Today I installed a pair of Stewart Warner gauges in my center console, a mechanical oil pressure gauge and an electric water temperature gauge. When I pull the **** to turn on the dash lights, now only the lights in my new gauges come on, not in the rest of the dash. When I open my door my dome light still works. There are a couple pics to show my problem.
I used the wiring from the radio that was previously there to power the gauges. Two wires appeared to be ground, grey and black, and one goes to each gauge. The yellow wire, appeared to be ignition, goes to the temperature gauge. The wire that became hot when I turned on the dash lights, which is brown, I split it and sent it to the lights in the gauges. I didn't use the fifth wire, which was solid orange.

So, what did I do wrong?

 

I found this thread: https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/car-...ness-help.html

Now that I have a wiring diagram, I still need to know how to wire the lights to my gauges correctly. I know that I shouldn't have used grey as ground... that obviously isn't what it is. I now know that I need to use the black wire (ground) as a ground for both gauges, but what does the grey wire get used for now? Should the brown wire be used to power the lights?

 

honestly, check your fuses... happened to me not too long ago...

 

Yeah I plan to do that tomorrow... actually that's today now... but it was night when I discovered the problem, I didn't have a flashlight or any extra fuses, so I didn't bother checking then.
I don't think it is a fuse, since the lights in my new gauges work, and I don't know **** about wiring, so I kind of expected myself to mess something up.

I saw the thread where you discussed your problem. Did you have the same problem as me, did you install aftermarket gauges?

 

yeah, I think my problem started when I was messing with some wiring... since everything was working fine. If your gauges are connected to the stereo wiring, then its a different circuit (fuse) than your dash lights. The dash light fuse is VERY easy to blow, its only 5amps IIRC...

 

You're right, blown fuse. It is a 5 amp.
But, I still need to know how to wire the lights for my gauges correctly, since I know I shouldn't have used grey as a ground.

 

I replaced the blown fuse, and as soon as I turn on the lights, the fuse blows again. The blown fuse just seems to be an effect of my faulty wiring, not the cause.
I still need to know how to correctly wire the gauge lights...

 

If the black wire on the gauge is still hooked to the gray wire, that's the reason for the blown INST LPS fuse. The gray wire is also for instrument lights as is the brown wire (both are 12V with headlights on).

The wiring for the gauge light should be white (gauge) to brown or gray (vehicle wiring) and black (gauge) to black (vehicle wiring) or to a screw somewhere.
Here's a pdf for the gauge wiring.

 

honestly, I would make your own ground...like taz said, just find a screw thats attached to the chassis...I wouldn't use factory wiring for ground...

 

So I think I understand that wiring diagram and what i did wrong... but my light sockets just have one wire coming out of them, and they ground to the gauge. Maybe I need to get two wire light sockets? I don't see how I can wire my gauge correctly without, that's how they are wired in the pdf for the gauge wiring you posted a link to. Can anyone tell me a way to correctly wire gauges/lights, using the light sockets that i have?
I connected the brown wire (lights dimming) to both light sockets, I used gray as ground on the mechanical gauge, and i used black as ground on the electric gauge.

 

The gray wire isn't a ground. Use a black wire or ground both gauges to a screw.
Since the light uses the ground from the gauge, Ground the gauges properly, then all you need for that is to connect both gauge lights to the brown wire simple as that and the lights are taken care of.

Do you need to know how to hook up the rest of the gauge as well? Your not really clear as to what the problem is, except the fuse blows when you turn on headlights. Are the gauges hooked up properly and working? Or all your having problems with is the lighting? Also knowing exactly what gauges those are would help me out immensely, The pics are too dang small to see anything.

 

Yes the gauges both work correctly, the pics were supposed to show this, but the pics were taken with a cell phone, so that explains their size and poor quality. I'll hook the lights up as said, and I'll post up my results.