89 Dash and Console lighting issues
Thread Starter
Heel & Toe
Joined: Jan 2019
Posts: 24
Likes: 5
From: Tennessee
89 Dash and Console lighting issues
In the past couple weeks, while driving with my lights on, the center portion of my dash (Oil temp, Coolant Temp. Fuel mileage and ect.) will either:
1) Light up properly
2) The left or right side of the center cluster will be significantly dimmed
3) Or the whole center cluster will be significantly dimmed to the point I can barely read it
It’s also worth to mention that it will randomly flip between 1,2 or 3 while I’m driving. It’s not when I’ve hit bumps in the road either, just smooth road.
Now as for the console, everything lights up properly except for the heater/ air conditioner. It will work, but the yellow lights that show which input you’ve chosen will not light up, as well as the temperature display. And sometimes as with the dash, it will randomly decide to light up again.
The heater still belts out hot air, the rear defroster still works and the air conditioner works too. I honestly love glancing down at the dash but seeing a big chunk missing annoys me a bit. Any help would be very much appreciated!
(Not letting me post pictures through my phone, I’ll add some when I have access to a computer tomorrow)
1) Light up properly
2) The left or right side of the center cluster will be significantly dimmed
3) Or the whole center cluster will be significantly dimmed to the point I can barely read it
It’s also worth to mention that it will randomly flip between 1,2 or 3 while I’m driving. It’s not when I’ve hit bumps in the road either, just smooth road.
Now as for the console, everything lights up properly except for the heater/ air conditioner. It will work, but the yellow lights that show which input you’ve chosen will not light up, as well as the temperature display. And sometimes as with the dash, it will randomly decide to light up again.
The heater still belts out hot air, the rear defroster still works and the air conditioner works too. I honestly love glancing down at the dash but seeing a big chunk missing annoys me a bit. Any help would be very much appreciated!
(Not letting me post pictures through my phone, I’ll add some when I have access to a computer tomorrow)
Melting Slicks
Joined: Nov 2007
Posts: 2,830
Likes: 147
From: Gainesville FL
In the past couple weeks, while driving with my lights on, the center portion of my dash (Oil temp, Coolant Temp. Fuel mileage and ect.) will either:
1) Light up properly
2) The left or right side of the center cluster will be significantly dimmed
3) Or the whole center cluster will be significantly dimmed to the point I can barely read it
It’s also worth to mention that it will randomly flip between 1,2 or 3 while I’m driving. It’s not when I’ve hit bumps in the road either, just smooth road.
Now as for the console, everything lights up properly except for the heater/ air conditioner. It will work, but the yellow lights that show which input you’ve chosen will not light up, as well as the temperature display. And sometimes as with the dash, it will randomly decide to light up again.
The heater still belts out hot air, the rear defroster still works and the air conditioner works too. I honestly love glancing down at the dash but seeing a big chunk missing annoys me a bit. Any help would be very much appreciated!
(Not letting me post pictures through my phone, I’ll add some when I have access to a computer tomorrow)
1) Light up properly
2) The left or right side of the center cluster will be significantly dimmed
3) Or the whole center cluster will be significantly dimmed to the point I can barely read it
It’s also worth to mention that it will randomly flip between 1,2 or 3 while I’m driving. It’s not when I’ve hit bumps in the road either, just smooth road.
Now as for the console, everything lights up properly except for the heater/ air conditioner. It will work, but the yellow lights that show which input you’ve chosen will not light up, as well as the temperature display. And sometimes as with the dash, it will randomly decide to light up again.
The heater still belts out hot air, the rear defroster still works and the air conditioner works too. I honestly love glancing down at the dash but seeing a big chunk missing annoys me a bit. Any help would be very much appreciated!
(Not letting me post pictures through my phone, I’ll add some when I have access to a computer tomorrow)
Hi Chris - Welcome to the greatest Corvette forum in the world!
The digital dash on the 84-89 is called the Atari dash by some. I happen to believe it is for more interesting and cool looking than the new C4's. If you are having intermittent problems then you likely have an issue with a solder joint on the pins that connect the upper board and the lower board in the assembly. All kinds of weirdness happens. Another thing that can happen is the capacitors in the power supply dry out and the power supply becomes intermittent. Hows your polarized antiglare film look? Is it faded and does it work any longer? There is a youtuber called crazy uncle burton that has a dash repair shop called batee.com who has dozens of repair videos to repair the dash by yourself or you can send it to him and he will repair it for a fee. I've changed the bulbs on mine, changed the polarizing film and also sent the unit to batee for full refresh ... new power supply and etc.
Good luck
