dash light diagnosis? (1 Viewer)

[NW-sickboy]

after much way to much use of the search bar and a few phone calls i am throwing myself at the forum.... i Have had the slee harness and and IPF HIR bulb set kicking around and finally got to installing it yesterday.... ....... re-set all the wires.. checked all conections. checked all grounds, i hooked that battery back up. I turned the key, turned the lights on and as they went on my dash lights went out.... i go to check to lights and my DS low beam is dim....(like i left my battery on and it didnt have any juice) and the other one wasnt on? WTF? so i turn the vehicle off... disconect the batttery and fix the PS side connection.. the harness that hooked into the light was loose (the gound wasnt seated properly in the light end) so i fixed. the DS is a whole nother story..... i check all conections and try again with same results.. all lights work now excet DS low.. its lighting up but super dim.... also... after checking fuses i cant find a bad one... i only checked the fuse tray behind battery and the fuse tray under the diff lock that is by your knee when your sitting.... am i totally missing something.... to clarify the dash lights i dont have are the lights that come on when turning your headlights on. clock works.. radio works. my main question is why the dash lights went out? how do i fix them.? the DS dim has to be a bad bulb Becuase i put my old light in and its great... ....... so there you have it.... i am at your mercey.. tell me i am a newbie and i will tell you to and we will all be happy.... thanks for your input in advance.....

 

[shocker]

I had a similar problem when I did mine a few weeks ago, but mine might be for a different reason.

At the same time I did my harness I also replaced the stock battery with an Optima Yellow Top with standard terminals. In order to get the new battery to work, I had to make new, longer 8 guage wires to reach the battery terminal from the fusible link box just outside of the battery tray "box".

When I hooked everything back up it wouldn't start, and the same lights you described didn't come on. Took some testing connections with both a large jumper cable and a smaller 8 gauge alligator clipped cable to determine that one of the 8 gauge wires I had made was bad. Turns out one of the ends I had put on the wire crumbled apart when I crimped it; could not tell under the heat-shrink tubing.

Anyway, got it fixed and it works great now. How does this relate to your problem? Not sure, but I'd check the battery connection, specifically the two 8 gauge cables. You didn't mention you had any problem starting the car, so not sure it's the same thing I had, but just thought I'd throw it out there.

 

[NW-sickboy]

thanks i will tryi check that.

 

[NW-sickboy]

it stopped raining for 2 minutes and i checked all power wires off of the positive terminal look exactly the same........... hmmmmm..... any one else wanna take a shot at this.. ?

 

[Safado]

J,
Take the DS and swap it with the PS. If the problem follows the bulb, you know where to go, if it stays on the DS, you know it has to be the connection. Fuses and or wiring. Let us know what you find.

 

[NW-sickboy]

i swapped in a different bulb for the DS (i put the original back in) and it works fine... I am not worrried about the headlights... i got that figured out.... the dash lights is what confuses the *&^% out of me.....

 

[semlin]

If not a fuse then maybe a momentary surge or short or something wrecked your headlight bulb and also blew the dash bulbs?

 

[NW-sickboy]

hmmmm....Thats a thought... but all the lights that come on when i turn the headlights are off.... the one behind the stereo.. the lights in the door that light up the power windows dont come on...now i dont think my tail lihgts or park lamps are coming on either... WTF?