DASH Lights

ft04me · Post by **ft04me** » Tue May 12, 2009 12:10 am

hmm driving at night i also noticed the light for the little lcs which tells me how much km i have travelled dont light up anymore too..

does anyone have any suggestions?

its pissing me off driving at night...

mr-charisma · Post by **mr-charisma** » Tue May 12, 2009 6:41 am

dude, you've been given heaps of suggestions .. use a multimeter / test light on the wires that seem to be having problems & go from there .. I suggest you take it to an auto electrician if you aren't sure how to do it..

Lucky for you, I just started having the same thing happen to mine, so if I have time to look at it tonight I'll let you know how to fix it.. I'm hoping mine is just one of the LED's

If the LED's are the only thing you've been messing around with, then I would have to assume that is what is causing your probs.. have you tried putting the old lights back in the dash? you could have even replaced one in the wrong spot, if you didn't so them one at a time..

ft04me · Post by **ft04me** » Tue May 12, 2009 12:49 pm

mr-charisma wrote:If the LED's are the only thing you've been messing around with, then I would have to assume that is what is causing your probs.. have you tried putting the old lights back in the dash? you could have even replaced one in the wrong spot, if you didn't so them one at a time..

yeah i've put the original bulb in there and still no luck...

what do u mean by replaced on in the wrong spot?

ft04me · Post by **ft04me** » Tue May 12, 2009 11:16 pm

ok i dont know if this is related to it but my mirror dont fold in anymore when i press the button...??

Post by **vipfto** » Wed May 13, 2009 8:26 am

still say fuse

Shahrez · Post by **Shahrez** » Wed May 13, 2009 8:52 pm

vipfto wrote:still say fuse

+1. However, surprise surprise, the exact same thing happened to me a few days ago, that was coz i started up my engine with my L.E.D lights and interior lights on, and poof the speedo/tacho area lights gone, and the battery meter light. clock was working fine. but since i have glowdials which are connected to ashtray light, it didnt really bug me that much. i was gonna have a look at my fuses today but i hit a speedbump fairly hard, and the lights came back on. no problem after that. i guess maybe one of the fuses was loose. so yeah....thats my story.

ft04me · Post by **ft04me** » Wed May 13, 2009 10:30 pm

hmm ok... imma start looking at the fuse again!..

grrr.. this is sooo annoying...

mr-charisma · Post by **mr-charisma** » Wed May 13, 2009 10:50 pm

Shahrez wrote:
vipfto wrote:still say fuse
+1. However, surprise surprise, the exact same thing happened to me a few days ago, that was coz i started up my engine with my L.E.D lights and interior lights on, and poof the speedo/tacho area lights gone, and the battery meter light. clock was working fine. but since i have glowdials which are connected to ashtray light, it didnt really bug me that much. i was gonna have a look at my fuses today but i hit a speedbump fairly hard, and the lights came back on. no problem after that. i guess maybe one of the fuses was loose. so yeah....thats my story.

I would highly doubt its just a fuse if he has already gone through & checked them all.. not a hard thing to spot a blown fuse..

@fto4me - You really do need to use a multmeter on the thing & test what parts have power& what don't, then trace it back to the source of the problem .. it may lead you to something you wouldn't expect.. it could likely be a wiring problem .. check that there are no bare wires touching each other etc..

Here's some good sites to get you started;
http://www.youfixcars.com/multimeter.html
http://books.google.com.au/books?id=3q8 ... ter+how+to
http://www.youfixcars.com/automotive-electrical.html
http://www.youfixcars.com/wiring-diagrams.html

Edit: I haven't had a chance to look @ the problems with my car yet (Same as yours - Dash lights not working .. also the rear driving lights were playing up, but now seem to be fine..leading me to think that maybe I've frayed a door wire or ripped out one of the wires in my light up door sills.. but it is most likely due to my dimmer switch wiring) .. try wiggling some of the cables in / around the drivers side footwell / dash compartment under steering wheel & take notice of whether the dash lights flicker on or not

ft04me · Post by **ft04me** » Wed May 13, 2009 10:55 pm

mr-charisma wrote:
Shahrez wrote:
vipfto wrote:still say fuse
+1. However, surprise surprise, the exact same thing happened to me a few days ago, that was coz i started up my engine with my L.E.D lights and interior lights on, and poof the speedo/tacho area lights gone, and the battery meter light. clock was working fine. but since i have glowdials which are connected to ashtray light, it didnt really bug me that much. i was gonna have a look at my fuses today but i hit a speedbump fairly hard, and the lights came back on. no problem after that. i guess maybe one of the fuses was loose. so yeah....thats my story.
I would highly doubt its just a fuse if he has already gone through & checked them all.. not a hard thing to spot a blown fuse..

@fto4me - You really do need to use a multmeter on the thing & test what parts have power& what don't, then trace it back to the source of the problem .. it may lead you to something you wouldn't expect.. it could likely be a wiring problem .. check that there are no bare wires touching each other etc..

Here's some good sites to get you started;
http://www.youfixcars.com/multimeter.html
http://books.google.com.au/books?id=3q8 ... ter+how+to
http://www.youfixcars.com/automotive-electrical.html
http://www.youfixcars.com/wiring-diagrams.html

ok ill see if i can get hold of a multimeter... hmm

hey mr-charisma.. u said your having the same problem?

mr-charisma · Post by **mr-charisma** » Wed May 13, 2009 11:12 pm

ft04me wrote: ok ill see if i can get hold of a multimeter... hmm

hey mr-charisma.. you said your having the same problem?

Yep, having pretty much the same problems as you .. see edited post above..

Not sure if it is caused by the same thing though ..

Post by **vipfto** » Wed May 13, 2009 11:25 pm

dash lights and tail lights run off the same circuit so theres a good place to start for probs, the wires to tail lights run through loom on drivers side but not through the doors, if you have been playing with dimmer switch then start from there checking for power. if you have been playing with dash lights then start from there

mr-charisma · Post by **mr-charisma** » Thu May 14, 2009 7:04 am

vipfto wrote:dash lights and tail lights run off the same circuit so theres a good place to start for probs, the wires to tail lights run through loom on drivers side but not through the doors, if you have been playing with dimmer switch then start from there checking for power. if you have been playing with dash lights then start from there

All depends what someone's done to your car in the past .. I'm pretty sure that the guys who installed the alarm on my car spliced it into the power at some weird spot & looks like something also hooked up to the door sills etc.. will see when I test test it all though..

mr-charisma · Post by **mr-charisma** » Fri May 15, 2009 6:46 pm

Had a romantic candle lit date with my cars electrical wiring last night (ok, maybe it was worklight lit)

I'm not if much of this will help you, but it explains what was wrong with mine & how I fixed it up..

1.) Checked fuses .. seemed fine.

2.) Checked out the wiring for the "dimmer switch" seemed to be coming loose .. re-stripped wires & re-crimped the connectors / wrapped in electrical tape. (thought for sure this would fix it - It didn't!)

3.) Checked out the dash cluster physically & found that it wasn't pushed all the way in .. unscrewed it, seated it properly & tried it again.. (thought it would be fixed - it wasn't!)

4.) Checked out all the door sill connections (- still no power to them) & traced the where I thought the alarm installers spliced it in .. turns out they hadn't (thank god) but it still didn't help me.

5.) Checked to see if I could tell where they all plugged into each other - from what I can tell, the door sill lights / cabin light / Power Mirror switch lights / ignition lights are all wired up together - as someone said, they're not on the same circuit as the dash lights.. couldn't figure out why they would all be having issues if they're not on the same circuit.

6.) Checked fuses again .. found one that was faulty - swapped in a new fuse & tried again (didn't think it would be fixed - I was right ... Cabin light, door sills etc working again though)

7.) Took the dash clusters out of both cars .. examined each one next to each other & compared the connectors on the back between the working one & the broken one - quite a few of the connectors were the wrong way around, so i swapped them around (I don't think I've removed them before.. )
Tried the broken cluster again just in case - didn't work .. plugged in the working one .. also didn't work - so ruled out a broken cluster .. also debunked the theory that the little light globes need to be around a certain way to work..

8.) Check some of the cabling around the place to make sure I hadn't forgot to plug in any dash connectors when I had it out last .. found one unplugged, but it wasn't related to this.

9.) Took a bit of a break .. had a bit of a cry & went back to it..

10.)Tested cabling @ the dimmer switch was getting power on the way in, but not the way out.. removed the dimmer swtich & try joining the positive & negative cables together - thought it was worth a shot - AND IT WORKED! .. problem was broken circuit because of the dimmer switch..

Left it disconnected for now until I can get a new dimmer.

ft04me · Post by **ft04me** » Mon May 25, 2009 12:09 am

hahaha!!

mine had the same problem... where can i get a nwe dimmer?

i dont really need it that much do i?

mr-charisma · Post by **mr-charisma** » Mon May 25, 2009 1:08 am

ft04me wrote:hahaha!!

mine had the same problem... where can i get a nwe dimmer?

i dont really need it that much do i?

It's a legal requirement .. not that anyone will ever notice if you don't have a dimmer..

Should be able to pick one up from a wrecker ..

J · Post by J » Mon May 25, 2009 1:30 am

ft04me wrote:hahaha!!

mine had the same problem... where can i get a nwe dimmer?

i dont really need it that much do i?

autobarn.... any general automotive shop like that should have all your switch needs

ft04me · Post by **ft04me** » Mon May 25, 2009 1:32 am

hmmm so i can get just any??

nvr2low · Post by **nvr2low** » Mon May 25, 2009 12:40 pm

i never had a dimmer never got one with my car

Post by **Bennoz** » Tue May 26, 2009 11:49 am

They are no longer required to comply the car. Same with unleaded fuel filler necks.

mr-charisma · Post by **mr-charisma** » Tue May 26, 2009 11:56 am

thanks for that bit of info .. I will just leave it without the dimmer then..