dubcaps

i just got my fd back from getting some repairs done and i noticed my gauges dont light up anymore. (kinda sucks when you are driving at night). its late and i cant find a flashlight but i was wondering which fuse would have blown. i dont have an owners manual, so i figured this was a good place to start. if for some reason it isnt a fuse what should i look for to get them working again???
-stephen

SilverR1

Not sure about the fuses but the easy way to check that is to see if any of them are blown and replace it if it is. If that's not the problem check you dimmer switch by the radio and see if it got disconnected somehow if not jumper the two wires to see if the switch is actually bad. The interior ligths get the on/off signal from the positive and the negative goes through the dimmer switch via variable resistor to control the brightness of the lights. You should always have a ground with the lights on or off but the positive wire will either be on or off depending on the light switch. You will definatly need a voltmeter of some sort to troubleshoot this. Even the cheap old ones with the light that comes on at the end will work but only when checking for the positive. You will need a voltmeter that can check for continuity for the ground. Hope this helps.

dubcaps

thanks man ill go through all the fuses tomarrow, its not the dimer but it could have gotten disconnected when the shop i took it to was "fixing" stuff. is there an easy way to get that whole panel where the dimmer is?. thanks for your help.

stephen

SilverR1

I'm pretty sure you can reach from behind on the drivers side and push it out but don't quote me on that. If not then you could always pull out the radio to get to it. I know that if you want to pull the whole panel out you will have to pull out your whole gauge cluster because there is a screw that holds that panel to the dash that the gauge cluster hides and you can't get to it unless you pull the cluster out.