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Dash light issue

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Old 03-07-2013, 06:47 PM
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Dash light issue

Hello there, I have been trying to diagnose my dash light issue for the past few months off and on. While it is fun driving with a small pen light it has gotten old.

I have most of the dash apart to chase down wires but I have a question, I am hoping someone can answer. Each light has a Red/Green and Red/Black going to them. Now putting a Meter on both sides I read 11.5v. I know one of them has to be a ground and I am assuming the Red/Black is the ground and is shorting out somewhere.

Isolating the dash harness by unplugging it from the passenger footwell 2 plugs and only having the driver side plugs feeding. I have found that the far right plug on the back of the gauge cluster is where the Red/Black wire originates. Both of these wires are hot coming off the back of the cluster. Are they supposed to be?

All of my lights not attached to the courtesy system have both sides hot! I need to figure out what color is supposed to be power and what is ground.

Would it be possible to have one of you guys pop one of the side pods off and see if the Red/Black wire is dead or alive on yours?

I would greatly appreciate it!
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Old 03-17-2013, 12:16 PM
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Well, after ripping the dash light harness out, and looking for any lose connections, I remembered that my Intermittent wipers quit working the same time my dash lights went out.

After looking through the FSM and locating the TCU page I notice that R/B does go to ground. So I unplug the plug with the light wires and physically ground the R/B wire. This turns the dash lights on, across the board. I am fairly certain my issue is in the TCU now so I am going to order one through Steve.

Unless anyone else has a certain that my issue lies elsewhere
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Old 03-29-2013, 11:28 PM
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Well, the New to me TCU from Steve fixed my intermittents, door dinger, and dash light issue. However I think I have a bad headlight switch now, when I shut the door my left headlight turns on! However if I tap my stalk they turn off for 20 min or so and turn back on! Got to love Gremlins!
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