My son's 84 Elky was working fine. He said the other night he went to drive home from work and none of the dash lights worked. He had to turn the rheostat all the way to the left to pop the interior light on to check his speed. Before this happened, all the lights in the dash worked but the speedo light was a bit dim. This was for the last 3 weeks that he's had the car. I had intended to see if I needed to either clean it or just replace the bulb. The other night when he went to come home they just simply didn't work.

Any idea what I should check? I'll start with simple things first like the fuses and then the headlight switch itself. It's jsut odd that they all went off suddenly. I don't think it's a loose connection because he said they haven't flickerd once and he's got the switch all the way to the left for full bright on the switch. Once they went out they haven't come back on even for an instant. he's tried turning the switch but the dash lights don't come on at all. All if the exterior lights work fine.

Ron B.

Does he have tail lights? They set the car up so if the tail light fuse blows the dash lights go out to let you know you have no tail lights!
It is surprising how many people never knew that!

I'll have to check that out tonight. He said all the lights outside worked but when dealing with a 16 yr old....................

check the inst. fuse also and the ground,,,if they were dim,,it may be the ground...
then check the big plug at the instrunent panel...its a 5th gen problem...
there is more than 1 bulb on that curcuit so there probly good...
as said they do go thru the headlight switch...which has a ground too...
grey wire is the power to the inst.lights...:texas:

Hello,
Check the fuses and the headlight switch. I know from experience that if the tail light switch goes the dash lights don't work. Check the rest of the applicable fuses too. It might be the headlight switch too, because my original switch from the factory had made the dash lights dim. I replaced it and the lights were brighter. Hope this helps.

I get the car tomorrow night and will check it out. Thanks SO much for the input. I had my son turn the key on and turn on the headlights. Suire enough, he said the tail lights were off. Hopefully that will end up being the problem once the bulbs are replaced. If not, you guys have given me several good places to start diagnosing the problem.

Ron B.

I get the car tomorrow night and will check it out. Thanks SO much for the input. I had my son turn the key on and turn on the headlights. Suire enough, he said the tail lights were off. Hopefully that will end up being the problem once the bulbs are replaced. If not, you guys have given me several good places to start diagnosing the problem.

Ron B.

Tail light fuse!