Looking for some electrical wizards

[ictponder]

hmmmm okay, so if i wanted to take the easy way out, how would i do that?

I want to take a single wire from the radio connector plug, or from the rheostat black/yellow wire itself so it can work properly. Is this possible?

I tried everything and nothing worked until I removed the entire dash and inspected every single plug where that green/white wire went. It might not even be the hot side, it could be the ground (black/yellow) that shorted on the switch only. However, that wire is also shared throughout all the connectors in the dash.

[Steve '92ES]

EDIT:
by the way, to make this more interesting, there were no blown fuses, all my interior lights work, tail lights work, headlights work... etc.

I'm confused now. I thought you said every thing's working now?
What happened when you moved the wire?
What about if you leave that radio connector unplugged?

[Mike-92RT]

I'm confused now. I thought you said every thing's working now?
What happened when you moved the wire?
What about if you leave that radio connector unplugged?

My dash lights STILL don't work.
all my other lights turn on and work, just not my gauges. No fuses have been blown.

[Mike-92RT]

I tried everything and nothing worked until I removed the entire dash and inspected every single plug where that green/white wire went. It might not even be the hot side, it could be the ground (black/yellow) that shorted on the switch only. However, that wire is also shared throughout all the connectors in the dash.

my dash is removed right now, the harness is split open so i could follow the green/white wire.

the black/yellow wire is fine going from the rheostat plug to the radio plug. Just the green/white wire is burnt.
Theres an orange wire that connects the black/yellow pin to the green/white pin on the radio plug. Look at the pic i posted on the first page.

I JUST put the upper dash back in, half-ass to see if the dash lights turn on, which they STILL don't... im getting a little frustrated here. lol

[Steve '92ES]

Theres an orange wire that connects the black/yellow pin to the green/white pin on the radio plug.

Did you try taking that jumper out?
Also, do you have the dimmer plugged in? The dash won't light without the dimmer.

[Mike-92RT]

i haven't tried taking the jumper out yet... i have the dimmer plugged in every time i test it. Turn the key to II, turn the headlights on just to make sure.. still no dice

[95gto]

i haven't tried taking the jumper out yet... i have the dimmer plugged in every time i test it. Turn the key to II, turn the headlights on just to make sure.. still no dice

That harness appears to be an aftermarket radio harness that is INCORRECTLY wired. Your dimmer wire (black/yellow) and your illumination wire (green/white) should not be shorted together, period. You may have killed your rheostat. Separate the two wires and see if that fixes your issue.

Most aftermarket radio's have either a dimmer or an illumination wire, not both. And unfortunately not every manufacturer marks them the same. If you leave those wires unhooked you just eliminate the disply dimming when you turn your parkinglights on.

[Mike-92RT]

That harness appears to be an aftermarket radio harness that is INCORRECTLY wired. Your dimmer wire (black/yellow) and your illumination wire (green/white) should not be shorted together, period. You may have killed your rheostat. Separate the two wires and see if that fixes your issue.

Most aftermarket radio's have either a dimmer or an illumination wire, not both. And unfortunately not every manufacturer marks them the same. If you leave those wires unhooked you just eliminate the disply dimming when you turn your parkinglights on.

You know what... that actually kind of makes sense now. The orange wire used to be 2 orange wires spliced together, and then jumped the 2 pins together, which the orange wires were poorly connected. Which i think think has caused the short.

Also you are right, my Rheostat IS fried, one of the solenoids on the Rheostat's circuit board melted, and a LOT of smoke poured out the dash. Luckly right when that happened i immediately turned the car off.

[Mike-92RT]

Heres an update video taken at around 10:30am this morning

[Steve '92ES]

You know what... that actually kind of makes sense now.

LOL! How come it makes sense when HE says it?!?!
Anyway, are you still using the damaged dimmer?
If you are using the new dimmer, could it have been damaged as well?
Now that you have that jumper out let's re-check voltages at the dimmer connector.
Unplug the dimmer, then with your meter set to volts connect the black probe to the black wire on the harness.
With the lights on use the red probe to check for voltage on the black/yellow and the green /white wires.
If you do not get any voltage try moving the black probe to a ground under the dash and try again.

While you have the meter out let's test out the dimmer. With the meter set to OHMS
check between pin 1, where the black/yellow wire would plug in, and pin 2, where the black wire would plug in. I'm not sure what the value should be but you should get something, and it should change when you turn the knob.