‘87 D150 318

No dash lights at all, making night time driving not so fun. Turn signal indicators on the dash kinda work, but turn signals function fine. All gauges function properly.

All fuses check good. Everything is plugged in behind the dash as it should be (at least it seems to be). I replaced all of the light bulbs, still nothing.

Any hints?

 

did you try turning the headlight switch?

 

Yes, I’ve turned it through it’s full range several times slowly to see if I notice a flicker. Nothing.

 

Did they just stop working suddenly or was this after you had done some kind of work on the dash?

 

I bought the truck from the original owner in 2016, they never worked. I’ve never had the money to give it the attention it deserves until now!

 

It could be a ground issue. I had that on my 78. Pull the dash out and clean up all the grounds. We put a couple extra grounds wires on also. And then they worked.

 

Where is it grounded? When I pulled it I only saw the speedometer cable, two harnesses (one on either side) I imagine is for the gauges, and two small harnesses (one on either side) I imagine is for check engine light and brake light illuminator.

 

Does your dash have a green circuit board? Or were they not using that system in 87?

 

The circuit board is brown. I assume you’re referring to the very back of the instrument cluster where all of the harnesses attach.

 

On mine the dash lights each have their own socket that plugs into that board and draws its power from the board, no wire attached to the socket. There are a few studs with nuts that we put a wire on and ran it a ground. It’s not factory but it worked.