I have a minor dilemma with my electrical system in my blazer. Its a 2001 zr2 ls trim. The problem I have is that I have no lights on my dash or roof compass. Idiot lights(check engine, seat-belt etc) lights work on the cluster but the back-lights to the gauges do not light up. It makes driving in the dark a pain as I cannot see my speed. The HVAC controls are also dark where they used to light up. Same goes for the back-lights on the dimmer control switch.

Next issue is the compass, not sure if it is related but I believe it is. When driving during the day the compass light is on an works correctly. Once the headlights come on the compass goes off. If I manually turn the headlights off the indicator comes back on. Ive seen other threads around where people have had similar issues but no fixes.

Things I have tried so far:
-Check fuses

Any help is appreciated.

 

Sounds like a bad dimmer switch

 

It would be wonderful if it was somthing as simple as that. Ill try finding one in the junk yard in the next few days. Can they just fail like that? Anyone else have ideas?

 

its possible... I think if you unplug it Every thing should light up. Im not 100 % sure.

But I do think thats the cause of the issue.

 

Thanks for the advice, hopefully that will work. Anything I should look for in a new switch? I live 2 miles from the biggest vehicle graveyard in the US lol

 

Make sure they dont smell burnt . Thats all i can think of...

 

i had a 95 as a work truck and stopped by a buddies with the head lights on. it was about 8 at night when i stopped by, but when i left at 10-10:30 i hit the switch and all i got was parking lights, no head lights. next day i pulled the panel and changed out the switch and that fixed everything. so yeah, they can go out just like that. good luck. just find one that isnt too burnt up on the contacts and you should be alright.

 

Great success, finally had time to get to the yard to get a switch and install it. Works perfectly now, somehow I had 2 bad switches but the 3rd one finally did the trick. Thanks for the help!

 

Any time Nepa SO it was the dimmer after all right? Glad ya got it fixed.

 

Yup, it was the dimmer switch. Happy it was such a simple fix