Here's my problem - none of the instrument cluster or dash lights (heater panel) light up. After reading several postings here one cause of this could be an aftermarket radio. Yup, when I bought this truck it did have an aftermarket radio. I am going to replace it with another radio soon and want to know what the hell I am looking for and when I find it what do I do with it. I have read there is a hot wire that goes to the stock radio for light, If I find such wire loose what is the best solution for this wire?

:::I have checked all the fuses, but haven't checked the dimmer/dome switch to see if it's faulty, thought i would check the stereo first since I am going to replace it:::

Any ideas of where and what to look for are welcome - I need these damn lights to work!

 

if that wire running to the deck was the culprit, it would've blown the fuse when it shorted out.

i had a few HL switches act up in a few of my 1st gen trucks.

while it doesn't hurt to look into the mess someone else has inflicted upon the truck, the HL switch would be my 1st place to start, IMO.

 

Does anyone know just how many bulbs there are in the instrument cluster on my 92?

 

there are 7 for illumination, and i think there are 6 or 7 for your warning/idiot lights.


you should've asked this on Friday, since i was putting the interior & dash back into my brother's Summer Dime for the show in a couple of weeks. had to replace a few of the bulbs, and decided to just do all of them since we were had it apart already.

use the 194's for your illumination, they're a little broghter than the 168's that came stock.

you can do 1 of 2 things when changing your dash lights. you can take the bulb outta the socket by prying back the terminals & breaking the little solder joints. be sure to bend the little wires on the new bulbs out (like straight down from the bulb base) before you slid them into the old sockets, and then bend them back over the little metal terminals where they were soldered before.

or you can hit your local JY for any old Chev's, and take out a few of the dash light sockets. they're the exact same, except they're designed for a replacement bulb, instead of changing the whole socket, and the new bulbs just slid right in just like a normal peanut bulb socket.

 

Here's the update... Done! There are 6 bulbs for instrument illumination, one is a seat belt indicator for a total of 7. So as fraking luck would have all of my 168 bulbs were black and burnt out. The 74's on the heater control were also burnt out. Since I bought this truck with all the dash and control lights out I had no idea it was every freaking bulb burnt out. Prior to removing the instrument cluster I swapped out both the dimmer and light switch. This was money wasted, all I had to do was check for voltage at the fuse block to see if there was power to the bulbs.

I think this is going to be an on-going project as I am either going to upgrade to a digital dash or add LED's to the analog dash. But that will be down the road.

 

Glad to see you got it fixed at least. I'm having the same problem with no lights but its in an 89 blazer. I am going to get together with a friend this week to see if he can help me since he is a little more automotive savvy than me.

 

glad to hear you got it all sorted out. sorry to hear of an overlooked starting point. it happens. too all of us.

in regards to your plans for a digital swap............... i sooooo hope you don't go that route.

when i was building my '84 up, i was jumping for joy when the parts truck i was taking the W-code from had the digital dash. within a year i had had rewired the dash to take an analog W-code cluster. that was after i had repaired the digital cluster twice!

i'd go with the LED upgrade if you're after more light.


@ greendoug: same dash in your '89 as the OP. (that dash style came out in '86)

 

So, the digital dash wouldn't be your first option because of failing LED blocks in the panel? Well, to be honest, the look of the analog dash is rather go-cart-ish at best. The appeal of the more modern look of the digital cluster is what I am drawn to. One thing I don't like about converting to the digital is the "hack and slash" on the wiring harness.

With the LEDs and some custom paint work on the original cluster, it might look good. Since I have the old dimmer switch on hand now I might try coming up with a solution for dimming LEDs. Yeah, that was a huge mistake not checking voltage first....but....having every light not illuminating sure seemed like the bad switch to me.

 

that and the fact that i have yet to come across anyone who hasn't had one fail @ least once.

and i noticed i didn't write that up quite correctly in my last post. i meant i had repaired it twice after the initial repair. so that made 3 strikes.

while i agree that era of clusters (in all of GM's trucks) is lacking in luster, there are far worse out there.

as for the "hack and slash" you refer to......well...that's all up to the person doing the job.

while it was a bit of a PITA, i soldered every joint. wasn't too bad though, but get yourself some wiring diagrams before you atempt it.