# Dreaded Dash lights out



## DIE HARD NISSAN (Dec 28, 2004)

I am dealing with the dreaded dash lights are out after a radio install. Just bought a 97 Hard body (1st time Florida truck for this New Englander that has suffered rust aways with my previous 93, 95, another 95, 89, 85, you get my picture). The Floridian had just installed a Sony Bluetooth radio. I have read all the various threads from many different forums and have 1- checked my fuses, 2- my tail lights work, 3- seem to get lost when people speak of grounding some kind of wire in the harness. The installer has used an after market plugs that plugs into the factory harness plugs. The eight speaker wires all have been mated with no leftover wires and the speakers all work. That leaves four wires coming out of the back of the radio - a yellow wire, a red wire, a blue with white striped wire and a black wire. Those four wire have crimp on connections that mate to the aftermarket plug. The yellow mates with another yellow wire (which looks like it mates to a red with green striped wire in the factory harness plug), safe to say this is the "constant" power wire. The red wire mates to a red wire in the aftermarket harness ( which appears to mate to a green with white striped wire in the factory harness plug) safe to say this is the ignition wire. The black wire is crimped to another black wire that bypasses the harness plugs altogether and is screwed to the dash frame, safe to say this is ground. The blue with white striped wire mates to a blue with white striped wire which at the other factory harness plug mates to a brown with black striped wire. Notice I said second harness plug, the previous connections when to a 10 connection plug, this blue with white stripe wire just went to the 6 connection plug. 
So that is how the radio is connected. Let's now go to what is leftover ( wires that no longer have a connection, which is probably why the lights aren't working. Back to the factory 10 connection plug - there is a pink with blue striped from the factory harness that mates with a solid orange wire that says illumination on it. This orange wire coming out of the connector doesn't connect to anything. There is also a red with blue striped wire in the factory harness that after going though the aftermarket plug comes out as a solid blue wire and is not connected to anything, I think this a power antenna wire or something along those lines. There is also a pink with black striped wire in the factory harness that doesn't mate to any wire from the aftermarket plug. Over on the 6 connector plug there is a solid gray wire on the factory side that doesn't connect to anything in the aftermarket plug. 
That is it, if anyone can make heads or tails out of what I just described, a thousand thanks will be heaped your way. I've basically run out of threads to read and hopefully this will be the thread all others with this problem will read to fix there problem, as it appears this is a very common problem after radio installs. Remember - fuses have been check, tail lights are working, dimmer switch hasn't' been changed but I will be taking one out of my 95 rust bucket to check that. One other hint - without the lights being turned on, as in day time driving, the dash clock is lit, as soon as you turn on the lights the dash light goes out. One other thing I saw people bring up, the open door alarm beeps like it is supposed to and the left your lights on alarm also beeps like it is supposed to.


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## rogoman (Dec 16, 2004)

Your best bet is to download a PDF copy of the FSM for your vehicle:

https://diyservicemanuals.com/nissan-hardbody-d21-truck-service-repair-manuals/

The electrical section has detailed charts with color codes which should help you to trouble shoot the problem.


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## DIE HARD NISSAN (Dec 28, 2004)

Thanks Rogoman, gonna eventually need the manual so I have it now. I’ve looked at a few schematics while reading through the many posts I’ve read, but none of the wiring colors seem to match. With the aftermarket add on being thrown into the mix, I feel pretty certain that is where my problem lies, particularly that solid orange “illumination” wire. Pretty sure I need to do something with that.


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## jsnpeirce2012$ (Aug 28, 2021)

DIE HARD NISSAN said:


> Thanks Rogoman, gonna eventually need the manual so I have it now. I’ve looked at a few schematics while reading through the many posts I’ve read, but none of the wiring colors seem to match. With the aftermarket add on being thrown into the mix, I feel pretty certain that is where my problem lies, particularly that solid orange “illumination” wire. Pretty sure I need to do something with that.



what did you end up doing with the orange wire ?? I have same issue


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