my gauges dont light up at all, and its not the dimmer switch, the fuse is fine and the bulbs are fine, what could it be? a friend of mine said the dimmers switch might be unplugged? thanks for any help. Sorry if this is a repost...

Is it just the cluster or the other lights as well in the dash? If the bulbs and fuse are kosher it could be the switch

Its all the lights in the dash, basically the only light that comes on in the whole thing is the little green light when my A/C is on...How would i get to the plug in for the dimmer switch..

i took a look at the dimmer switch....i unplugged the clip from the back of it and each of the 3 wires that goes into the clip have little cuts in them like someone took a razor and tried to splice something into them....i thought maybe the guy before me tried to put gauges in, but i dont know.... i taped the wires so none of the bare wires touched, put it back together and the dash lights still dont turn on........ I think i will just go get ebay gauges that light themselves up, i really dont want to though.....

Oh, and we tested the 3 wires and they all work the power the ground and i think the other one is for the dimmer thingy, controlls amount of power or somthing, dunno for sure, but anyway they all work, so i dont know what it could be....:(

Do your taillights and cornerlights light up with your headlights or parking lights?

its the switch..when i had my RS i went through three of them before i had to have it wired without the switch....

yeah the tails and corners light up. So how did u wire it up without the switch? if ya dont mind me asking...

Bypass the rheostat (dimmer switch).....touch 2 of the 3 wires together...one of those combos will fix the poblem.

Thanks man, i'll give it a try....

didnt work, anyone have any more detailed instructions?

are the gauges working? at all or is the lights just not working? if you tried bypassing the switch and still no go than you must not be getting power have you tested for power in the wires? do you have any buddies with a 2g locally? try swapping instrament clusters and see what happens? im willing to bet theres a wire cut somewhere.

Yeah, the gauges themselves work but no lights, the only lights are blinkers high beams, CEL and seat belts doorajar...etc...etc...no rpm mph fuel or temp, and arent there supposed to be lighting over the CD player like the heat and stuff, that little green light turnes on when my AC is on but thats about it. i will try my friends gauge cluster tomarrow...if he lets me, he is kinda stingy when it comes to his eclipse, but he owes me, i let him try my ECU, coolant temp sensor and MAP sensor...(his car is in limp mode...but thats getting off topic)

Well, thanks for the help so far, i'll let ya know what happens with the other cluster.... any and all info is welcome, i know i will fix it sooner or later, 2gnt.com is like a vault of infinite knowledge....i love this place... :)

FIXED IT!!!!!!!! i connected the two black wires together and it works now, i was blowing fuses for the tailights and i found the problem the guy that owned it before me spliced the wires again higher up so it was grounding itself out poping the fuse i fixed it and now i am happy, thanks for all your healp guys, once again 2gnt comes through for me, you guys are great thanks again!

Originally posted by OneSadRS
Yeah, the gauges themselves work but no lights, the only lights are blinkers high beams, CEL and seat belts doorajar...etc...etc...no rpm mph fuel or temp, and arent there supposed to be lighting over the CD player like the heat and stuff, that little green light turnes on when my AC is on but thats about it. i will try my friends gauge cluster tomarrow...if he lets me, he is kinda stingy when it comes to his eclipse, but he owes me, i let him try my ECU, coolant temp sensor and MAP sensor...(his car is in limp mode...but thats getting off topic) Well, thanks for the help so far, i'll let ya know what happens with the other cluster.... any and all info is welcome, i know i will fix it sooner or later, 2gnt.com is like a vault of infinite knowledge....i love this place... :)

Im having the same problem with my car as well. I just recently installed my stereo and all of a sudden the lights behind the gauges stopped working. Only things working are the check engine, door ajar, etc.. Like you said the gauges themselves still work but im not getting any power to them to light up. I check all my grounds and everything is fine. I also checked my fuses and they were ok as well. I dont know what else to do? Should I disconnect my entire stero and start over? Which 2 black wires did you connect to get them to work?

ok, you know where the dimmer switch is (its more of a nob) well if you take off the bottom pannel that goes over your legs, under the steering wheel,(like four bolts, 2 are behimd little pannel peices) you can reach up under there and dissconnect the wiring clip from the switch (for my rs there is a little black panel think about 2" by 1 1/2" to the left side of where you steering wheel is, i popped this out and it made so i could directly see the wiring clip, it can be a little trick to get out but not too bad) after you pull it out, there should be enough slack to pull it down so you can see it, there are two black wires and a green one that go into the clip, i cut the wires off the clip (leaving a little bit so i could reconnect it if i ever wanted) then strip the black ones and connect them, this should make your dash lights come one when your headlights are on. the green wire.....is a bad, bad wire, dont let it touch the black wires unless you dissconect the battery.....or you can get wire imprints burnt into your fingers, kinda painfull. just tape the black wires or solder them or use connectors and your set, if i were you when you go to cut the wires just cut the 2 black ones and leave the green one connected to the clip, then you wont have to worry about that. if you need any help or have any questions just PM me or post it here, later and good luck