1G Dimmer switch problem

[Mike-92RT]

i have a 1992 dodge stealth r/t, recently rebuilt cylinder heads, blah blah blah. Didn't touch the interior at all.

Anyways, one day i started my car, pushed the pop-up lights button on/off. After that, tons of smoke poured out the dash, so i shut the car down, left it alone for a month (was busy).

I found out my dimmer switch blew a diode on the little motherboard it has. My gf's dad said the power wire must be grounding out somewhere, because i plugged the dimmer switch back in, and it got really hot. I got a used one from a junkyard, plugged it in, and it got hot also. I started to smell a burning smell as i was driving, so me being awesome in multi-tasking, i unplugged the switch as i was driving, just to save it lol.

NOW... when i plugged in the new/used one, the dash lights wouldn't come on. Is this a problem in the 3S cars? Or is it just my luck?

What would i have to do in order to find out where its grounding out? Take the dash out?

Let me have it with all your tips/advice. Thanks!

[GTOJOE]

dash lights won't work unless that dimmer switch is plugged in. I suspect your father inlaw is correct. There is a short somewhere in the wiring.

[Mike-92RT]

He said it might be shorting out with the radio or something... i dunno, i kinda forgot what he said lol.

How much of a PITA is it to remove the whole dash?

[GTOJOE]

huge PITA lol. There are instuctions on stealth316 IIRC. I had issues a long time ago and pulled the whole dash out. inspected everything I could see and found nothing. put it all back together and has worked fine ever since My issues was causing the fuse to blow for the park light curcuit. As soon as they wer turned on the fuse would blow. Which meant no tail lights or front parkers.

[Jimvr4]

Suggest you pull fuses and isolate the problem before you take out the whole dash. Once you find isolate it to a particular circuit you can unplug harnesses downstream to isolate which part of the circuit has a problem.

[Mike-92RT]

Sorry, huge bump to 2013 lol

I ended up pulling the dash only to find a shorted wire going all the way to the fuse box. I ended up locating it, pulling it all out, and soldering in a new wire. Only for the dash lights to STILL not work. Kind of frustrating... lol