Hey everyone

this is my first post! I just bought my 1988 firebird this past week on monday!
I bought a 1988 firebird with the Z20 appearance package. She needs some work but shes solid and runs great! For some odd reason we just didnt check if the dash lights work lol. Anyways

My lights are out, I went go take a cruise last night for the first time and the lights are out. The check engine light and brake lights etc those go on. but the actual lights on the dash for the tach and speedo gas battery oil pressure they dont get lit up. They all work but no lights..I checked the fuses they looked ok, Im gonna go out there now and just replace them all anyways but if that doesn't work What could it be?

Thanks
Mario

 

Sounds like a fuse. The panel is under the drivers side lower dash. Pull and check to see which is broken.

 

do the running lights work? they are on the same fuse to let you know your running lights are out. if the fuse is not blown and your taillights/marker lights work, then its a bad connection in the dash, or less likely all the bulbs are out. if all are out and the fuse blows as soon as you turn on the lights, then its a short. usually a short in the tailights or front markers somewhere, unless theres been some wiring done under the dash, as for a stereo or something and that is shorting out.

 

Not running lights BRAKE lights.

This is a very old GM trick, when your BRAKE lights go out your dash lights won't work to help clue to you.

Or it oculd be a fuse, but 99% of the time that's what it is when your brake lights go out. A fuse on them, burn't bulbs or.......

 

actually gumby, we might both be wrong. the last 2 foreign cars ive worked on both had running lights and dash together. I went and looked it up in my FSM for 86 and it says each has its own. might be different for 88 though.

 

If all your other lights work, did you check that the dash light dimmer switch did not have them switched OFF? Try the wheel on your dash by the light switch and see what happens.

 

Thank you everyone for replying to me. I appreciate it alot.

I changed all the fuses. nothing. For some reason i said to myself it might be something with the stereo wires, when I worked at circuit city in radio installation. A Co worker of mine completely wired the car wrong and lost all the power n the dash. I dont remember what kind of car it was but it was a GM. So when i fixed the wires on my firebird we got light!

Thanks again everyone who reply d.

 

Think GM American cars..............Those rice machines had screwy wiring set ups!
And YES on MOST older GM vehicles the dash lights and taIL lights are on the same
fuse circuit.

What would clue me in is a aftermarket stereo install. Usually the installer tries
to power/memory/radio lighting thru the wrong vehicle circuit (dash/
brake light circuit) and pops the fuse or smokes a wire and even melt the
plastic circuit board (actually a flexible plastic film with wires running thru it).

 

Well looks like im back to where I started...No dash lights yet again. This time I put a new stereo in the car..Stereo works great.. just no dash lights now with the aftermarket stereo my illumination wire is now a free Orange wire just hangs by itself. Now does that wire need to be Wired into another wire?
The setup right now on the wires are of course the original harness's are there, they are plugged into a harness that converts the wires to the new standard coloring so when you take the wires from the stereo harness to just put the colors together and wala your stereo is rdy to go. But now my illumination is just by it self(orange wire)? and now no Dash lights?

 

it could be your remote dimmer switch. this part is nothing more than a heat sink and a power transistor. the transistors go bad and all but the int lights work. its like $60 from the dealer, or, change out the $3 transistor with a new one from radio shack.

 

is the transistor the little white thing above the interior light dial? Sorry to butt in I have the same prob all my lights work but my dash, I tore it all part and the bulbs are all good and none of my fuses are burnt. I cleaned both the dial and light switch to make sure all the contacts were touching well too. I noticed a retangular small white thing on top of the unit with 2 wires. I'm guessing thats the transitor. any names or model #'s I should go by for it?

 

I believe what you are describing is the lamp that illuminates the headlight switch. I don't think it is the "transistor" Formula87 is describing.

 

Is it this part (circled in Red)?

 

Yeah my dash lights are still out I have no idea.. and what is that metal thing circled? lol

 

Yea after turning the car on to test, it glows definatly a light

I have no idea what that is zepher, maybe one of the older guru's can chime in for us new guys.

 

that little module was near the radio in my 86 Trans Am and I removed it when I put in an aftermarket radio since I thought it was part of the factory radio.
With it unplugged, I had no dash lights or parking lights.

 

ah ok, thats def not in my 88 haven't seen that at all. I frustrated about my dash lights. still can't figure out why not working now.

 

My '89 has this it is located above the turn and hazard flashers on the driverside next to the radio pod . If it is bad your dashlights will not work . It only costs $35.09 plus tax at Advance and the part # is S7207 .

 

how will i tell if its bad or not? Or do i just replace it? lol
Where is it exactly? underneath the steering column? Or do I have to take off the dash pad?
new at this so bare with me lol

 

Buying one tonight, it will be late Est but I will post my results. Hope it works then i can put my dash and seats back in.

oh and mine least the only one i saw was located on my drivers side under the turn single upper left wall. Gonna poke arorund more and make sure theres not one on the right side where you said yours was. it was late last night and I didn't feel like geting too far into it after a long weekend.

 

bad news gotta wait till wed for it. So see ya then!

 

ok late night in the garage but problem solved and dash back in.

The item S7207 from advanced was not my problem unfortinaly but I put it in anyways after. I found a loose wire going to my dimmer switch from the previous owners cob job of wires I spent most of tonight retracing wires via volt meter and sodering the connections geting rid of them ugly twist n tape jobs / crimps. Face got nice and burnt up though haha good thing for safety glass's or I'd be blind. Looks organized now for the most part at least now and I have a good udnerstanding of what was done at least.

Good luck with your dash man.

 

Sorry to hear you had all that wiring headache but good to hear they are working now . Hey bigpietro did you get yours fixed yet ?

 

im guna post on this also haha no dash lights im guna look for loose wires before replacing that part i got my dimmer switch n light switch at a junk yard 2 of em actually and checked my bulbs n fuses everythings fine i have an aftermarket deck in and 3 wires hangin i forgot what they were

 

I need help My headlights are the only thing that works no dash lights no running lights no tail lights theres no power going to the fuse i checked them all so where is the issue?

 

just bought a 86 trans am interior light wont work when park or headlights on and dash lights go out tried a used headlight dimmer switch same thing

 

I'm having the same problem now, my orange dashboard lights will not light. I've changed the light switch, the dimmer switch and now i found out that field mice have eaten thru some wiring under my dash and also that my dimmer heat sink is bad. The repair shop (i gave up) is trying to find me a heat sink. Will let y'all know about the outcome.

 

What is a heat sink???

 

Now my dash lights don't work.

1988 Camaro. My headlight switch rotates to brighten or dim the dash lights.
All other lights work. Can't tell if all brake lights work. I don't have a spotter. The brake lights do shine on the cars across the street.
I think my switch might be too rusty to work. Thanks to leaking T Tops I get condensation on both sides of my windows.

 

Bumping this thread..b/c I also have no dash lights in my '86 Firebird. I do suspect improper install of an aftermarket radio by the previous owner. The problem was not noticed until after I bought the car and was driving it home. Purchased it in the afternoon...after it got dark and I turned the headlamps on...noticed no dash lights.

 

I don't think the Radio would have anything to with it,it could be the fuse for the instrument panel or the ground for it.

 

a heat sink is a piece of metal (most often with fins on it) that helps pull heat out of something and cool it better

something like this
http://www.heatsink.com/images/produ...eat_sink_1.jpg

 

Thanks Barlow,I asked that a year and a month ago.

 

But the improper wiring may be the cause of the blown fuse.
Head units are wired to the dash lights to dim the display. If this lead is grounded somewhere it will keep blowing the fuse, which will also rake out the running lights. I was smacked down earlier in this thread, but I have since confirmed I was right, American cars also have the dash lights wired to running lights. I admit I haven't actually seen it on a thirdgen yet, but have directly confirmed it on other gm and Chrysler cars. Regardless, the dash lights are definitely connected to the stereo harness, so I'm betting that's where your problem is.

 

I hate to sound like such a newb..but this is the first Firebird I have owned.. I do not have an owners manual yet.. can anyone tell me which fuse on the panel controls the Dash lights? I also suspect that the aftermarket radio is creating an excess drain on the battery when parked because after a couple days..if its not run the battery will be dead.

 

 

Cool! Thanks!

 

bumping this, i got a 92 firebird from a guy who gutted the entire dash over the e brake indicator wire burning up.. before i resintalled the dash i checked everything real good to make sure it worked all but the inst lamps of course cause that was all torn out. anyway dash all back in and now my headlights dont work and no inst lamps. all fuses good head lights worked before. all other lights function trn brk run lamps etc. no headlights no inst lights.. headlights do flip open but dont illuminate

 

Ok to chime in, I Too have numerous non working items. No headlights, Tail lights,Dash, floor lights, Dome, Rear courtesy light in the hatch, Cig, Horn, or Liftgate pull down motor<i have put a new one in>. Fuse Is good, However, No power is being fed Into the fuse. Turn signals Do work... The former owner of the car, thought the switch broke, so he butchered a wire on the Passenger side headlight H Beam, and he manually powered the lights on. The motors are not working in his Frankenstein job, but assuming i can find where the power is being cut off from before the fuseblock, i can hopefully restore all of these things. Help Greatly appreciated

 

I know this post is a bit old, but did anybody ever figure it out? I have an 89 firebird and gave the same problem.

 

Replacing the part circled in post 18 and replacing the dimmer switch above the headlight switch fixed it for me.

 

On my 88, I found the 'headlight control" under the hood was damaged (I don't know the proper name- it is a relay for the headights?). When I unplugged the wires, my lights worked again, but no headlight motors. Maybe there was a short internally?

 

I don't have the car in front of me for a picture- I found it by accident looking at a Chilton's wiring diagram...

 

I have a similar problem. I have an 1989 Formula LS1 swap. After reading a Chilton and hanes manual and reading the threads online it seems to come back to the fuse box. I'm not near the car yet to inspect all my fuses yet, but coming home work last night I hit a bump in my neighborhood and my dash lights went out and just before I shut the car off my lights would turn off but wouldn't flip down and now there stuck in the up position. I can turn the headlight switch on and off and the lights come on and off but won't engage the motors or turn on my dash lights. If I check all my fuses and there all good what is the next step? I first defaulted to thinking it was the headlight switch since I had a previous problem before with a 94 c1500 but it had no lights coming on and no dash lights, but my car's switch does turn on the lights just not the dash lights or closing the headlight motors down.

 

Figured out the problem, Tail light fuse was blown. powers the dash lights and the motors and tail lights. Thread was helpful.