another dimmer switch thread
 

hey guys, well i have searched over and over and have not been able to find the answer. well my gauge lights do not work, nor the ac lights, or glove box. my headlights pop up and work fine, tail lights work aswell. i have pulled the dimmer swtich already and i hooked up a volt meter on it and i messed around with it. and it showed that when i moved the switch up and down the voltage rating changed. now does this ex-out the possibility that my switch is bad or not? did i even check it in the right way lol?

so i guess what this thread is all about is how do i check to see if the dimmer switch is good or bad? and i have searched quite a bit, i have read about having to solder some of the connections on the back of the gauge cluster, but have not found any specific info on it. so any and all help would be very great guys. thanks in advance.

daniel

Have you gone through the Body Electric manual troubleshooting? You can download the manual for free from the stickied thread at the top of this sub-forum.

Sounds like a bad fuse to me. Of course, that would be too simple :)

I think you are lookin for a ROOM fuse ..(not sure about 3rd gen, I'm sec gen guy...) try lookin under the dash where the fuses are there ...sounds like the culprit..I'll bet you a coffee..

forgot to mention that i already did pull the fuses and every single one of them was good, but i will double check tomorrow. well and i dont think its a fuse, because (also forgot to mention) i have hit a couple of bumps and the lights have come on, and then gone off again.

rynberg, thank you for responding i am gonna check the manual out right meow lol. figures the one place i didnt search lol. anyone else have a thought with this new info? thanks for all the responses

not to sound like a complete ass lol, but rynberg, what should i be looking for in the body manual? i did find the "dimmer switch" but it didnt say how to check it? do you know anywhere that does say how to check it?

sounds like you have a short, broken wire or a bad connection. Have you messed with any thing resently.

If you need the actual dimmer switch I have about 3 laying around I'll let go cheep.

Do you have any aftermarket gauges or other aftermarket items connected to the dimmable dash lights? The wiring might be bad.

The fact the the lights changed when you hit a bump makes it sound like a short. How about turning the lights on and using your hands to wiggle the wiring under the dash while watching to see if the lights change to narrow down where the short might be.

-Max

i bought the car and the problem was already there. the guy i got it from outkast (roland) said that he had narrowed it down to either swapping out the dimmer switch, or having to solder the connections on the back of the gauges.

rotary experiment seven you have a pm

maxcooper; no everything for the gauges is stock, he did add a boost gauge but the dimmer switch does not control that, the light is a constant. and i was thinkin the same thing about a short, but when i pulled the dash out i did that, i wiggled all the wires behind the dash indivdually and then as units and nothing. but i didnt do that to the wires right under the dash so i will go mess around with that right meow and then let yall know if i find anything. thanks alot guys i really appreciate the help.

ok well i just went and messed around with some of the wires under the dash and sure nuff the lights came on. i have to push the wires up towards the gauges, so i guess i will start messin around from there. i just hate pullin that dash off lol. but yea it was a grp of like 5-6 wires. i wiggled them and the lights came to life! yesssss! lol

glad u were able to narrow it down..:bigthumb: good luck fixing the prob..

well thank you, and i just did, one of the wires was loose, so i recrimped it and re-zip tied it and all is great. i just cant wait to drive the car at night and beable to see lol!

just entering some keywords for other with the same problem

dimmer switch, guage lights not working, checked fuses fuse

i just want to say thank you to everyone that chimed in, i really appreciate it all