1984 Suburban Guage lighting. . .

[cwillis]

Today i took apart the dash to get to the three bulbs that illuminate the speedometer and the fuel guage.

Well i replaced them and they didnt glow. That pissed me off. So I pull ou tthe trusty Fluke Multimeter and check for voltage. . . no voltage in one. one volt in another, and three on the third. All three of those bulbs were burnt out.

The two behind the clock and the oil guage were fine and burning bright.

So here is my question. Are there 2 fuses? Getting partial voltage makes me think it is a grounding issue.

Does anyone have the circuit schematic for this circuit? It would help me troubleshoot alot.

the previous owner was an electrician and he royally jacked some stuff up thinking he knew about DC. He used those AC wirenuts and some crazy fuse taps for some stuff in there.

What i really need to do is just tear out all his wiring and start from scratch. It looks like he added about 10-20 circuits and I have no idea what any of them do! HELP!

[cwillis]

well i just ordered some white cold cathode tubes to tap into the part of the circuit that works. ill post pics when they get here.



Chris

[rustyk]

This sounds like there's a break in the printed circuit plastic that adorns the instrument panel.

[cwillis]

well i got a dual 12" cold cathode kit from Xoxide.com for about $10 shipped.

I put both tubes on top of the screw holes of the white gauge backs and they illuminate great.

I think i will try with one on bottom before i call it permanent though.

they illuminate very well with a true white color, not the yellowish stuff.

i can snap pics if anyone cares.

Chris