The other day, I parked for a few minutes and when turned the car back on and turned the headlights on the dash lights didnt come on... I check the fuse, it was blown so I put another 5amp fuse in, still no dash lights, pulled the fuse..blown. I only had a 25 left, so i put it in, i know prob not a great idea, but still no lights, but its not blown. Any IDEAS?? I have been trying to get a headunit installed, but am not figuring out all wiring really.. maybe thats causing a problem? Any guidance would be great, its such a pain to drive at night with no dash lights. Thanks!

 

Using a voltmeter or test light (the type for testing for power, not a continuity tester) see if you’re getting voltage in and out of the rheostat (dimmer) at the pull-for-on headlight switch.


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Happy Racing!

 

Did you check to make sure your cigarette lighter isnt pushed in and stuck? It happened to me once and kept blowing the same fuse.

 

the gray wire at radio is for illumination on stock radio .if lights arent on test as a good ground and ive seen it a million times for some reason people use it to ground radio.you have no use for this circuit what so ever on a/m unit . make sure that gray wire isnt connected to anything.bet this helps.

 

btw NINA probably right 25 amp fuse most likely smoked rheostat in head lamp switch

 

How do I go about getting to the terminals on the rheostat? Pulling the dash cluster out? Thanks for your help guys, I really love wealth of info available here.

 

There's a spring loaded button on the side of the switch.

Push that in and you can pull the **** out.

That should give you access to the nut that holds it on the dash.

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Happy Racing!

 

i have a similar problem only none of my fuses are bad but the dash lights still dont come on and i checked all the fuses there all fine but still no lights any suggestions on what to do

 

I was gonna reply to this last night, but then I thought, naw, someone will eventually notice... ckk's car is a Firebird, not a Camaro. It doesn't have a "pull-for-on" headlight switch. Its headlight switch is a rocker, and there's a separate "roll-for-on" dimmer switch wheel. A Firebird also has another surprise that a Camaro doesn't have: a remote dimmer, which is a "coil" mounted underneath the dash to the right of the steering column, and it works in conjunction with the headlight and dimmer switches.

Dash lights have their own circuit, but it comes from the taillight circuit. So if the 'tail' fuse blows, it won't, or shouldn't, blow the 'inst lp' fuse that powers the dash lights, but obviously no power will be going to the 'inst lp' circuit, so the dash lights won't be working. Likewise, if the 'inst lp' fuse blows, it won't, or shouldn't, blow the 'tail' fuse. So if the dash lights aren't working, you need to start by checking both fuses, because you might be driving around without taillights too.

Edit #1: Oops, I meant to hit "preview," lol. I was just beginning... and my connection took a dump at almost the same time. When it rains... So stay tuned as I edit this thing to death and make a really loooooong post!

Edit #2, Moving on...

From the 'inst lp' fuse, power goes to the remote dimmer, then it splits off to the dimmer switch and the headlight switch. Any of the three could cause the 'inst lp' to blow, but most likely, it's gonna be either the dimmer switch or the remote dimmer, not the headlight switch. So the first thing to check is the headlight switch, because that's the one I said probably isn't blown lol. I joke, but sometimes it really happens like that. And it does turn the lights on and off, so...

Was there any smoke or the smell of something burning when the 'inst lp' fuse blew? If so, then the dimmer switch probably fried, literally. Hopefully that wasn't the case, but it can fry and catch on fire, really.

To get to the headlight switch and the dimmer switch, you'll need to remove the dash bezel. You could probably check it all out simply by looking way up underneath there with a bright flashlight, but it'll be easier if you remove the dash bezel, because you'll need to do that anyway to remove the switches. And if the dimmer burned, trust me, you'll be able to smell it when you get close to it.

If the dimmer switch is ok, then check the remote dimmer. GM made this extremely difficult to reach, probably assuming it would never go bad... or maybe just to laugh at us as we attempt to replace it.

Those are the main sources to check: the taillight fuse, the headlight switch, the dimmer switch and the remote dimmer. But you probably just have a short somewhere that caused this to happen, like a blown bulb... or something associated with the stereo you're trying to install. So re-check what you've done too.

 

I was just about to post asking about the pull for on designation.. was wondering what that was. Now I know, and I didnt remember that, so thank you so much. Awesome post, thank you, I will be going over what you said tomorrow, and hopefully will have it resolved. Thanks again!

 

I had to replace my remote dimmer a couple of months ago due to the same issue ckk981 is having. All was good until a couple of days ago when they went out yet again. My rearview mirror lights and dome light still work when I rotate the dimmer all the way up as well as the fuse is still good. This must mean the dimmer switch (on dash) is probably bad correct?

Thanks
Phoenix