My '73 Cutlass Supreme with a 350 has had non operating idiot lights since I got it...no problems with overheating, electrical, etc but the lights are all not working...rest of the dash and interior lighting is fine...radio, ac and lighter are fine...gas gauge (which is the gauge where the idiot lights are hosed works fine...just no red lights when I turn on the key and nothing when I'm driving..

Old guy that is sort of crippled and before I start trying to dig around can anyone share some thoughts? Fuses? if so where would they be?

any help appreciated.
Thanks

 

Fuses are a good place to start. The fuse box is on the driver’s side of the firewall about where your left foot would go when driving. Use a test light to check both side of each fuse, sometimes they’re burned but you can’t see the break.

Next see if you can fish your hand up behind the dash and feel around for the bulb sockets, they come out with a quarter turn counter clockwise. Replace any burned out bulbs. If the bulbs check out, have a look at the sending units under the hood.

The oil pressure sender is on the driver’s side of the block, just above the water pump. The hot/cold light sensor is on the intake manifold. Look for frayed or broken wires there.

 

Pull the wire off the oil pressure or the temp sensor and ground it. The light should come on. What has me perplexed on it not being a fuse is the fuel gauge works.

 

Is this with the engine running? With the switch on but not running? or just with the switch off all together...thanks

 

With the switch on engine off.

 

There is only one fuse that controls all of the dashboard indicators (fuel gauge, gen light, temp light, oil light, brake/parking brake light). Therefore, if the fuel gauge works, the fuse can be ruled out immediately as not being the problem.

As oldcutlass suggests, it is very simple to check these lights. For the temp and oil lights, just disconnect the connector at the sending unit and ground it. With the ignition ON (engine can be running or not, it doesn't matter), the respective indicator light should come on. If it doesn't, I would suspect a burned out bulb. If it does, I would suspect a bad sending unit.

Your problem might be nothing more than burned out lamps. They don't last forever, and any that are still original are now 44 years old.

 

Before crawling around, try a simple test. With the key in RUN, unplug the wire from the oil sender on the engine and ground it. Does the light come on? Do the same with the temp sender wire. If the lights come on, the problem is the sender(s). If not, then start troubleshooting.

 

Many thanks...a bit later today I'll check things out...the gas gauge and everything else working threw me too...now that I know it's not a fuse I'll just work my way through each of the "systems"..

Thanks again
opos

 

Starting to sound like a feed problem. Check connections plugged in behind dash. Maybe nothing from the ign switch.

 

Look at the schematic first. The Fuel gauge, OIL light, GEN light, TEMP light, and BRAKE light all are fed by the same pin on the gauge pod connector. If one of them works (ie, the fuel gauge), then this is NOT the problem.

It IS possible that a pin or pins that feed the idiot lights is bad; this is not unheard of, but it is NOT the power feed, fuse, or ignition switch if the fuel gauge is working.