dash illimination wire goes where?

[GSX HP]

The guy who had my car before me sucks. That said, the dash guage lights aren't turning on. As I had the aftermarket headunit out of the dash to fix the shitty wiring he did on the speakers (only one was working!) I noticed there were some wires cut... 2 are labeled "Dash Illumination" and "power antenna". They are just cut after the wiring harness going to the radio, and neither functions.... Where do these wires need to go for them to function? Especially the dash lights, that would be nice. I know it's not to ground as I've already replaced two fuses from trying that out. Thanks in advance. .

P.S. I can post a pic of the wires if necesary.

 

[GSX HP]

Here's a pic of the clump of 5 cut wires

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[grnchevyz]

Those 2 wires are only for power antenna and illumination of the head unit, they should not affect your actual gauges. Look at fuse #11 in the engine compartment and fuses 8, 14 & 15 under driver dash to see if any are blown. replace as necessary. You probaly blew one or 2 grounding the illumination wire.

EDIT: Power antenna has to be wired to the SOLID BLUE wire of the aftermarket radio. The BLUE/WHITE is for an external amplifier.

EDIT #2: Forget about the brown wire too...

EDIT #3: And just cap the illumination wire.

 

[grnchevyz]

Lets make it clearer

Brown - MUTE for car phone - unneeded, cap it
Orange - Dimmer Switch for head unit - unneeded, cap it
Orange/White - Illumination for head unit - unneeded, cap it
Red - ACC, wire that to the ACC wire of the radio also red
Blue - Power Antenna - needed, wire to SOLID BLUE of aftermarket radio

 

[grnchevyz]

Also I notice they hooked up yellow and Red of the aftermarket radio together....take that red one and solder it to the red of the adapter harness.

 

[GSX HP]

I'm under the impression that the Dash illumination wire being cut is what's casing my entire dash not to be lit (turn sigs, and CEL work, just not guages)... If so, what can I do with it? If not, where should I look for the problem of my dash not lighting up?

 

[grnchevyz]

Illumination wires are Green/White and Black/Orange at the cluster itself.

Look at the pic it should help.

Both those wires also go to the dimmer switch (rheostat in the pic) check for breaks there as well.

Hope this helps.

 

[grnchevyz]

Also check Fuse #5 under the hood, that's the dimmer fuse..if its blown it'll cut your gauges illumination.

 

[GSX HP]

My tail fuse is fine. I replaced it anyway, no change.
I put the red ACC wires together and now the stereo won't turn on... I guess it's back to the yellow.
There is no solid blue wire coming from the aftermarket stereo....
Also, I have an OEM head unit, is there any way to get that on without doing a bunch of wiring? And would that fix my antenna issue?
I can see the dimmer switch from under the dash, but no wires have been touched, what should I look for?

 

[grnchevyz]

Put the red wire from the head unit to the ACC wire on the ignition switch or to any other 12v wire on when key is on. No wiring should be required to make the factory stereo work. Just unplug the aftermarket harness and plug the factory radio...done.

Look on top of the aftermarket radio there should be a wire color designation there...find the power antenna and attach it to the blue wire of the harness.