Interior Continuity?

[kronus]

Alright I want to first start off stating that I did search, and I found nothing to aid me. So here I go; and I'm no electric expert

So about a week ago, I lost all of my cluster lights. For a little background info, when I purchased the car a year and a half ago, some previous owner had installed reverse indiglo guages. They worked approximately 50% of the time. (had to turn the lights on and off again, but they worked even after losing the cluster lights.)

I opened up my cluster today to take a look, and found out that they had done a hack job at installing the indiglos. Wires everywhere, elec. tape covering the exposed wires. Well I tried to organize the wires, and I capped the exposed ends. After putting it all back together, I completely lost the use of my indiglos, and I smelt a faint burning smell, but no sparks. I still have my warning lights (i.e. cruise control, brake, cel).

I'm completely lost right now. I checked my fuses visually and found no blown fuses aside from the cig lighter fuse in the interior, and the brake light fuse under the hood. Any ideas? Also, how do you check the continuity of the interior fuses. I know that in the engine bay, you connect one probe from the negative terminal of the battery to the top of the fuse of your choice. However, I have no idea how to check the continuity of the interior fuse panel.

Please Help!!!

 

[luvmygst]

Indiglo lights actually have a ballast. They operate at a higher voltage than the normal 12v in the car. sounds to me like you may have lost the balast. I would go back and check everything again just to besure, but it sounds like you will have to go back to regular guges or buy another set of indigights. Check every thing and let us know. Good luck

 

[VanIsleDSM]

something could have shorted when you organized the wiring, you'll have to go in there again.. to check a fuse pull it out and check the resistance through it, just put a multimeter probe on each contact, if there are a few ohms it's good, if there's no reading it's bad, or if you have a continuity check on your meter just use that, doesn't really matter, same thing.

 

[kronus]

luvmygst: Yeah. I did notice a box of some sort, but I'm ditching the reverse indiglo to do an LED conversion. I like the reverse look, but I want to go stock with white LED's. But thanks for your input. Do you happen do know of any wiring schematics for the reverse glos? Because if I do choose to put them in, I'd like to get them wired the right way the first time.

VanIsleDSM: Thanks for the info. How would I know if I have a continuity check?

To everyone else, any ideas on what it could be if it's not a blown fuse?

Edit: This is the look I'm going for. Just in a 1g variant.
http://www.dsmtalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=161802&highlight=Interior+Brighter

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[VanIsleDSM]

some meters have a continuity check, some don't, there will be an option on yours if it's got it, but it's not needed.. mine just beeps if there's continuity, checking for resistance nets you the same results.

 

[kronus]

Sweet deal. I'll get on that here in a bit.

EDIT:

After doing some more searching, I read up on the three or four possible fixes to my problems.

Fix #1: Replace "Tail" fuse under hood. Did that, blew it again.

Fix #2: Replace any burnt fuses on interior fuse panel. Did that, but no change.

Fix #3: Replace rheostat (dimmer) switch. Tried that, blew the "tail" fuse.

Fix #4. Bypass the dimmer switch altogether.
-I need to try this one. But I can't seem to find the thread I found that tells which wires I need to connect... Anyone have any ideas?