DASH LIGHTS

Morning all,

Am I reading the chart right and it is block 13 that handles the lights that lets me see the gauges? The idiot lights work as the low fuel keeps popping on, will get gas when station opens at 7AM. Everything worked yesterday morning and was a bright as ever, so I am assuming fuse first unless I messed something up under the hood I was trying to find how to change marker light but that was near the headlight so I don't think that is the case.

Thank you as always for the guidance.

 

From the FSM, Page 8W-36, we find that the 20A Fuse #8 feeds the headlight switch. From the switched side, one side runs to the parking lights; the OTHER runs to Fuse #13 and thence to the cluster illumination.

So I'd swap that 20A fuse.

And I'd get the factory service manual. (Which, when I was planning on possibly doing a Magnum swap a few years back, I bought on disc from RockAuto.)

And yes, you DID mess something up under the hood ...

(See the attached PDF for what I'm talking about.)

RwP

 

Thanks for reply Ralph.

Totally scratching my head at what you attached, of course I was double checking on the small fuse panel. Will check the fuse when I get the truck back later today. I want to say that all the lights were working on #8, especially considering that the police following me in the dark did not pull me over. However will definitely double check.

 

There's always the chance that they all died at the same time (unlikely!)

Time to grab the multi meter and pull the dash cluster, to see if it's getting 12V TO the cluster with the lights on.

(If they all died ... well, I just spend $120 with SuperBrightLEDs to reLED the cluster I'm doing for my 1988. I'd recommend #194 bulbs for cheap folks.)

RwP

 

Does your dimmer switch work with the LED bulbs? Or is it an all or nothing type affair?

 

These are supposed to be dimmable; the current ones are pretty much all or nothing.

RwP

 

Did not get the fuse checked last night. Did pick up fuses when I returned the core though. All the lights on fuse 8 are out as the policeman let me know this morning. Luckily I was in the grocery store parking lot.

 

Well fuse 8 was blown replaced it and turned lights on could not tell a difference, Looked under dash with a dental mirror and LED on fuse was lite. So it was blown so I have a dead short somewhere. Will look under the hood when I can pull it in the driveway.

Off the top of anyone's head or handy references, are any of the open slots always hot?

 

I may suggest an ATC circuit breaker to go in there while you're trouble shooting.

Check FIRST around that marker light you were "messing with"; you may have shorted one of those lines.

(Both lines may be hot on the side lights; that's how they do the wigwag.)

I can tell you STILL haven't obtained the factory service manual; you really should if you're working on your truck yourself, because you'd have that answer from pages 8W-36 and 8W-37. Matter of fact, most all the Constant-12 fuses are on the page I linked to on an earlier message. I won't repeat what it says; open it, read it, study it.

Here's the OTHER page for the fuse box showing what's switched 12V.

RwP

 

No to the factory service manual. I very seldom do work that I would need it. This trouble stemmed from trying to change a bulb. Still have not found where it pulls out of.

Majority of my work is checking oil, water and replaced the connectors to the battery cable. It was in the shop yesterday to have a new starter installed. With a bad back and knee, crawling under a jacked up truck did not sound in my wheel house.

Reason I asked about the open fused, got a plug in add a fuse wire set coming from Amazon, plan to drill out a hole in kick plate under steering wheel and put in a dual USB "cigarette" style charger then run the cords up around the instrument cluster to the cell phone holder.