MX-3.com

Hmm i cant quite follow you if you dont know witch wire got your lights back on...

But did you try the part with the wire and fuse i wrote?? if so what was the outcome...

Oh and you did fix the interior lights wires so that they didnt short behind your stereo anymore?

You wrote that yoú measured a short,but couldent find it,try measuring again without your cluster in (could have been all the little lamps in parallel that tricked you to believe there was a short)

I disconnected the wires behind the stereo from each other. I tried the method you mentioned with the fuse and wires. The instrument cluster lights did come on, but once I turned the light switch on the lights all went out. I have not given up yet, but it is getting close. Soon I will have to pay someone to fix.

So you placed one end of the fused wire to ground of the "unplugged dimmer" plug and the other end of the fused wire to the NC of the dimmerplug correct??

Its important that this was EXCACTELY what you did,or we will get no closer to finding the fault....

If you did that and lights came on,it means that wires from dimmer to cluster is all right!!

It allso means that something before dimmer (or most likely the dimmer) is defect..

So theres only a few things left to do,first of stick the fused wireends in the dimmerplug so your cluster turns on again,then turn your lightswitch untill clusterlights dissapears again like you wrote...

Then measure what went wrong when you turned the switch,"meaning" see if its the 12V of the plug that dissapears or if its the ground??

Ps:Are you sure its not the fuse that blew when you turned the switch?

And hey just bring it by and ill look at i for you LOL. :p

Ok I still have no lights on the instrument panel. I read the suggested methods of testing again and again. There does not seem to be a consistant problem.

I guess maybe I should ask now if these tests you describe are to be completed with the instrument panel plugged in or not? I think that there should be different results if the panel is connected or disconnected.

I have the panel in a position where I can connect and dis-connest easily.

I hope that I get this problem fixed soon, or maybe I will just install a neon tube in the panel.

Thanks

hubiev


i had the same problem i think... its hard to follow our posts... if you are still having a problem let me know.. i'm only in woodstock so i could meet up with you and give you a hand...

All that i described was with cluster connected.

If you maybe could follow my testingmethod "writing what you tryed" and what the outcome "measurements was" then i maybe could see the fault clear....

You should have found the fault by now,if you followed my instructions,but maybe you missunderstood something in what i wrote to you?

the way of finding an electrical fault is to measure around,then to conclude what is okay and what is not,thereby beeing able to eliminate certain things because theyre okay,and concentrating on the fixed point "whats okay" and going another step beckwards to see where the fault begins....

This is what the meaning of my little tests was.For excample,with the fuse and wires (you concluded) that the wires from dimmer to cluster was okay,because the lights came on when you connected variable output of dimmerplug to ground...

But if you didnt follow what i wrote,for excample by taking wires to the battery instead of connecting them in the unplugged dimmerplug as i described,then the test becomes worthless

Did you ever find the fault? or did you give up

I gave up for a bit, but I am back at this little project. The weather here has been beatiful and seeing as how my main method of transportation is a 98 Honda VTR1000 I have been playing on her instead of the MX3. I hope to get back to the car soon. I have the car sitting in the driveway and it started leaking fuel. I think that will be the next thing to repair. I tried to take the tank down, but either the bolts are welded or there is a "trick" to get the tank to fall.

I do appreciate your help and I will review all posts and try to give you an update about the dash lights when I get them fixed.

Thanks again

hubiev

Just get a set of indi-glow gauges on ebay.

i also have this problem but mine started like this...i was driving and the alternator belt snapped and i didn't notice right away but when i did i was on a busy road and HAD to get it to some sort of back road...the amount of time all this took killed the battery and the lights started flickering then ALL the dash lights burnt out. i have changed every light and checked every fuse and they are fine.
certain lights on the dash work, my signals, brights, hold, warning light (oil etc.)and the light in the actual dimmer but everything else doesn't work.

I replaced the dimmer switch way back, and they came back on. Maybe it's as simple as that.

how do you remove the dash to get the cluster out(in detail) thanks!