Snuggie

So yesterday I installed my modifry DCI, and some simple LED lights in my footwells (just spliced into radio power and used a ground under the steering wheel). On my way home I noticed I had 2 lights out on my dash; 1 on my climate control side, 1 on my radio control side. So I unhooked the battery, pulled the dash apart, replaced the 2 bulbs, and put everything back the way I found it. Started the car up and everything seemed fine. The only odd thing I noticed was a slight humming noise coming from the battery area as soon as I reconnected it. I unhooked it, hum went away, hooked it back up and no more humming. Now I have a list of problems much longer than the initial 2 bulbs...

1. Dash lights do not dim when I turn on headlights (am still able to dim dash manually)
2. NONE of my dash lights light up (amber backlight bulbs for radio/climate controls)
3. Tail lights do not light up when I have headlights on; they do light up when I apply the brakes
4. My key fob no longer works, including the truck release
5. My trunk release button in the glove box no longer works; I can still manually open the trunk with my key.

All my radio controls, climate controls, turn signals, hazard lights, wipers, windows, top, and radio work fine.

As a precaution, I picked up half a dozen of each fuse in the car. I have all of tmrw to work on it, so I'm trying to take my time and get it right. What would be some advice in tracking down this electrical gremlin? How could I have disabled so much stuff by R&I-ing the dash with the battery disconnected?

oth

Most of those things are on fuse #23 in the under-dash fuse box, but I don't think the trunk release is (fuse 26).
Both of those fuses are fed by fuse 54 in the under-hood box, but so are other things that are working.
Finally, I don't believe they all share a common ground, so that's not likely the problem.
If a fuse is blown, I'd suspect a short where you connected the footwell lights, though perhaps there's some
wire behind the headunit that got disturbed.
Might I suggest you connect the footwell lights to one of the accessory slots in the fuse box?
The under-dash fuse box has three accessory connectors, one hot all the time, one when the ignition
switch is on, and one when the lights are on:

(from the UK technical FAQ, though I believe the original source was Modifry)

Snuggie

So I checked every fuse under the dash and hood. I blew #15 and #19.. I replaced them, went to turn on my headlights and they both blew. My radio works fine.. I haven't pulled my radio out to check for shorts, but I remember there being 2 wires (orange and blue) that I didn't use, as well as 3 from my DCI (which also works fine).. I also didn't tape the ends off so they're probably grounding out somewhere.. Right? I'm an idiot for not taping them off in the first place, if that is the case..

BUT now my trunk release is working. So that's a plus

oth

you should definitely tape off any unused wires, though if they were cut off cleanly at the ends
so that no wire was protruding from the insulation, the chance of them grounding is pretty small.
I'm a little confused about the fuses that blew - the Electrical Troubleshooting Manual shows #19
as power mirrors and rear window defroster, and #15 as unused. In any event, it's not so easy to
blow two fuses simultaneously with just a stray loose wire. Perhaps when you were reassembling the
dash there were two similar connectors that got switched? One would hope they wouldn't make that
easy to do, but I don't know.

Snuggie

just got to work where i have access to my tools. ill be pulling the dash (4th time) in a little bit. going to double check all my connections, tape any unused wiring, and make sure i didnt accidentally bent a pin when i put in the connectors. ill post back with hopefully good news..

EDIT: so last night when i replaced the fuses, i misread the diagram (lol)i blew the "small light" fuse, not the #15 (radio)

EDIT2: found the culprit. the illumination wire from my radio harness was grounding out. went ahead and shortened all the unused wires, folded them over on themselves, and put some heat shrink over the ends to make sure there's no way the wire can become exposed. learned a valuable lesson today; no loose ends.

only thing that didnt get fixed was the dash lights, and im thinking i may have burnt out the blubs because my A/C and CH button light up like they should.