Dash lights won't turn on
Thread Starter
Cruising
Joined: Mar 2011
Posts: 10
Likes: 0
From: Clarkston MI
Dash lights won't turn on
1980 corvette, On my dash the only lights that show are the CHOKE, BRAKE, and BRIGHTS. I've tested each bulb and they all work, the headlights and brights turn on, but I can't seem to get the dash to light up. On the center gauges, the battery light works, but again, no back lights. Thinking it's maybe the switch. Any thoughts would be helpful
Last edited by cadeaudr; Apr 25, 2011 at 01:54 PM.
Melting Slicks
Joined: May 2006
Posts: 2,590
Likes: 403
From: Nashville TN
St. Jude Donor '09
Have you checked the fuse? Use an ohm meter to test continuity of fuse to be sure it's good. Next thing I would check is your ground. Pull out one of the bulbs, run a test wire from the negative terminal on your battery and ground it to the bulb socket where it attaches to the back of the gauges or dash. If it works, then you have a grounding issues which is very common and can start tracing you ground from there. Your '80 may be slightly different than my '76, but the principle should be the same. On my bulbs, I have one wire for the power and it gets it's ground from the tach/speedo and gauge cluster that make contact with the outer ring on the bulb socket. If you have a circuit board, then I'd test to make sure you have power and ground to the boards. Hope this makes sense and maybe helps.
Team Owner
Joined: Jun 2000
Posts: 38,923
Likes: 1,482
From: Southbound
Cruise-In II Veteran
Yep..First place to look. Do not trust the fuse in the fuse block. I've seen blown fuses which looked good while still up under the dash.
Second Trick: turn the headlight **** up and see if your instrument lights show up. They may be dimmed all the way down.
Second Trick: turn the headlight **** up and see if your instrument lights show up. They may be dimmed all the way down.
Intermediate
Joined: Nov 2010
Posts: 28
Likes: 0
Very likely it is the Center Console Printed Circuit Board. I had the same situation on my 1979 and replaced the Circuit Board through Willcox. It resolved the problem easily. Of course you should follow the above advice first, but is that doesn't fix it, check the circuit board. They get old and brittle. If anyone has ever replaced the stereo in the vehicle, it is likely they damaged the board as well.
