Won't let me upload any more photos

 

I use photobucket to host pics and then you can copy the links for the pics and post the link here, when the post goes up the tags are removed and the pics will display, you can post as many pics as needed like that and they are larger too.

You need to cut loose the orange wire where it is twisted in with the red one. That is what is causing your problem. It would be good to cut all the connections loose and re-connect them either with solder and heat shrink or good quality electrical tape, or use butt connectors to crimp the connections. Looks like you have either a Pioneer or JVC head unit, just from judging by its connector plug. Those brands of decks do not have any input for dash illumination. Cap off or insulate the orange wire in the adapter harness, clean up and correct the other connections and it should fix the problem, provided there are no blown fuses in the illumination circuits.

Jimmy

 

better photos on my profile page, Wiring Mess, it's an Aiwa system, but I'm sure they are all pretty much the same or very similar.

 

Also, if I don't have the orange wire connected, I'm back to square one, no dash lights! Catch 22! I'm going to solder the wires as you suggest, now that it's where I have electrical power and my soldering pen. I'll check your prior posts to see what's what. Thanks Jimmy

 

Are any of the fuses blown? You need to check the illumination wires in the dash, not using the wire harness adapter. Check the black/yellow and orange wires for voltage. You need a voltmeter or at the very least use a test light. If you don't have a voltmeter you can buy a cheap one at Harbor Freight or you can get a cheap test light at most any parts store. Voltmeter is the best way to test for power in any situation but a test light won't hurt anything checking power at the radio harness.

If you have no blown fuses but still have no voltage on the illumination circuits, you may need to check the instrument cluster itself. You can do a self-test on the cluster lights:

With the ignition off, push and hold the odometer reset button. Turn the ignition key on and keep holding the odometer reset button in for about 10 seconds. "CHEC" will appear in the odometer display. Then all the lights in the cluster will flash and the needles for each gauge will "sweep". Any trouble codes for the cluster appear in the odometer window. If you see code 110, you have a bad cluster. There are other trouble codes for the cluster but I do not believe they have anything to do with the lights in the cluster. The cluster is not controlled by the Central Timer Module, so the CTM may be OK. The cluster itself is a computer, it only gets inputs from the PCM, the transmission control module and one or two other modules via the PCI Bus.

The fact that the cluster lights only work with the bad wiring harness connected tells me there is likely a power problem with the dash lights, the cluster may be OK. Whoever installed that radio may have popped a fuse or done some other damage and they rigged it by wiring the dash lights to the ignition accessory circuit so the dash lights would turn on any time the ignition is on. That's a bad way to try to fix this problem.

Jimmy

 

That doesn't seem to be the trouble Jimmy, it would appear that there is no dash wire to this stereo, as every other wire connects. There are no fuse problems, that was the first thing I checked, even the under hood fuses/relays are all ok. I've done the "Chec" test already, all things are normal, the only code that shows is for a evac leak, not for any bad lighting. You must remember I didn't have any dash lights whatsoever when I got the truck, I'm only trying to find out why this is all twisted around and my marker/parking lights dim when they shouldn't.

 

Joe,

With the harness out, you should have dash lights. If you don't then there is another problem. Could the parking lights be related, yes.

As I said earlier the CTM controls the park lights. The headlight switch tells the CTM to turn them on and it trips a relay in the junction block, under the dash.

There is no dim function. That they can be dimmed tells me that something is likely crosswired. Pull the relay, see what happens. The parking lights should not work.

 

Thanks Dan,
No dash lights whatsoever without that orange wire hooked up as I described before. That's what had me check all this in the first place. Now it's back as it was, but the parking light issue remains. I do believe something is crossed up as well, but what it is, I cannot even begin to fathom. At this point, I'm beginning to think as long as I have them and I know the issue exists, I'll just deal with it. The radio harness, as I stated before, has no connection for the dash lights, only the power in, not from the radio itself, which leads me to speculate this being the reason it wasn't connected before. While I had the dash bezel out, still had dash lights on without the switch in place, so I can be fairly certain that the switch has no issue in it, although I could be wrong. There are some faux fog lights that were connected, but aren't now. I can't be sure that had something to do with it when they were connected, perhaps they moved some of the wires around to accommodate this? All these issues, and like I said, as long as I know it exists, I think I'll just deal with it. As long as I have dash, and I know the markers are dimming, I'll just have to be aware of it, and make sure they are on when I am driving.

 

I would be concerned with the dimmer blowing out from too much current...

 

Or something frying the CTM.