Turned on my headlights and the dash lights went "flash" and then out!! I've looked @ every fuse and all of them are good...replaced the headlight control (twice) with no resolution of the problem...Is there a fuse inside the instrument cluster? I've pulled the dash/inst cluster out and looked @ all connectors...none burned or charred, no indication of hot connection or anything. I can't tell from the Chilton manual schematics how to trace the inst power in the dashboard connector...no pin-outs listed. I can go to Pull A Part and get a new/used inst panel for ~$25 but not sure that'* the problem. Any possibility there'* another fuse panel under the hood? Also side note: no hot to the fog lamps in front. Is thie related? Relay somewhere maybe? Any suggestions greatly appreciated...can't sell this thang until I fix these lights!!! I like the car but it'* gotta go so I can pay off my wife'* *&^%$# credit cards!!!!!

is there any chance that your dimmer for the dashlights is turned all the way down?? just a thought

Nah, couldn't be that lucky...already tried all that simple stuff. It acted like it blew a fuse when I turned the headlights on...but none of those there fuses are blowed!?!?!?! I'm open to ALL ideas though, thanks for the reply.

PS when I finally get it figgered out I'll be sure and post the info...wouldn't want ennybody else to suffer thru this insanity.

have you checked if the bulbs to the dash are getting electricity? (with a test light or multimeter)

if they are getting current have you tried different bulbs to see if yours are "blown"?

Is there a control module that could be at fault? On the newer cars those functions are processor controlled. Not sure about 1988 and prior years.

Control module, HA! Naw man, sounds like you've got a blown fuse. Did you check the Relay Center? There are quite a few of fuses in there, that could definitely blow.


-justin

If it'* like my 93, you have A LOT of fuses to check. I bet under the steering column you'll find a culprit. Many of the fuses there feed from another, Check them ALL.

when the dash lights and my thermosat stopped workin, i had two blown fuses under the dash. check those fuses well!

Thanks for the info...I'll go cuss the fuses a while and see what knda luck I have...I'll let ya know what I find. Replaced the fuel level sending unit Sun afternoon and that went well...now the guage indicates true fuel level don't haveta rely on the trip meter to tell me when I'm low. :P

Do your exterior lights (running, tail, side markers) still work? Blowing the exterior fuse can take out your dash lights as well, since those are fed off a branch of the exterior circuit (although they do have their own fuse as well).

You mean you pulled the headlight switch and replaced it twice? Were you installing a new one or used one each time? Your symptoms indicate that the dash lighting rheostat in the headlight switch has flaked out on you.

Check which wires at the headlight switch connector are hot. Then see which ones go hot when you pull the switch out to first position. The brown wire is exterior lighting, and...

Pause while Andy goes rummaging around the service manual...

Ah, here we are. For the '93 and most similar years, here'* the scoop:

The brown wire coming out of the headlight switch is your exterior lighting circuit (except for headlamps, which are separate). Aside from going to your taillights and such, it also runs a brown wire down to fuse 21 on your instrument panel fuse block, which is your dash lighting circuit, a 10-amp fuse. On the other side of that fuse, a dark green wire goes back up to the rheostat in your headlight switch (through the same connector as the brown wire, in fact: C2). Variable power comes out of the rheostat on the gray wire (via the other connector: C1) and is distributed to your dashboard backlighting.

So:

1) See if you've got power coming out on the brown wire when you turn on the parking lights (if your exterior lights work, you must have)
2) See if fuse 21 under the dash is good, and has power on one of its contacts when your lights are on
3) See if the dark green wire going into the headlight switch is hot when your lights are on (this may be kind of tricky to test, since you must have the headlight switch plugged in and turned on in order to verify this)
4) See if the gray wire coming out of the headlight switch has any voltage in it when the **** is pulled out. Try slowly turning the **** as you test this.

Let us know what happens...