when i start the car the dash does not light up i have nothing, can someone help me.

 

I'm only familiar with 1986 cluster. I've had "ground" issues with mine. They are pretty common for this year. Generally if it's loss of ground you will be able to vaguely see your gauges in the background. Also, a telltale sign of ground loss is that the turn indicaters on the cluster stay lit and the bright head light indicator is lit (even though the headlights and turn signals aren't on). The ground loss can be in a variety of places including between the two circuit boards that make up the cluster. I've had it had it professionally fixed once at the tune of nearly $300. It lasted a year and then I fixed it once. That lasted a year too but didn't cost me anything but time. Going after a ground loss again this coming winter when the good driving season is over. Good luck. Lots of cluster repair sites out there but don't believe everything you read.

 

Try search for addl input. This comes up about once a week. try "digital dash lights". You need to give your car year or fill out your profile. There are diff dashes.

 

I fixed my 84 myself. The pins that connect the boards were not making contact, I "Presidentalized" it with a piece of metal wedged in, & put a drop of sealer on it. Has worked 5 years now.

 

If you have a blown tail light, your dash will not light up...........Check all of your lights and make sure that they are good before you go running off tearing your dash apart.

Just my $0.02

R/Noland

 

I had that problem 6 years ago.
Im a ET so I work on electronic componet trouble shooting as part of my job.
Their right Its most likely a a bad ground.
The electronics design of the 1980's digital dash is very simple.
The traces are visable and easy to see from the back the bad or burt contact.
I replaced my bad ground contact with a bare wire and soldered it in place.

 

Here is my 2 cents worth

I have also had a ground issue, but has been fine the last 10+ years (touch wood hope i don't jinks myself)
There is a light sensor at the top of your gauges, that hole in your instrument cluster. If that goes it can turn your instrument lights off in the day, turning the headlights on will override it.
It is unlikely that all 4 or so lamps in the cluster would blow at the same time, you can try to eliminate that by shining a light on the
''light sensor" (with headlights off) will make the instrument lights bright (your light sensor may be bad)
You will have noticed this driving thru a tunnel the dash lights dim till your headlights are turned on. (NOTE the **** on the headlight switch can vary the brightness of the display then turning it left to right) just in case you don't know, (sorry but i have to point that out)

So your ''headlight switch'' controls the brightness of your dash lights also your light sensor in the dash will adjust the brightness of your dash lights in regards to the light variation in bright daylight or dark cloudy days.

Check your light sensor and your headlight switch, get a cheap one from a car wrecking/ recycling place to test. if that fails try your light globes in the instrument cluster if that fails look at getting it repaired

Hope this helps you
Regards
Gerard

 

with all of Ducks advice, especially the "search" part. I recently went thru this and did a write up on my efforts. I had a lot of help from a forum member eliminating everything that could be a factor. In the end it was an issue with the + side of the lighting circuit not making contact at the 10 pin connector between the circuit boards as also mentioned here. Hopefully it is just the ground. If thats the case, your turn signal and hi beam indicators should be lit as the dash will try to make the pathway thru these lights

Batee.com is the source for early dash information, solutions, schematics and a whole lotta other Vette stuff.

Read up a little and then ask if you havent found the solution. Good luck!

 

I was just wondering what you physically did to fix this grounding issue? Was it a ground wire or was it in the circuit board?

 

99% of the time there is a problem with the 10 pin connector between the two circuit boards. The power and ground connections are at the ends of the connector. In some cases the connector will be burned because the poor connection overheated. The solution is to resolder the pins on that connector.

I wrote an article on the back light circuit:

https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...ull-story.html

 

Check Batee.com website, there's a wealth of info there. I chickened out and had Bryan repair mine and very satisfied with his work. Kept me in the loop from start to finish.

 

Am I the only one that can't see the diagram on your write-up?

 

Try following this link directly to the picture:

http://www.misterpeachy.com/VettePic...ght_Dimmer.pdf

The Forum doesn't like .PDFs used as images. I think I can convert it to a .GIF.

 

That great, thanks!