hey all. I recently completed my stereo wiring and screwed the amps on the backs of the rear seats - very cool looking. Anyway, just when I was ready to settle dowen for a few days and just enjoy the car, she decides, as usual, to throw a wrench in my plans. The damn instrument, climate control, and clock lights are all out. So, the drive home was a little scary.

OK, I want to mention that I really tried to fix this by doing a search on topic. I even found some helpful hints on greg nichol's site too. After a whole sunday working on the issue, I am no closer to finding the problem and I have to drive to an evening class on tuesday! Can anyone please give me some tips?

Here is what I know...

Fuse 11, the instrument and warning light fuse, is intact. The warning light unit lights up when the fuse is in. There is continuity between the top of the fuse holder and the bottom when the warning light is OUT. When the key is on and the lights are on there is no continuity - maybe I am high.

The dimmer you say - well I checked the dimmer. I connected the blue wires going into the spade connector on the dimmer to the black wire that also connects to the dimmer. I assumed that this would essentially take the dimmer out of the loop. No light though.

It aint the bulbs either. I checked the clock bulb and its fine. Plus, the AC, clock, and instument bulbs wouldnt all fry at once. I jiggled all the wires I could get my paws on to no avail.

The warning dash lights all work. The buttons around the dash all light up and work properly. the central warning light works on both the acknowledgement unit and the dash. I am totally stumped and I can't afford to drag it into the shop at the moment (Why oh why did I leave my job and go back to school). HELP!!!!

Thanks in advance.

 

Is power getting to the dimmer via the black wire?

 

This may be off the beatin path but while messing with my car I have my astray in the astray spot unmounted. I was playing with the (auto) shifter and the little slidy cover over the shifter opening hit the astray and my whole sah lighting flickered. If you were messing with the radio who knows. My be worth a look into that area.

 

thats the whole "DASH" lighting

 

Just quessing here but I would start back behind the radio. The Fact deck is hooked into the ilumination circuit in question. Most aftermarket radios are not hooked to that circuit. So your break just might be there. Here is hoping you did not use that circuit for a ground (it will show and act like a ground when lights are off in most cars) This usually ends up in a blown fuse and from what you see that is not the case.

So with all that in mind I would get back behind the radio and check there. Remove the pass side panel of the center counsle. makes it much easyer to work and see in there.

Hope that helps.

Thurston.

85 Iris blue 928 with Alpine dvd vid. system.

 

I used the brown wire marked in the original blaupunkt (OLD) wiring diagram as ground. Are you talking about the dimmer wire from some aftermaket stereos or was the dimmer built into the ground wire for the old factory radio?

I will get behind there tommorrow. I did poke around today and checked the connections.

I'm getting a reading of 13 volts to fuse 12 with the lights on, but a reading of 0 to the black wire that goes into the rheostat/dimmer. Is there an easy way to identify the illumination curcuit behind the radio? I may have jostled it loose.

 

"I'm getting a reading of 13 volts to fuse 12 with the lights on, but a reading of 0 to the black wire that goes into the rheostat/dimmer. Is there an easy way to identify the illumination curcuit behind the radio? I may have jostled it loose."

My wiring diagram show Fuse #4 as the feed for the dash lights.

Basic troubleshooting:
Check for power into and out of Fuse #4.
Check for power at the dimmer input and output.

My guess is that you may have shorted the black/blue wire to ground while working and blown Fuse #4. If not, there is a bad connection at Fuse #4 or between there and the dimmer.

 

fixed!

I managed to fix the problem with the advice listed here but I'm not really sure what did it. I cleaned the rheostat and all the ground points and replaced some fuses but it still didn't work. Then I carefully arranged and reconnected all the wires behind the radio and inspected all the bulbs. The clock bulb was the last thing I did before I noticed that the lights were back on.

Is the clock bulb wired in such a way that all of the other lights controlled by the dimmer need each other to work like a string of christmas tree lights?

Anyway, thanks!