CS3 Lancer dashboard lights not lighting

venum · Postby **venum** » August 27th, 2007, 11:06 am

The Dashboard and Instrument panel lights are not coming on when the park and headlights are on.

the gear selector lights (on the IP) are working

The clock display gets dimmer when the park lights are on, as usual, but the The Dashboard and Instrument panel lights do not light

when the gear is in D, the light on the IP is lit, however, when the gear is in D and teh park lights are turned-on, the light switches off - it is supposed to dim, with park lights on, NOT turn off

this is why I suspect a wiring problem, or fuse - no current to the bulbs

Adjusting the dimmer makes no difference.

this problem happened when I tried to install a deck - was not getting power to the deck.

had to clip a few wires at the back of the old\previous deck, however, none of these can be responsible for this problem, as they were only power and speakers - IMHO

Took the car to a professional electrician\audio installer to be installed and it is working now, but teh lights are still not working

his assistant tested all teh fuses with the screw-driver looking tool and I saw that all lit up, but I am not sure about the ones under teh dash

I need to recheck the fuses myself though

what can be the problem?

ronsin1 · Postby **ronsin1** » August 27th, 2007, 11:40 am

When would you have time I can check them for you hit me ah PM

Rudman · Postby **Rudman** » August 27th, 2007, 11:52 am

Yuh know, if I remember correctly, Frass had this same problem once.

Venum, if the fuses check out, then your problem could be either one of two things:

1). A loose or disconnected wire
2). All the bulbs in the Instrument guage cluster blow!

Seeing that u were messing around with the wires before this happened, check the wiring again. U said U disconnected power going to the deck? U sure, somehow, the IP cluster isn't connected in series? (highly unlikely though).

ronsin1 · Postby **ronsin1** » August 27th, 2007, 12:26 pm

the harness going to the deck has a tap off the park light but it is not in series! When I installed my deck I found this out but seeing that I did not use it I taped it off!

venum · Postby **venum** » August 27th, 2007, 12:43 pm

^^^ that tap is for illumination, to allow the deck lights to light up when the park lights are on

however, since teh Blaukpunkt decks that were originally installed at the factory or Singapore dealer are always lit (once they are on) this tap was not used

the wire for that is a yellow wire that was not connected to teh harness at the back of the deck

all the bulbs can't be blown, cuz the lights on the gear shifter are also not lighting

original post edited for more clarity

ronsin1 · Postby **ronsin1** » August 27th, 2007, 1:30 pm

check the two fuses in the yellow housing in the engine bay quite easy to overlook they send power to the fuses under the dash

srnoth · Postby **srnoth** » August 27th, 2007, 1:37 pm

This happened to me when I was messing around with the alarm... I forgot to connect back the dimmer switch when I put back together the dashboard. Any chance you disconnected the dimmer switch when you were checking the wire harness or fuses?

zodiaque · Postby **zodiaque** » August 27th, 2007, 4:35 pm

These cars have one or two bulbs responsible for the entire cluster? or about 6 or more like my older cluster?

venum · Postby **venum** » August 27th, 2007, 5:45 pm

About three that light up the entire cluster

I have the pics from the last time I removed the cluster from the CS3 (not as easy as teh CK)

I will recount when I get home

venum · Postby **venum** » August 27th, 2007, 5:49 pm

srnoth wrote:This happened to me when I was messing around with the alarm... I forgot to connect back the dimmer switch when I put back together the dashboard. Any chance you disconnected the dimmer switch when you were checking the wire harness or fuses?

YES ! ! !

Very high chance

I disconnected the Alarm brain box teh same day and I had to disconnect the Dimmer to remove the piece of the dash, just under the IP, where the brain box is located

I will check this out tonight and report my findings

fras · Postby **fras** » August 27th, 2007, 10:29 pm

Actually mines came with that prob... It had the white cluster sheet over the black and no light was coming through the white sheet, So i just remove the white sheet!

I would say check cluster bulbs n fuse.

My fren's own... The rpm and mph needles move when they feel like!

Postby **JUS4SHO** » August 28th, 2007, 6:24 am

fuse... if the interior over head light not comming on as well

venum · Postby **venum** » August 28th, 2007, 10:21 pm

PROBLEM SOLVED ! ! !

srnoth wrote:I forgot to connect back the dimmer switch when I put back together the dashboard. Any chance you disconnected the dimmer switch when you were checking the wire harness or fuses?

As did I

just connected the dimmer and all worked out

Thanx srnoth and all others that offered suggestions