So taking my car out for the first time at night now that I have a working fuel pump on it, I quickly noticed that the gauge and climate control lights were not coming on (gauges still work fine though).

After searching, everyone seems to point this to the dimmer switch. I tried jumping it everyway I could think of but to no avail, still no lights behind the gauges. I went looking for the mystery PRDN automatic tranny plug that seems to get everyone but I never found it. I look all around under the shift boot (is it under the lower shift boot??), behind the radio, window switches, etc but never found anything that sounded like what people described in previous threads.

Fuses are all fine too.

I'm really stumped here. The only thing I haven't done is pull out the instrument panel and check the bulbs. However, since the climate control stuff is also out, I'm guessing its something besides just blown bulbs.

Is there anything else I can check? Anyone have a picture of that auto tranny plug that I couldn't find? Does anyone have a better description of where the plug actually is? The wiring diagrams just show it as coming out at the shifter on the driver's side.

Thanks for any help.

EDIT: Forgot to mention, the car is an '83 GSL. As far as options go, it has power windows, cruise, and the rear wiper if that helps with the diagnosis at all.

Zach

 

I have this exact same problem. I recently changed out my tach (for one with the buzzer electronics) and also changed out the turn signal/headlight switch assembly (the one behind the steering wheel, cant think of name). I now do not have PARKING LIGHTS. Check to see that your parking lights are on. This is mostly important, since at night no one will see you that good until they are right up behind you. If the parking lights are not working, then the gauges dont light up, or probably vice versa. Most likely on the same circuit. I still have the idiot lights though, which I am sure are on a different circuit. Not sure of the cause yet but I plan on doing some troubleshooting soon. If you figure out what your solution is, please post it so I can check it out also. BTW, mine is also an 83.

-Ian

EDIT: Also forgot to mention that my cig lighter no longer works also. I took it out to clean up the contacts and while reinstalling I blew a fuse. Even with a known good fuse, it still doesnt work. All 3 items were replaced/fixed at same time (cig lighter, turn signal lever assembly thing, and tach).

 

Ian,

I just checked and my parking light aren't working either. So now this changes the scope of this entirely. No long am I just working around the dimmer switch/dash area, now I've got to look at my parking lights as well! This is getting a lot more indepth than I thought it would.

I'll do some poking around let you know if I find anything.

Zach

 

Ian,

I found a solution to my problems. I think my problem is a faulty combination switch (the headlight, turn signal stalk). So what I did was take the power wire (white/green) at the switch, spliced into and ran a fuse and a toggle switch over to where the dimmer switch used to be.

Since I had already removed the dimmer and cut it apart, I simply spliced the red/green and red/blue wires together and soldered them to one terminal of my switch. I soldered the power/fuse wire to the other side of the terminal. Now all I need to do is flip that switch and voila, I have interior/parking lights!

I had to round out the dimmer switch opening a little bit but otherwise its all reversible (would need a new dimmer switch) and looks very clean. I guess eventually I'll get a new combo switch on the steering column, but for now this works.

Plus, I'm now far better equipped for bank robbery get-aways since I can turn off my rear lights (but keep my head lights) with the flick of switch! (not that I would ever do this of course)

Zach

 

I tried all 3 of my spare combo switches, and it seems that the combo switch is not at fault with mine at least. I am thinking that it is the dimmer switch for me. It also seems that there is no fuse for the parking lights, so the dimmer switch must take the hit. Here's the real question though - Why is it that the gauge lights and parking lights are on the same circuit? Granted they turn on at the same time, but why no fuse? Anyways, I am most likely going to do what you did and hopefully it will fix it for now. I wish I could find my multimeter.....

 

OK, I am pretty sure I have mentioned this before but let me just reiterate (sp). I AM A MORON lol. It turns out that I blew a fuse. I dont have a fuse cover and I guess I didnt check all the fuses that close. I tried bypassing the dimmer and that didnt work, so I started poking around some more and saw that the fuse had blown right where the thin part and the blade part meet. Havent seen that before. SO, I plug the new fuse is and the dinger started going off. Weird thing though, is that my headlights dropped at the same time. I had the switch selected to parking lights. So now, my headlights go up and down like they should. This is pretty weird as they have NEVER gone down and my parking lights have always worked.

Anyone else had this happen? I really dont care what the actual reason of them working, as I am happy that the headlights are working the way they are supposed to. On another note, is the headlight idiot light supposed to illuminate every time the headlights move? I honestly dont know as I have never had them work before. Both bulbs are OK.

By the way, I checked the FSM and the fuse that blew was the tail/illum fuse.

 

I was going to suggest the fuse, since I had that problem on the 83 last month, but it sounded like you were satisfied that the fuse was OK.

The fuses may pick up corrosion from the fuseblack prongs. If you see green on a fuse blade replace it.

B

 

Glad you got a fix for your problem, Ian.

You said you had some spare combo switches... would you be willing to let one of them go for cheap? Do you know that they work for sure?

Thanks,

Zach

 

Yes, I have 1 for an S2 car. HOWEVER, the stupid prong things that stick out to cancel the turn signal are broken off. You would simply need to turn off the turn signal manually. Not a big deal once you get used to it. It would be a very good test subject though. I thought that it was the cause of my headlights not going up and down like they should so I tore it apart and cleaned up the contacts extremely well. PM me with an offer and we can go from there.

On topic, I seem to have lost function of my dimmer switch. It seems that most people, when it goes out makes the parking lights not work. I always leave it at 100% anyways so it doesnt really matter. Should I bypass it just to be safe?

 

Someone will laugh at me, but I'll throw it out there anyway. I was at the shop the other day picking up basic stuff for my new 84se purchase and one of the items I picked up was fuses that when they blow they light up. I thought it was brilliant. If a fuse blows, I just look for a light.

So, if you didn't know, there it is. If you've known for years, insert laughter here.

 

Geeze if I'd had these in my MGB, they would have been a driving hazard, the dash would have lit up like fireworks every time I hit a good bump.

 

I have an 83 gsl. My problem is that i have checked the usuals, the dimmer, the fuses, the fusable links under the hood, the light bulbs in the cluster and to no avail i still have parkin lights head lights, interior lights, idiot lights but no gauge lights. Its really bummin me out. I bought custom made gauges and havent even seen them light up yet!

 

Have you checked for the wires under the shift boot? Do a search, I posted a picture up of the wires NOT to connect.

 

THANK YOU! THANK YOU ! THANK YOU!
I CAN`T THANK ALL THE PEOPLE ON THIS SITE ENOUGH FOR HELPING ME WITH MY 85 RX7! IT`S PRETTY BAD WHEN THE REPAIR SHOP CALLS AND SAYS WE DON`T WANT TO WORK ON THIS ANYMORE! THEY COULDN`T FIND WHY MY CAR WAS GROUNDING OUT AND THE DIMMER SWITCH WAS BLOWING. USED A SEARCH ENGINE,CAME TO THIS SITE AND LO AND BEHOLD,MY HUSBAND HAD ACCIDENTLY HOOKED UP THE 2 WIRES UNDER THE SHIFT BOOT WHEN HE REPLACED THE TRANNY,I ALSO DIDN`T WANT BUY ANOTHER SWITCH,SO HE FOLLOWED THE ADVICE ON BYPASSING THE DIMMER,WORKED LIKE A CHARM AND NOW I`VE GOT DASH LIGHTS! I CAN`T WAIT TO TELL THEM GUYS AT THE SHOP THAT I FOUND THE ANSWER ON THIS SITE!
NOW MAYBE I`LL FIND THE MISSING PIECE TO MY GROUND EFFECTS ,I STILL AM LOOKING FOR A TURBO WHALE TAIL,BUT NOT THE MARIAH ONE THAT SITS UP REAL HIGH. SO IF ANYONE OUT THERE`S GOT ONE,DROP ME A LINE. THANKS AGAIN

 

Mazda Gal, I had the same cathartic moment when I finally figured out, with the help of darkfrost's post, that this was the cause of my dash light problem. We all owe darkfrost a round of beer's!

Ray

 

Old post resurrection

i have the same problem

Connecting two red wires to dimmer doesn’t work as the other red is a ground

pulled the upper shift boot hoping to magically find these wires, but no wires

are they under the other shift boot?

hate having no dash lights !!!