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Grounding problem?

PostPosted: Mon Jun 27, 2011 9:43 pm
by Tachycardia!
The bulb on my dash cluster and climate controls aren't lit when I turn the lights on. Occasionally I'll hit a bump in the road and they'll turn back on a while, but it doesn't last and quite frankly I'm getting sick of it.

Does anyone have any suggestions for me as to how I can resolve this?


Thanks

PostPosted: Mon Jun 27, 2011 9:49 pm
by 706josh
Bad dimmer switch most likely. Very common problem. Go to the scrapyard and pull one from another civic or you can get one from eBay pretty cheap. Or if you don't really care too much about the dimmer switch, you can pull it out and connect the red wire to the black. :thumb:

PostPosted: Tue Jun 28, 2011 12:54 am
by Tachycardia!
Good idea but that isn't it. I pulled out the wire and stripped it down. They sparked on contact so I know they're getting power but no dice. The lights didn't even illuminate.

Although its a little on the ghetto side, I was thinking of wiring them directly into a push button switch but I don't know which wire on the three pigtails in the gauge cluster (I'm assuming its NOT the yellow one on the bottom) is the gauge lighting wire.

OR

do you recommend I trace the wire from the dimmer switch along until I find where they lead and replace everything?

PostPosted: Tue Jun 28, 2011 12:58 am
by 706josh
If it's not the dimmer, then I'd say most likely a short or a loose wire somewhere. Try following where the wires and see if you can find a short or something loose.

PostPosted: Wed Jun 29, 2011 4:54 am
by suspendedHatch
That is no way to test a wire and that doesn't tell you anything.

You'll probably have to change that fuse now.

PostPosted: Wed Jun 29, 2011 10:19 am
by Tachycardia!
Okay. I'll get on that. Also, what is the wire I should be following from the pigtail? The location on the pigtail or the colour