Gauge lights
Thread Starter
|
All Star
Joined: May 2006
Posts: 867
Likes: 3
From: Crawfordville, FL
Gauge lights
I was driving home tonight and when I started my truck back up, my guage lights will not come on. They are not dimmed and the overdrive, A/C, and radio lights are still working?????I was wondering if anyone could help me out please.
Champion
Joined: Dec 2003
Posts: 4,119
Likes: 5
From: Sycamore, Illinois (displaced to Arkansas)
RE: Gauge lights
Another common problem, (and, thanks for bringing this up, I will put this in the Gen 1 FAQs).
I had this problem too. It turned out to be a bad connection on the back to the instrument cluster.
Solving the problem is pretty easy, just kinda time consuming.
All you need is some di-electric grease (optional I guess, but I recommend it), a screwdriver, the proper size Torx bits (and a multimeter if you have one), and, some time.
The following info is coming straight from the service manual:
1.) Disconnect negative battery cable.
2.) Remove the knee blocker (the plasic piece under the steering wheel, 2 screws)
3.) Remove the lower left insturment panel end cap (2 screws)
4.) Remove cluster bezel (on my truck its the plastic wood grain piece; 2 screws at lower edge on either side of steering column, 8 screws on the face)
5.) Remove cluster lens and mask (4 screws)
6.) Remove the cluster. (? screws)
NOTE: The cluster will only come so far forward. There are two round connectors on the rear, one on the left (red) and one on the right (gray). Its pretty tricky to get to them, but, its possible.
The problem lies with the left (red) connector. Cavity E isn't making a good connection. (You can reconnect the battery, turn the headlights on, and use the multimeter you can test to make sure there is voltage, and than turn the headlight **** like you are dimming the lights, and voltage will drop, disconnect the battery after you are done testing)
What I did was put some di-electric grease on this connection (and, just for the hell of it, I put some on every connection), and than, reconnected the connector, connected the battery, and tested the lights. Everything worked, so, I put everything back together.
I did this operation back in February, and, haven't had a problem since.
[IMG]local://upfiles/948/B948808998AE42A39FAAA1CA56189363.jpg[/IMG]
I had this problem too. It turned out to be a bad connection on the back to the instrument cluster.
Solving the problem is pretty easy, just kinda time consuming.
All you need is some di-electric grease (optional I guess, but I recommend it), a screwdriver, the proper size Torx bits (and a multimeter if you have one), and, some time.
The following info is coming straight from the service manual:
1.) Disconnect negative battery cable.
2.) Remove the knee blocker (the plasic piece under the steering wheel, 2 screws)
3.) Remove the lower left insturment panel end cap (2 screws)
4.) Remove cluster bezel (on my truck its the plastic wood grain piece; 2 screws at lower edge on either side of steering column, 8 screws on the face)
5.) Remove cluster lens and mask (4 screws)
6.) Remove the cluster. (? screws)
NOTE: The cluster will only come so far forward. There are two round connectors on the rear, one on the left (red) and one on the right (gray). Its pretty tricky to get to them, but, its possible.
The problem lies with the left (red) connector. Cavity E isn't making a good connection. (You can reconnect the battery, turn the headlights on, and use the multimeter you can test to make sure there is voltage, and than turn the headlight **** like you are dimming the lights, and voltage will drop, disconnect the battery after you are done testing)
What I did was put some di-electric grease on this connection (and, just for the hell of it, I put some on every connection), and than, reconnected the connector, connected the battery, and tested the lights. Everything worked, so, I put everything back together.
I did this operation back in February, and, haven't had a problem since.
[IMG]local://upfiles/948/B948808998AE42A39FAAA1CA56189363.jpg[/IMG]
