when i first bought my bird the dash lights didnt come on at all, si u replaced the bulbs at the top of the speedo and voila! they work... until you hit the headlight switch then they get dim. i replaced the headlight switch thinking it was maybe a bad dial on the switch but it's still happening!! any ideas what the problem could be? i would love to get this car on the road but i need this issue fixed before i can. thanks for all the input!
When you say they get dim do you mean they go out so you cant see them at all ?
They are designed so they dim with the headlights so they are not so harsh on your eyes at night
There's a cluster illumination relay in behind the center stack (near the radio, on the left hand side, really hard to get at). That went bad on my old 88 Cougar and it was doing the exact same thing...
nah i can barely see them i have to shine a light on them if i want to see them lol
nah i can barely see them i have to shine a light on them if i want to see them lol
Do you have an aftermarket stereo installed?
yeah it had an aftermarket tape deck in it and i took it out and put a cd player in it
You might check this article for some useful info http://www.coolcats.net/tech/troubleshooting/dash.html
I know waaaaaaay back in the day, I put an aftermarket stereo in my car and my speedometer worked fine until the headlights were turned on. Then you could only see it with a flashlight. I don't remember exactly how I fixed it, but I think the article will give you a good starting place.
thanks that was a great link and had some really good info. does anyone know which relay it is i see three...
well after having the car for 3 months and being completly stumped as to why i had not dash lights i figured it out tonight... it was a 5 amp fuse that was blown.. :punchballs:
When anything electrical happens to our cars usually the first thing to do is have a peek in the fusebox.........lesson learned lol