Not having any success in getting my dash lights on my '69 Cutlass convertible.to work. Checked all the fuses and ok and connections seem to be ok also. Am I missing something? Well, obviously I am but what??

 

Have they worked since you have owned the car?

 

The dash lights are dimmed by the rotating the headlight switch. Are you sure that's not rotated all the way to the off position? Even if it's not, the headlight switch itself could be the problem. I had no dashlights once, and it turned out that the rheostat in the headlight switch was broken and not allowing any current through. The headlights worked fine, but the dash lights not at all. Replacing the headlight switch fixed the problem.

 

Check the panel lights fuse for voltage on both sides with the headlight switch on. It will only have power at that time.

 

Thanks all for the ideas.

I actually never paid attention to the dash lights after I bought it in Jan. Have not run it at night but will check it tonight. Head lights work fine. I'll check the panel fuse on both sides in the morning.

It looks like to get the light switch out is going to take a contortionist, unless I'm not seeing an easy way to remove it.

 

This alone is enough reason to troubleshoot it first.

 

 

Ok, so far I replaced the switch itself. Tried the lights and no dash lights. Strike 1. Rechecked the fuse which nis a 4 amp and very small. Saw it was bad (missed this earlier) so replaced it. Fuse blew immediately when I turned on the lights. Strike 2. Short somewhere but where is the question. Could be anywhere so trying not to strike out here.

 

I start by unplugging everything on the circuit, then slowly plug everything back in until the fuse pops. All instrument lighting items in the circuit use a gray wire. In addition to the instrument lamps (connected through the instrument cluster plug/s), you have ash tray, clock, and heater display lamps on that circuit.

 

I feel for you. In college, I had a crappy Fox body Mustang that had the dash lights go out on me. I knew it was a short, so I temporarily used one of those cigarette lighter map lights, with the flexible arm, to point at my dash so that I could see my speed at night. During the summer, I took that whole dash out and combed thru wire by wire. Nothing. Hit a deer towards the end of summer... BAM, dash lights returned. Flipped the car into a cornfield a year later (damn "curve" sign on a 90 degree turn instead of a stopsign), dash lights gone again.

 

Does the car have the original radio? reason is that a lot of times when an aftermarket stereo is installed, the IDIOT doing the work does not have a clue about the proper way to connect wiring, and instead grabs a whole roll of black tape......
ALSO, WHY WAIT UNTILL DARK? Just toss a fender cloth or dark towel over the dash and look under it.

 

Put an after market radio in myself- no big deal- it works great and lights up as it should. So far I've gone over each individual circuit and no joy. ALL other lights on the car work as they should. At this point I have other things I want to do rather then to continue standing on my head under the dash. Figure if I still have the car this winter I will tackle it again but lifes too short to keep chasing this for now.