2g gauge cluster backlight question

[mrTalonAWD95]

i owned my 2g awd for 2 years now and am getting tired of not being able to see my speedo and rpm's at night.

i pulled out my gauge cluster and saw 2 loose black wires just chilling behind it, not hooked up to anything. is either one of them a power/ground wire for the light?

does anyone know where the backlight is hooked up at?

 

[Bud92gsx]

There should be a harness for the lights..But black wires are ground..Maybe someone before you accidently pulled the two out ..Look for a harness missing a ground wire..

 

[mrTalonAWD95]

every diagram i look at only shows the bulbs, i need to find out where to connect those wires to. if anyone can help me find a diagram that shows what im looking for, id appreciate it. i was just out there messing with the wires and touching them to the back of the gauge cluster hoping it would light up and solve my problem, but no luck.

 

[chico904]

A picture would help. Trace the black wires.

 

[srpjosh]

The back of the gauge cluster doesn't have any wires. The cluster uses three plugs in your dash to provide power/ground to your cluster. The wires have to be from something else. Check each bulb, as the cluster is one looped circuit. So if one bulb goes out they all do, just like christmas lights. You can see the electrical routes by the dark lines against the lime green backing.

 

[EskyDSM]

You sure about that? Wouldn't that also say that if a bulb goes out, the entire cluster fails, no needles or anything?

I have three bulbs out on my cluster, as well as a few missing, and it all still works fine (except for a some dim spots on the cluster)?

But, as stated above, there are pin slots that the cluster plugs into that provides all power, grounding, and signals. Did you turn up your dimmer switch?

 

[mrTalonAWD95]

dimmer switch is turned up. !everything! works EXCEPT the gauges lights. i guess ill try switching out the bulbs from the other spots and see if it works. ill post back up in a few minutes and sawy how it went.

 

[mrTalonAWD95]

put some bulbs in, no dice... wtf. i think im going to have to borrow my brothers multimeter and try to figure this out. any advice?

 

[Harriz801]

I had all of my interior lights quit working a while ago when my dimmer switch went bad.

Something burnt the dimmer switch up and didnt allow current to flow through to the gauge cluster.

I had to end up grounding a wire inside my harness to get everything to work.

Try and see if you can test that dimmer switch and let us know what happens.

Also, are all of your dash lights not working or just the gauge cluster?

Maybe those wires were something aftermarket that somebody left in, like a set of reverse glow gauges or something dumb like that.

Trace the wires and see where they lead to.

 

[mrTalonAWD95]

the only light that comes on is some light thats under the shifter? wtf. anyone ever seen that before?

my low fuel, coolant, check engine, etc all work. my backlights dont, and now that i have checked, neither do any of my dash lights.

and the black wires look like they dont even belong there, like someoone spliced them into the harness. i dont think they even matter now.

so what should i do about the dimmer switch to see if i can fix this junk?

 

[chico904]

Check the switch, and check your taillight fuse.

 

[jasssss]

do you see somewhere that is missing those wires?
can you see where the wires go and what theyre connected to?

 

[mrTalonAWD95]

Check the switch, and check your taillight fuse.

ill go out and try that. just one question, what do the tail lights have to do with it? the fuse blew once like 2 yrs ago but i replaced it and never had a problem with the tail lights since. are they somehow connected?

do you see somewhere that is missing those wires?
can you see where the wires go and what theyre connected to?

no, i dont see where they could be connected to, i already looked. they just look like they were spliced into an existing wire thats already connected to something else and the other ends of them are just hanging freely. id find out what the main wire is connected to but i dont want to pull it out of whatever its connected to.

 

[chico904]

If the taillight fuse is out, the rest of your interior lights will not work. While you are there, check all your other fuses, including the fuses at your driverside kickpanel. It could be something as simple as a fuse.

 

[rapedbytheeves]

my friend is having this same problem, on his 98 gst he just got, checked all the fuses, they are good, the tail lights work fine, the gauge cluster backlights and his instrument panel lights arent working. anyone ever resolve this problem?