Dashboard Lights and Right Side Running Lights Won't Come On

[kings1527]

After a loooooong day of putting my interior back together, I was happy to feel like I was just about 90% done before calling it a night. That is until I turned on my lights.

My instrument cluster lights don't come on anymore and my running lights on the right side don't come on, either. That includes both the front amber, rear red, and taillight running light. Brakes are good reverse lights are good, and turn signals are fine. It's just the instrument cluster lights and my right side running lights.

I did a TON of work today and it'd be impossible to go back and tear everything apart to find this issue. Here's a summary of what I did today:

1) Put the rear bulkhead back together and it did take some finesse and force to get everything back in place. I'm wondering if one of the bulkhead connectors is causing a problem.
2) Put the center console back in and rearranged a lot of wires in the process.
3) Installed the driver's side kneepads and had to disconnect a plug underneath in order to get the AC duct back in place, but I plugged it back in.
4) My dashboard ground on the right side is not connected yet but everything was working fine before I started this project today. It was working fine even being disconnected.
5) Discovered that my driver's side front side amber was corroded pretty heavily and that I'll need another bulb after breaking it to get it out of there, but even if I put in a bulb that worked but didn't fit, that didn't solve my problem. I thought maybe having something of an open circuit was causing problems.
6) Installed new carpets but I didn't interfere with any wiring (I think)

I did a bunch of other stuff, too but what I listed was everything pertinent to my problem. Any electrical gurus out there that can point me in the right direction with this in terms of where to start? There's got to be a connection or wiring that controls running lights on the right side and somehow it's tied into the console lights.

Talk about frustrating. I hate moving backwards.

Thanks!

[jawn101]

After a loooooong day of putting my interior back together, I was happy to feel like I was just about 90% done before calling it a night. That is until I turned on my lights.

My instrument cluster lights don't come on anymore and my running lights on the right side don't come on, either. That includes both the front amber, rear red, and taillight running light. Brakes are good reverse lights are good, and turn signals are fine. It's just the instrument cluster lights and my right side running lights.

I did a TON of work today and it'd be impossible to go back and tear everything apart to find this issue. Here's a summary of what I did today:

1) Put the rear bulkhead back together and it did take some finesse and force to get everything back in place. I'm wondering if one of the bulkhead connectors is causing a problem.
2) Put the center console back in and rearranged a lot of wires in the process.
3) Installed the driver's side kneepads and had to disconnect a plug underneath in order to get the AC duct back in place, but I plugged it back in.
4) My dashboard ground on the right side is not connected yet but everything was working fine before I started this project today. It was working fine even being disconnected.
5) Discovered that my driver's side front side amber was corroded pretty heavily and that I'll need another bulb after breaking it to get it out of there, but even if I put in a bulb that worked but didn't fit, that didn't solve my problem. I thought maybe having something of an open circuit was causing problems.
6) Installed new carpets but I didn't interfere with any wiring (I think)

I did a bunch of other stuff, too but what I listed was everything pertinent to my problem. Any electrical gurus out there that can point me in the right direction with this in terms of where to start? There's got to be a connection or wiring that controls running lights on the right side and somehow it's tied into the console lights.

Talk about frustrating. I hate moving backwards.

Thanks!

Check fuse #8. I had the same thing happen when I went LED in my center stack - I had messed up the LED in the headlight switch and it shorted and blew fuse 8. It controls instrument illumination and RH running lights.

[kings1527]

Getting somewhere. It turns out my fuse was blown but I don't know why. My old fuse was OLD and it didn't look like a normal blown fuse when I looked at it...hard to explain. Now I just need to find out why that fuse keeps blowing every time I put a new one in and turn on my headlights/instrument cluster...

[jawn101]

Getting somewhere. It turns out my fuse was blown but I don't know why. My old fuse was OLD and it didn't look like a normal blown fuse when I looked at it...hard to explain. Now I just need to find out why that fuse keeps blowing every time I put a new one in and turn on my headlights/instrument cluster...

See above!! :) Check the lamp inside the headlight switch.

[kings1527]

Check fuse #8. I had the same thing happen when I went LED in my center stack - I had messed up the LED in the headlight switch and it shorted and blew fuse 8. It controls instrument illumination and RH running lights.

Beat me to it. Thanks Jon! I've got a few ideas that I need to try out before I head out to the girlfriend's. She's just gonna have to wait for a minute...

[kings1527]

Check fuse #8. I had the same thing happen when I went LED in my center stack - I had messed up the LED in the headlight switch and it shorted and blew fuse 8. It controls instrument illumination and RH running lights.

Jon, you are the frickin' MAN. That's exactly what I did. Almost. I messed up my LED in my Hazard switch and forgot about it. So every time I put a fuse in: POP. Couldn't figure out why since I was putting in some LEDs earlier today but I made sure my incandescent went back in my headlight switch just now as I was troubleshooting. I decided to check my Hazard once again and sure enough, there was the culprit still in there. Problem solved and I'll be able to sleep tonight. Thanks Jon!

[jawn101]

Jon, you are the frickin' MAN. That's exactly what I did. Almost. I messed up my LED in my Hazard switch and forgot about it. So every time I put a fuse in: POP. Couldn't figure out why since I was putting in some LEDs earlier today but I made sure my incandescent went back in my headlight switch just now as I was troubleshooting. I decided to check my Hazard once again and sure enough, there was the culprit still in there. Problem solved and I'll be able to sleep tonight. Thanks Jon!

Yay! Glad it was as simple for you as it was for me. I spent some time tracking it down as well and ultimately the thing I was most mad about was that I had to place an order for a single 90 cent LED to replace the one I fried... lol :)

Don't forget if you're using those 74-x LEDs inside the switches that you have to trim back the leads so they don't wrap all the way around to the other side of the bayonet.

[kings1527]

Yay! Glad it was as simple for you as it was for me. I spent some time tracking it down as well and ultimately the thing I was most mad about was that I had to place an order for a single 90 cent LED to replace the one I fried... lol :)

Don't forget if you're using those 74-x LEDs inside the switches that you have to trim back the leads so they don't wrap all the way around to the other side of the bayonet.

This could've been a total nightmare along with a grip load of 10A fuses trying to hunt this problem down. And the fact that I totally forgot to mention that I was messing around with my LEDs in those switches, yet you still recommended that I check that out was awesome.

I'm in the same boat with making a tiny order of LEDs! I found out I ordered some that are too long for the side markers.

So I wasn't aware of trimming back the leads. Is that why they were shorting out? I know those are polarized and have to be inserted the right way, but I wasn't aware that they'd short out. So just trim them back a little bit and that should take care of it?

Thanks!

[jawn101]

This could've been a total nightmare along with a grip load of 10A fuses trying to hunt this problem down. And the fact that I totally forgot to mention that I was messing around with my LEDs in those switches, yet you still recommended that I check that out was awesome.

I'm in the same boat with making a tiny order of LEDs! I found out I ordered some that are too long for the side markers.

So I wasn't aware of trimming back the leads. Is that why they were shorting out? I know those are polarized and have to be inserted the right way, but I wasn't aware that they'd short out. So just trim them back a little bit and that should take care of it?

Thanks!

Basically you need to cut back the end of the lead so that it does not go around and make contact on the other side of the socket. It's hard to describe so I drew a picture. Basically make the cut at the red circle so that the area circled in blue is removed. You just want to trim off the extra loose part, of course not the part that goes into the bulb itself :)

http://dmctalk.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=17580&d=1363880055

The socket has conductors at both the top and bottom, left and right. Like 4 fingers that grip the base of the bulb. You don't want the same lead to make contact on both the upper and lower part of the same side, if that makes sense. It was OK with the incandescent bulbs but not for LEDs.

[kings1527]

Basically you need to cut back the end of the lead so that it does not go around and make contact on the other side of the socket. It's hard to describe so I drew a picture. Basically make the cut at the red circle so that the area circled in blue is removed. You just want to trim off the extra loose part, of course not the part that goes into the bulb itself :)

http://dmctalk.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=17580&d=1363880055

The socket has conductors at both the top and bottom, left and right. Like 4 fingers that grip the base of the bulb. You don't want the same lead to make contact on both the upper and lower part of the same side, if that makes sense. It was OK with the incandescent bulbs but not for LEDs.

I had no idea about this. That makes total sense. Thanks again!

[burch]

Dredging up an old thread, but saw this after I installed the LED and didn't trim back the leads :) Now I have to make another $0.97 order from SuperBrightLEDs.

Thanks for posting about the #8 fuse. I honestly thought I had inadvertently disconnected something behind the AC panel, and would have to pull the whole center console to check it out. Freaked out for a second when the instrument cluster didn't light up. Saved me a ton of time and frustration!

[Kherns]

I had exactly the same, few weeks ago ! :rofl: