Dash lights went out when OD turned off

GreasyFingers · Sep 30, 2011

Last night as I was getting on the highway I tuned off the OD and soon as I pushed the button my dash lights went out. I heard a small ‘tick’ sound when it happened. Today I checked the fuses under the dash and none are blown. I haven’t checked the fuse panel under the hood yet, but I didn’t see anything relating to the instrument cluster in the under hood fuse schematic. All other accessories are working fine but I’m not getting any voltage across the fuses.

A couple of times I’ve had a momentary delay in the dash lights when I turned the headlights on. I just figured the contacts in the switch were dirty and thought nothing of it. Could this be a problem with the GEM? I don’t have much time to mess with this, I’m back in school and swamped with homework, and my wife is out of town leaving me with my son who commands a lot of time. Any input will be greatly appreciated.

JLDickmon · Oct 1, 2011

wait until the wife is back or the math final is over.. it's just a truck, dude.

BigAlsPSD · Oct 3, 2011

I would check IIRC either fuse 19 or 30, and check for chaffing wires for the O/D switch at the base of the column shifter.

View attachment Transmission Shifter Lever chafe repair V-2.pdf Click the link to the writeup.

GreasyFingers · Oct 4, 2011

JLDickmon said:
wait until the wife is back or the math final is over.. it's just a truck, dude.

Thanks for the guidance in prioritizing! Why didn’t I think of that?:doh:

All joking aside the truck drives fine, and I was just getting at the fact I don’t have much time to do a bunch of diagnostic work. I should be able to dig into it this weekend.

Thanks for the link BigAl, I'll look into that.

The cluster fuse is #16 and high beams are on the same one. I have no blown fuses and high beams work. I used my fuse puller/test light and none of the fuses would light. I then used a multi-meter and didn’t get any voltage which doesn’t make sense. I was thinking it was just a coincidence that maybe the bulb burned out what I hit the OD switch but the lume lights for the radio went out too but the radio display still works and of course the no voltage at the fuse thing. It could be the dimmer switch but that wouldn’t explain the fuse issue. I’m not getting any codes from my crappy hand held reader. I have AE but haven’t got around to checking codes yet. I’m new with the AE and haven’t played with it much and I don’t know all the parameters it covers. Would I get any info regarding the GEM if that is the problem? Any other ideas of where to look?

Thanks

BigAlsPSD · Oct 5, 2011

IIRC there are 5 or 6 bulbs for the cluster alone, this link by Ken should help with the AE or atleast getting familiar with it. AutoEnginuity Guide

GreasyFingers · Oct 5, 2011

I already have that link saved, but thanks again! Def. a good starting point to AE. I figured there were multiple bulbs, I guess I'll rip everything apart on Friday see whaI I find.