Here's my story:

As many of you may or may not know, I have been driving my car since I got it (over 2 years) without any dash lights whatsoever. Well actually they would turn on for brief visits once and a while, but never for too long and they'd be off again.

I dont like playing with electric and wires and stuff, so I did everything other than rewiring to try and fix my problem. I changed dashes, cleaned contacts, checked connections, etc ... all for naught. Still no dash lights.

After talking with a few here on thirdgen, I came to think that maybe I had a loose ground. Jim came over last night and we found the ground wire and wired another. Still no d@mn dash lights. After fiddling around with some other stuff, I said forget it Jim, thats enough for the night. He immediately replied, "let me try one more thing".

After pointing around for a while with his volt meter, he decided to bypass the hidden wires behind the dash, and run a power wire from the back of the dimmer switch directly to the plugs that plug into the dash. IT WORKED! We immediately soldered the wires and put the dash back together.

AFTER OVER 2 YEARS OF DRIVING MY CAR, I FINALLY CAN SEE HOW FAST I AM GOING!!! (whether that be a good or bad thing, I dont know yet.) But THANK YOU, Jim for fixing my dash lights!

The only place we goofed, is that we took the power from behind the headlight switch, instead of from behind the dimmer. The result is that my dash lights are constantly on, and constant in full brightness. I can't dim them. Simple price to pay for having them work though.

MORAL OF THE STORY: If your dash lights come on and off on their own, it might not just be a loose ground, it could also be the power wire from the back of the dimmer switch to the back of your dash cluster.

 

Just add a swtich on that wire you added.

 

What would the switch do for me?

 

IT WOULD open and close the curret for the lights which would let you be able to turn off AND on your dash lights.......

 

He wired it to the headlight switch, so they turn off when the headlights are turned off. The better idea, is wire a **** into that power line, to act as a dimmer.

 

Yeah but he was having trouble with that and that guy made him a short cut so i was making him another short cut.

 

I may have mislead some of you ...

My dashlights now work with the headlight switch. Both Parking and headlights. They come on wiht the switch, and go off with the switch.

The problem that remains is that I have no dimmer option. The wheel idea would work for me, but I think the solution is easier. I believe our error is where we tapped the wire into. If we were to undo the connection where we have it, and re-do it after the dimmer, I think that would solve my problem. AND the dash lights would work as they should.

Hope this clears things up a bit. Thanks for your reply's.

KZad

 

Just looked back and read what I actually wrote. I didnt mean constantly on and constantly in full brightness. I meant that WHEN they are on, they are at full brightness. I can't dim them.

Sorry for the confusion, and thanks Ryan for picking up on that.

KZad