Hyundai accent sedan 2007

I backed out of my driveway on a funny angle and pulled the front off my car. Actually there have been a number of accidents with this car.

Anyways since then I've had electrical issues. Battery dying repeatedly. Went to Walmart and replaced stupidly. Took to mechanic and they said there was a grounding issue and issue stopped for a bit. Currently my car does not turn off instrument panel or running lights (ie brake lights) even when i remove key from ignition. I have to disconnect fuse panel to turn electrical in the car on and off now.

I recently took some courses on gas fired appliances and i know a litttle about electric motors but nothing about combustion engines.

If i had to guess I'd figure the ignition needs to be replaced and im happy to give that a shot myself now.

Any other ideas before i try this?

Is there a better forum on 2p2 for this?

1. Excellent forum choice.
2. Take it to a mechanic. You have no clue what you are doing and are just going to make it worse.
3. I'd highly recommend a limo service if you have the means.

Have a good body shop put the front of your car back on.

It sounds like you have a short somewhere, likely caused by "pulling the front off" your car.

Could be wiring, ign switch, light control module....

First step would be to get a service manual for the car, rather than shotgunning stuff.

Also, ign locks normally take specialized tools to replace.

OP sounds exactly like the sort of customer that Pep Boys is advertising to. I'd try them.

I rarely give good advice but will make an exception, and I speak from both knowledge (being a former mechanic in a past life) and experience: Do Not F**k About with any Electrical System on your vehicle, especially if a novice. Take it to a reputable shop and pay through the nose to get it fixed. You will actually be money and time and less headache ahead*. If you don't believe me go ahead and fix it yourself.

*There are exceptions but I will not detail them.

100% this. Anyone who can watch eg youtube videos and learn little things about their exact model car that can be done should do so and start learning to fix or check basic things to not be complete ignorant but still prefer real mechanics in general unless its an experimental old car that you use to learn on lol.

Some things like the electrical system are important to be done properly by people that know what they are doing and the ramifications of not doing something carefully. It is your own life at risk in the end if something terrible develops in a risky situation later that you never understood. You may even escalate a problem and end up costing you hundreds instead of less than 100 basic check and mini repair if the case often. And if it proves its much worse than that then all the better, you faced the hard truth before things got worse.

I would simply try to educate myself as much as possible about my own car to kind of understand what they are doing or see from their answers if they are lying so that i am not completely manipulated by them but if you have a person you have been going to their shop for years they have an incentive to be good and honest with you. All you need to do is ask them to check things and they will tell you what needs to be done. Where is the harm in that? Its not like you will say yes lets do it i will pay 100% of the time before you understand it better. It may be something very simple too.

Do you have a battery charger to see if your battery is ok? This probably costs around $50-60 with some long power cable and can revive a battery and maintain it too if that is a possible problem. If you did that and then the battery continued to have problems then either you have a bad battery or the system is somehow killing the battery which is to be taken seriously. Obviously from what you say its not that but you will get a clue by charging it and then noticing it down again real fast. Did you notice the battery losing voltage even without any lights left on? If you screw up your electrical system (but get it to not show the problems you had before without being fully ok though) you may even have engine sensors not working properly and end up getting in trouble and not knowing to check/repair things before it is worse. The fact you had to do a few radical things to turn off break lights should suggest to you something really is screwed up here that needs attention. If you knew what that was you wouldnt be asking about it given that you were already familiar with some things that most people arent (ie most inexperienced people wouldnt know to access their fuse panel). So the hint is you have reached your own amateur limits.

My suggestion is youtube search your car model and electrical problems/fuse panel (any keywords that apply) etc and watch as many as you find only to educate yourself and then go to a mechanic without being completely ignorant like i would be for example before doing any of this.

I used to be a novice ****ing about with electrical systems on my car but that was decades ago when cars were understandable.

Nowadays even the main dealer can't fix the warning light that comes up on the dashboard and they've been trying every service for over a decade.

FWIW, these dashboard electrical issues are a pretty common problem for Hyundais. It could be as minor as a connection that got knocked loose when you backed out or somethings substantial. Not really a DIY job.