1986350

Hey guys supposidly my trans am has an in dash shift light but nothing ever comes on. I looked in the original owners manual and it says the shift light is in the L4 and manual trans cars. i checked the fuses in the dash nothing any idea. thanks for any help.

HCR13

iTrader: (5)

I'd do a search or check in the History forum, but I've never heard of a shift light from the factory... However it could just be some sort of warning light as in if you redline it'll come on to shift...

santis5

Mine has the shift light, 1987 Firebird!

1986350

hey i know it might be hard but try to get a pic pleaseeeeeeeee. Also do you think i might have a few bulbs burned out?? out of 8 i have 3 that light up brake, electric choke, and the seatbelt light.

santis5

I will try and get the pick if my son takes a ride with me to snap it. If you look on the sunvisor it mentions the shift light, assuming you had one in the first place.

Jim85IROC

iTrader: (2)

The previous owner probably yanked the bulb because it's annoying as hell to see that light come on constantly. I keep forgetting to yank mine every time I have my cluster apart.

santis5

Don't bother me a bit!

84redta

iTrader: (34)

It only is on manual transmission cars, and you need it tuned into the chip to run the bulb. If you have a manual transmission car originally, then three possibilities, the bulb is blown, the wire is broken, or you have the wrong PROM in the ECU. There is a way to test it through your service port underneath the dash, although I can't remember right now how. I remember reading it in my service manual, so anyone near their service manual can easily look it up as I cannot at the moment.

The purpose of the light was to assist people in getting the best possible gas mileage. The EPA required these cars get good gas mileage, and so GM programed their ECU to read off of a couple of sensors and figure out the best possible shift points. This was purely just to make up for a few MPG they needed to avoid the Guzzler Tax i believe. By 1993, GM realized most people were ignoring it, and in 1994, installed a CAGS unit in their 6 speeds to require people with the V8 to skip shift into a higher gear to get better MPG. I do not believe the v6's ever had a problem reaching their fuel efficiency, so they never did anything to the v6's.

To the original poster, I just realized you have a carbed 350, which I should assume is not running off of the stock ECU which would have been for a 305, so that is why your light no longer works, because you stopped using the computer a long time ago.