When I first got this car interior lights, low beam headlights, and right brake lights wasn’t working. I sorted all that out. Now I’m trying to get my lights in my gauges to work. I replaced the fuse that was marked “gauge” and pulled out one the bulbs in the back of the gauge and replaced it with no luck. Any suggestions, I would be grateful.

 

1) Get a multimeter and start checking the connectors.

2) Check the wires coming out of the fuse block. My buddy had similar issues with his S10, he found 4 wires weren't seated into the fuse block.

3) Try jumping a wire straight to the gauge. The service manual should should which ones are for the bulbs. I'm also assuming the gauges have power ie the fuel gauge (assuming it's not a rally pack)

4) And one stupid thing to check, the headlight switch rotor (?) that controls the dash light intensity could be off or stuck in the off position.

 

The "gauges-trans" fuse has nothing to do with gauge lighting. It's the power supply for the gauge sender units and transmission downshift control.

Look at the top center of the fuse block and you should see a small fuse labeled "inst lps". That's the dash lighting power supply and it's fed from the main light switch. With headlight switch ON, use a 12v test light to check for power at both ends of that fuse. If it's good, problem is either in the dimmer rheostat on the main light switch or a bad ground.

If you haven't acquired a 1976 factory Chassis Service Manual yet, getting one needs to be on your short list. The wiring diagrams are in it.

 

Thank you

 

I just had my rally pack out and on one of the little plugs holding the small bulb in wasn't making good contact with the trace on the circuit board! I gently bent the little tabs (ever so slightly- you don't want to break them off) and see if that works. Also, swap out a bulb to that socket that isn't working! (- it sounded like some of the lights were working. I've got 5 bulbs on the rally pack gauges (Gen, Brake) then 3 to illuminate the gauges!

 

Step one is to make sure the headlight **** is rotated counterclockwise. There is a rheostat in the headlight switch for dimming the dash lights. If turning the **** doesn't brighten the lights, the rheostat in the switch may be bad.

 

Thanks Joe, i will check that today. Appreciate all the helpful replies. Can someone please confirm the right part # for the headlight switch, is it 1995222.

 

Grp 2.485 p/n 1995203 without Twilight Sentinel.

P/n 1995189 with Twilight Sentinel.

Page from 1976 parts book. Cutlass is "A" car.

 

Thank you for the part #s Rocketraider. I did a little research, is the new superseded #1995222? I found a cheap NOS part with this #. Oldsobsolete has it on their website as a correct replacement. Can anyone confirm.

 

https://oldsobsolete.com/products-pa...ch-gm-1995222/

 

That's entirely possible since GMPD was always superseding and consolidating part numbers. Looks like that was a fairly common switch across GM, and OO shows the 1995203 part number it replaced.

Long as the switch matches your wiring harness plug and all functions are the same the superseded part should work. But I gotta say $125 raised my eyebrows a little. Especially compared to the original $8.00 1976 price!😄

 

$125 is way too high. I found one for $11 shipped NOS with the box. Hope it fixes it. Thanks everyone.

 

Is the one you found the original 76 part number?

11 bucks sounds a LOT more in line. OO has never been cheap but sometimes they have stuff no one else has.

 

This is what I got

 

Plug it up and see if it works!🙂

If you need help changing it out we can help there too. Pretty simple really. Remove the LH trim pod that the headlight and wiper switches are in, four screws I think, then you can pull that out far enough to get at the headlight switch.