No Dash Lights

[88AMCOMANCHE]

Will try & keep this short....a Year ago,my dash lights were very dim. Now...I have NO dash lights.Dont know if they went all of a sudden,or if theyve slowly burned out. But....I pulled the cluster forward & looked at the rear. Very simple layout. About 11 bulb plugins and they All make contact with a Ground that is embeded thruout the rear of the cluster. I put 1 new bulb in just to see what happened & Nuthing happened.
IS IT POSSIBLE.....That if One bulb is bad in the beginning of the curcuit, that All bulbs wont work after the bad bulbs thats at the beginning??

Im just wondering if I replace a bulb thats at the very beginning of the Ground curcuit (far drvrs side) then maybe the lights might work?
Was thinking maybe its like a string of Xmas lights kinda....where if one bulb goes bad,everything after it is bad too.

[4.3LXJ]

No, they are wired in parallel, not series like Christmas lights. Check your headlight switch. The rheostat eventually fails. Mine have done the same thing, you need to replace it.

[88AMCOMANCHE]

Its a fairly new HGeadlight switch. Only has about maybe 24 hours on it. My dash lights were a bit dim, as if most were burned out and only a few or possibly just one were working. Now none work. and they are so small its hard to tell if theyre good or not.

[JENSSEN]

No, they are wired in parallel, not series like Christmas lights. Check your headlight switch. The rheostat eventually fails. Mine have done the same thing, you need to replace it.

X2 change the headlight switch,... the "spring" on the dimmer likely s#it the bed

[88AMCOMANCHE]

thanx . The headlight switch has already been changed.I tried that first & it didnt help. Somewhere within the last few weeks I lost what tiny bit of light i had on the instrument panel. I was HOPING i could just add bulbs. I checked a few of the bulbs & altleast 4-5 of them are blown.

[oderdene]

maybe funny, but worth to check. have you turned the knob of headlight switch?

maybe grounding issue, check these conductors on plastic

[LizardRunner]

also don't forget to check the 15 amp fuse under the dash. I've replaced mine three times so far cause of faulty trailer wiring that has now been replaced.

[88AMCOMANCHE]

Mine says 5 amp on the fuse block. ........I triple checked that out of habit, but since u mentioned 15,im gonna go quadruple check :p thanx

[ParadiseXJ]

maybe funny, but worth to check. have you turned the knob of headlight switch? maybe grounding issue, check these conductors on plastic

Did you look at/check the common ground in the driver taillight bucket. I had to rip my trailer wiring out and the PO had messed with that ground wire


also don't forget to check the 15 amp fuse under the dash. I've replaced mine three times so far cause of faulty trailer wiring that has now been replaced.

X2 on the bad trailer wiring. I think people screw this up cause they're in a hurry and/or the wires are right there, so they just clip em' in and go. I believe it's a 5 amp for the INST LPS


Mine says 5 amp on the fuse block. ........I triple checked that out of habit, but since u mentioned 15,im gonna go quadruple check :p thanx

Yes, my MJ (88) has a 5 amp for INST LPS.

[88AMCOMANCHE]

=------- U P D A T E -------
I found 4 bad instrument panel bulbs AND the bottom lug in the fusebox was broken,causing the fuse to not make contact.....So....i monkey rigged that so its safe & secure. NOW,i have dash lights. Ty to every1 for the help. it helps believe me.

[LizardRunner]

Cool beans, glad you got that working. now I'm wondering why da lizard has a 15 amp fuse and others are saying 5 amp??? I even checked my book and it says 15 amp goes where I was talking about.

[88AMCOMANCHE]

Good question ...Mine says 5,but its an 88 so possibly later they upped the amperage maybe? Heres a diagram & chart for 84-88 Amc models
http://www.lunghd.com/Tech_Articles/Electrical/1984_thru_1988_Fuse_Identification.htm