gauge cluster lights refuse to turn on

[yubh8tn]

Hey, so 1384 has electrical issues. Sunroof, front dome lights, and gauge cluster lights dont work and never have worked (during my ownership.). I removed the cluster and inspected all the traces, screws, and bulbs, but everything looks good. A tiny bit of corrosion on the big red screw in the bottom corner and the big black one in the top corner, but cleaning those up didnt solve anything. I'm at a loss here and can't find the circuit diagram in the manual.

Also - I think this may be relevant - at one point in the past, my blinkers would not stop flashing. No matter what. I removed the headlight relay and that made it driveable until I could figure out what was up (hand signals ftw), and after putting the relay in and taking it out a few times it started working again. Probably been a month or two since then and no problems so far.

Does anybody have any ideas as to what to try? I checked my fuses and all were good, but I'll check again. I have not checked grounds yet.

 

[thomcasey]

YOu said it at the end of your post. Grounds. Check them all, they are everywhere, and they are 28 years old.

 

[transparentdsm]

In the under hood fuse panel there is a fuse marked "tail" if I remember correctly, check that and replace if need be. I had this happen to me once as well.

 

[yubh8tn]

Quoting thomcasey:
YOu said it at the end of your post. Grounds. Check them all, they are everywhere, and they are 28 years old.


okay, i will check them all out. i need to do that anyway
Quoting transparentdsm:
In the under hood fuse panel there is a fuse marked "tail" if I remember correctly, check that and replace if need be. I had this happen to me once as well.


I'll check that asap. I think its a fuse as the previous owner said it stopped working when he pressed the "Change Colors" button, but my tail lights work fine so I skipped it. I'll check them all again anyway.

 

[kdott96]

Yes if the gauge and taillights don’t turn on check that fuse under the hood. Gauge cluster lights and taillights share that fuse

 

[yubh8tn]

the tail lights work fine, its just the gauge cluster. the previous owner has done a lot of weird stuff to this car, so i'm not sure i can really trust what he said about the button. Most of the bulbs are blown in the cluster, so I'm gonna try replacing them all. I doubt the lights are in series but if they are that should fix it. Grounds are fine