# No dash lights.



## Jer_ry (Apr 27, 2005)

When i bought this car the owner told me that if the dash lights flicker and turn off to pull out the cup holder under the radio and push it back. Well that was working until i changed the radio out. Now the dash lights don't come on at all! The weird thing was when i took out the radio there was a hot wire stuck in a fuse coming from the fuse box and me not knowing it was hot it hit ground and sparked all crazy. I thought maybe it was to give the radio power or maybe the dude didn't know how to correctly install the radio. I checked all the fuses and none are popped. Maybe this wire was somehow keeping the dash lights on?


----------



## Nostrodomas (Jun 15, 2002)

Its more than likley you dimmer switch, if you have one. Try messing with it. Its on the left hand side of your steering wheel. Its a little wheel you turn to dim or brighten your dash lights.


----------



## Jer_ry (Apr 27, 2005)

I tried that when it first happened i wiggled the crap out of it but it not so much as even flickered


----------



## lshadoff (Nov 26, 2002)

Check the dimmer switch to see if it is working. You can remove it by slipping a knife blade under one side and gently prying. (Be careful since the plastic is soft, and scars easily.) There are three wires:

Red/Green tracer - power from the lighting switch
Red/Yellow tracer - power to the gauge lights
Black - Ground

Use a multi-meter and check that there is 12V between R/G and Black when the lights are turned on. If not, check the fuses.

Now check the R/Y to Black to see if there is voltage getting to the bulbs. Move the dimmer switch while checking.

If there is voltage to R/G and no voltage to R/Y, the dimmer switch is defective.

Lew


----------



## Nostrodomas (Jun 15, 2002)

Now if the switch is bad you can bypass the switch.
If you want to bypass the switch, you can tie 2 of them together. DO NOT TIE ALL 3 TOGEHER OR YOU WILL GET A REALY BAD SHORT. Cut off the 3 wires, set the red/blue (or red/grn) wire aside and splice together the black one and red/ylo one.
This is only if you want a cheap fix, if not just buy a switch from the dealer. They are pretty cheap.


----------



## Jer_ry (Apr 27, 2005)

I'll try that then. Seems wierd though how i had to pull the cup holder out to make them work!


----------



## I'm Slow (Dec 30, 2004)

Nostrodomas said:


> Now if the switch is bad you can bypass the switch.
> If you want to bypass the switch, you can tie 2 of them together. DO NOT TIE ALL 3 TOGEHER OR YOU WILL GET A REALY BAD SHORT. Cut off the 3 wires, set the red/blue (or red/grn) wire aside and splice together the black one and red/ylo one.
> This is only if you want a cheap fix, if not just buy a switch from the dealer. They are pretty cheap.


i just tried this and the fuse under the hood kept popping


----------



## xbrandonx (Mar 27, 2004)

I'm Slow said:


> i just tried this and the fuse under the hood kept popping


sounds like it is grounding out somewhere.


----------



## scooterbob (Jun 16, 2004)

I had a situation like this a couple of weeks ago in my sisters car. Every time you turned on the lights (which included the dash lights) the fuse would pop. I remembered that the radio had been installed about the same time as this problem started, so I figured they had pinched a wire when installing it. After checking everything, I found that they had used the dash light wire (that controlled the lights in the stock radio) for a ground wire! Every time the lights turned on, the stereo would loose half power and the the lights would pop the fuse.
If you have done anything with behind the dash (or anyone else) recently, I would go back and double check there. Just a suggestion.


----------



## lshadoff (Nov 26, 2002)

Nostrodomas said:


> Now if the switch is bad you can bypass the switch.
> If you want to bypass the switch, you can tie 2 of them together. DO NOT TIE ALL 3 TOGEHER OR YOU WILL GET A REALY BAD SHORT. Cut off the 3 wires, set the red/blue (or red/grn) wire aside and splice together the black one and red/ylo one.
> This is only if you want a cheap fix, if not just buy a switch from the dealer. They are pretty cheap.


That is not correct. If you connect the power to the gauge lights to ground, it will short it out and blow the fuse. 

To bypass the dimmer switch, you should connect the Red/Green to the Red/Yellow. That connects power to the lights.
EDIT: The above is wrong. The Red/Yellow should be attached to the Black wire to bypass the dimmer switch.

Lew


----------



## scooterbob (Jun 16, 2004)

lshadoff said:


> That is not correct. If you connect the power to the gauge lights to ground, it will short it out and blow the fuse.
> 
> To bypass the dimmer switch, you should connect the Red/Green to the Red/Yellow. That connects power to the lights.
> 
> Lew


Thought that sounded funny myself. Good call Lew! :thumbup:


----------



## I'm Slow (Dec 30, 2004)

should you ground the black one to a source?


----------



## Nostrodomas (Jun 15, 2002)

Check out this thread.


----------



## lshadoff (Nov 26, 2002)

You are correct. To bypass the dimmer, the black wire is connected to the R/Y. This puts 12V to the bulbs when the lighting switch is on.

EDIT: I cleaned up and corrected my error above.

Lew


----------



## scooterbob (Jun 16, 2004)

lshadoff said:


> You are correct. To bypass the dimmer, the black wire is connected to the R/Y. This puts 12V to the bulbs when the lighting switch is on.
> 
> EDIT: I cleaned up and corrected my error above.
> 
> Lew


That explains why the stereo installer put the ground for the stereo on the dash lights in my sisters' car then. The R/Y would test as a ground with the car off, but then when powered on it shorted. Ahhhhhh Danielson.


----------



## I'm Slow (Dec 30, 2004)

xbrandonx said:


> sounds like it is grounding out somewhere.


where might that be? should i try to re ground the radio? also could i use an add-a-circut from auto zone to run it to the power wire fro the lights?


----------



## Jer_ry (Apr 27, 2005)

Thanks guys! I can't beleive it worked...i was doing with no dash lights for a while now. I have a 97' and my wire was red/orange connected it to the black and ouila!


----------

