okay so in my 88 firebird i just got, i found it has a weird issue. the problem is that the gauge cluster lights ONLY come on when you turn the cd player on and theyre kinda dim anyways.the kid i got it from had a JVC cd player hooked up i dont know if that makes a difference or not but my question is, what do i do to fix this? i tried disconnecting the cd player connector AND undoing all the wiring also and if i do either of those things then my gauge lights wont work at all. any input greatly appreciated

 

probably got powers and grounds crossed wired. rec a trace down and rewire of power and grounds.

 

rewire which ones? for the gauge lights? where would i rewire them from, do i go behind the light switch or the cluster? elaborate please :P and thanks for the response

 

need some more info, need to be able to drive this car at night :P

 

well i would start by measuring what kind of voltage if any the cluster is getting when the light switch is switched on and why its getting voltage when stereo is turned on, then see what the stereo is getting. then just overlay whats needed.........or just pull the stereo and cluster and dash pad, and trace the wires to find the hack job......i guarantee you will.....

 

FLASHLIGHTS!!!!!

 

lmao! i actually used a flashlight so i could make it home from work today :P alright, can i get a quick rundown on how th ecluster comes out tho? i.e. how many screws and where and are there any hidden ones? thanks

 

unfortunately i can offer you no help on that one as i have two camaros and never owned a firebird, but it should be straight forward.

 

Alright, i figured it would be pretty straight forward anyways :P thanks anyways man.

 

goodluck!!!!

 

okay, got it all figured out. i traced the switched power wire for my stereo, and it was shorting out. i re ran that wire and problem solved! now my cluster lights work on their own as they should, not sure why that ACC wire was affecting it? ohhh well.

 

welcome to the world of amateur electricians lol. check your fuses, usually the acc burns out and people will 'rewire' because they didn't check that first. sorry I didn't find this sooner

 

haha good job told you you'd find the hackjob!

 

okay well now Ive got one more issue i forgot about and i figured instead of making another thread, id just post it here :P okay so whats happening is my SES light comes on, but only when idling or if im driving and if i let off the gas and coast, after a few seconds the light pops on but once i start driving again it turns off?? also i tried doing the paper clip thing and my ses doesnt flash at all. i jumped pins 6 and 12 and then tried pins 5 and 6 and nada. tried hooking scan tool (obd1) and it cant connect. any ideas?

 

bump?

 

now thats an issue, in the ob1 style the light comes on when a failure is present, then goes away when there isnt one.pin a needs to be shorted to pin b (or 6 to 12)key on engine off.

this should answer any questions
https://www.thirdgen.org/service-eng...ht-error-codes

now if it doesnt want to go into diag mode then your ganna have to back probe the pcm and short the pins there, if it works then your going to have to figure out whats causing the pins not to work at the dlc.if it doesnt then you have a pcm issue.

 

okay, awesome site, and thanks for the help man much appreciated. so if i trace back to the ecm, and jump the wires and if it does not still go into diag mode then that means i have a bad ecm?

 

thats going to be a very good possibility, i suggest getting a wiring diagram for that circuit and making sure everything else is good......

can you hear your engine fans and relays and other actuators kick on when you short the pins?

 

yeah if i short pins 5 and 6 the fans kick on. everything else on the car works as it should but i did notice that the car runs a bit rich.

 

if the fans kick on and relays kick over when you short a to and then turn the key on but not starting the engine then its trying to go into diagnose mode, how do you know its rich?

 

got the codes, came up with 22 and 34. and its running rich, you can smell it.and i dont have any fuel leaks.

 

ok i guess.