QuestionThe illumination lights in the cluster are not coming on. All of the the warning lights, Gear Select/odometer are working. Only the lights behind the gauges are not working. The dimmer control switch is working & operates the heater/ac, radio, and interior lights perfectly. The owners manual says fuse #7 runs the instrument illumination/taillights, and it's OK. Also everything else is working correctly. The car has 75000 miles and regular maintience. Were should I start?
AnswerHi Greg,
There are two possibilities: the wire from the fuse to the cluster is 'open' or poorly connected at the circuit board of the cluster, or the body control wire that varies the resistance path of the lights to ground is open/the body control has a bad fuse. The separate lights that you listed each has its own wire on the body control module, which may explain why only the cluster is dark. Let me mention all the body control module fuses as there is no specific citation as to which one is needed for the 'driver' wire: 5,9,11,15 behind the dash, and 3,8,17,18,23 in the box under the hood. So check those.
If they are all ok, then I would check at the plug on the back side of the cluster. You should have 12v on pin 21 and on pin 15. The driver wire to the body control is on pin 12 and goes to pin 12 of the 26-pin plug at that module (the one that has 4 rows of pins, not 2 rows). But my suspicion is rather, if all the fuses check out, that there is a 'cold' solder joint between the cluster socket and the circuit board for pin 15 or 21, or the driver wire pin. Let me know if you want to get the cluster out and I can xerox copy the procedure for removing the bezel that surrounds it and postal mail that to you.
Roland
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