and at check light. Wasn't until later one of my tech friends stated I needed the TCM programmed for the car, even though I've been driving it a couple years in manual (which i wouldn't say was the best idea). As of recently my stereo lights and shortly after tail lights went out both of them but the signal and brake lights work. I changed the fuse in the taillight and no difference. There was even a moment my dash lights went out and my car began making a high squealing noise when I was parking at my apartment. I keep the car well maintained work on it myself and give routine oil changes every 3-5k mi. This Situation however has me kind of stumped I'm not really a electronics person and things are beginning to snowball and stress me out. Now I'm limited to driving hours I can only drive at day to avoid getting pulled over.


Lights on stereo out, Drive Display out and clock like out (Clock and stereo lights were working last week)

 

What year? Looks like a 2005-2007?

The TCM only needs to be programmed if it was NEW, a used TCM doesn't require programming.

I think the gear indicator, clock, and new problems are all separate issues compared to the other stuff going wrong. And the clock would be it's own separate problem, you need to start checking fuses, cabin Fuse Block - J/B fuses 6, 9, and 12 all handle the AC auto amp which supplies power to the clock.

Have you had the dash apart? It's easy to screw up plugging things back in.

Do you have an aftermarket alarm, remote start, or ANY other aftermarket stuff running? Unplug that FM transmitter too, sometimes other aftermarket stuff fails and causes the OEM equipment to malfunction.

What codes are you throwing? I see the check engine light is on.

The high pitch squealing sound is probably just an accessory belt slipping.

As far as the brake lights, that's a completely separate standalone circuit with nothing else on it. Power comes from cabin Fuse Block - J/B fuse 20. If that fuse is blowing then you have a broken wire grounding out against the chassis somewhere. Primary culprit is the trunk area.

Do you have all the factory stuff in the trunk or do you have an aftermarket amp / woofers / etc? Is the carpet and plastic divider for the spare tires still in place? If that stuff has been tampered with it's easy to nick a wire and short it out.

 

So many possibly related electrical issues, my guess is the IPDM. A helpful related video:

 

I have an 06 I've checked fuses 6, 9, 12, and 20 they all seem to be fine no burns or breaks in the fuse. I've never taken the dash apart and I've unplugged the transmitter, the only thing aftermarket are the coil overs. I'll run diagnosis on it today. As far as a bad ground not something I wanna hear, I'll need to empty the car and do some searching. Thank you so much for being prompt and responsive in assisting me!

 

I have an 06 I've checked fuses 6, 9, 12, and 20 they all seem to be fine no burns or breaks in the fuse. I've never taken the dash apart and I've unplugged the transmitter, the only thing aftermarket are the coil overs. I'll run diagnosis on it today. As far as a bad ground not something I wanna hear, I'll need to empty the car and do some searching. Thank you so much for being prompt and responsive in assisting me!

 

Have you checked to see if those fuses even have power?

Fuse Block - J/B gets power from the fusible link. That's the positive battery terminal, it has the primary fuses to send power out to various systems within the IPDM and Fuse Block - J/B and a couple other places.

I would check fusible link slot 20 (10 amp) which handles brake lights, shift control, some brake control, and a couple other things. Definitely check ALL the fuses in the fusible link though. There's a ton of driver information stuff handled through the larger primary fuse D (60 amp) on the fusible link.

How it works is all the lettered slots in the fusible link send power out to the rest of the smaller fusible link slots, which in turn send power out to the IPDM, Fuse Block - J/B, etc.

 

No i dont have a multimeter, I plan on swinging to autozone and ask. But I will do so

 

preformed a IPDM self test today, things seemed to be active and responding well however taillights didn't respond

 

Parking lights are handled through the IPDM, the BRAKE LIGHTS however are not, those go from Fuse Block - J/B fuse 20, to the brake pedal switch, then directly to the 3 brake lights.

All parking lights are handled through the same internal relay in the IPDM, they should ALL turn on at the same time, if not then you either have broken wire, bad ground, burned out lights (not likely if both rear tail lights don't work). The rear license plate holder light is also on that circuit, did it turn on?

 

the brake lights came on all but my third is out, but it's my taillights / parking lights that are unresponsive not brakes, the rear tag light hasn't worked in a bit but I'm guessing a bulb is out.

 

The CHMSL light is pretty notorious for failing on these cars, there's some DIY fixes out there but the problem is almost ALWAYS the LED light board, wires wiggle around and break off.

All parking lights and the license plate light are handled by the IPDM fuse 71, which then goes through an internal relay in the IPDM.

Do the front parking lights work? If so then there's just a broken wire somewhere because ALL parking lights are on the same circuit.

 

So I finally discovered the 71 fuse (tail lmap) in the IPDM keeps blowing

 

My 71 fuse keeps blowing any ideas, looks like im gonna have to chase wire

 

That fuse handles ALL your parking lights, the front side markers, rear markers, license plate light.

I would suspect the license plate light, but usually the easiest way to troubleshoot stuff like that is to unplug all the lights. Then put a fuse in and see if it holds. If it does then start plugging stuff in one at a time until you find out which one pops the fuse.

If the fuse blows with nothing plugged in then start looking for wires that have rubbed against the chassis and are shorted out.

 

I have some exposed wiring on the headlight from me ripping off the marker light, I haven't figured this problem out yet. Tonight I'm going through the process of disconnecting the lights to find said culprit