I have a 2002 that I bought about a year ago with non working instrument lights. All of the incandescent bulbs work its the black lights that illuminate the gauges that are not working.

The guy I bought it from had white gauge faces installed and after a few months the lights quit working. He had the guy who put the gauge faces on repair them but he is not very mechanical and has no idea what was done to repair. After the repair they worked for a few more months then quit again. At that point he gave up and just used the HUD.

I have spoke to 3 different mechanics and they have all told me the only thing they know to do is swap the entire cluster out and see if that fixes them. I am not convinced that the problem is in the cluster because they have been repaired once already.

I have been told there is a power supply for the black lights that could be the problem but I don't have any information of where it is, how to get to it, or how to check it. Does anybody have any suggestions? They want around $700 to replace the cluster and I don't mind paying that but I don't want to pay it and then find that's not the problem.

Thank you for any help you can provide

 

Sorry I should have said before that I have checked the fuses and they are all fine. All other lights function fine including the indicators on the dash like for the seat belt, check engine etc. The only thing that does not work is the black light that makes the gauges glow.

 

As 8Vette7 asked, are the running lights working? What about the background illumination on the HVAC controller and radio? Is the dimmer control doing anything? The headlamp switch is the usual cause. Now in reference to the tubes in the cluster for background illumination, there is in fact a high voltage power supply hanging on the rear of the cluster. Its part of the cluster and is not sold by itself. Since its been taken apart, I would suspect that the failure is there...something wasn't connected correctly or secured internally properly. Now I've not seen the inside of the cluster myself but others have.

 

Yes the running lights work normal and the dimmer works fine. Everything lights up inside and outside just like its supposed to with the exception of the black light.

 

My '99's cluster is the original and the background illumination still works just fine after over 300k miles on the clock. If I was you, I'd pull it back out and either figure out what went wrong with it or send it out for repair to a certified speedo repair place. Yes, you can buy another cluster, just insure the odometer is legally updated to insure all laws are carefully followed.

 

It does not take long at all to pull the cluster off. You may just have a plug not re-installed from the ring installation.

I know this all too well since I failed to plug in my HUD harness while installing rings.....ARG

 

Did you ever resolve this? I'm having the same issue. I've done all the checks on fuses, grounds and pulled codes(none). Every light and electrical system in the car works fine except the IC black light tubes. I've pulled the power supply off the back of the IC and inspected the PCB and it doesn't smell like burnt electronics and nothing looks bad.

 

I ended up having the dealership replace the instrument cluster and that resolved the issue. I located a place that could repair it but the down time was more than I cared for. It was fairly expensive to have done at the dealership. I wanted to make sure the odometer was programmed correctly and the dealership seemed to be the best answer for all my concerns.

 

Thank You for updating us. Glad its working