Looking for some electrical wizards

[Mike-92RT]

ohms setting (2000k) if thats what you mean? lol

[Steve '92ES]

Sorry, I meant 20k.
2000k is too high. Try it at 20k then again at 200 ohms. (200, not 200k)

[Mike-92RT]

with those settings, i don't get a reading at all.... nothing. Just a 1 on the left side of the screen.

[Steve '92ES]

I think your dimmer is crap.
Try putting a jumper in the dimmer harness between the black/yellow and black wires and see if the lights come on.

[95gto]

Unless the black wire burnt up along with the dimmer. I wanted to make sure we still had a ground connection there.

That's all good and fine but I was answerings the OP's question about the measurements being different. Are they different, no. In both cases you are measuring voltage on two wires with a direct reference to ground. Did the measurements validate the ground wire, yes. To be honest though I can't even think of a scenario with his failure mode that would cause the ground wire to burn up.

Unless those two wires are still shorted together somehow. Hard to say without putting a load on it which is why I wanted to put the dimmer back in. (under load the black/yellow should read less than the green/white)

I used the phrase "appear to be good" in case he still had an issue somewhere else. I wasn't saying he was out of the woods, I was saying he was likely out of the woods. Given how the circuit works and where his wire damage occured I would say its much more likely that wires aren't shorted together elsewhere. Especially considering the dispersion of the wires in the harness, its not like they run directly next to each other through out the dash wiring.

The jumper test should provide the evidence necessary to confirm an issue somewhere else in the wiring. If the lights work when he jumps the black and black/yellow together it would say that the dimmer is the problem.

[Steve '92ES]

I'm afraid sometimes the tone of my posts come off differently than I mean them to. I wasn't trying to argue with you, or "correct" you, I was just trying to explain my reasoning. More thinking out loud than anything. My apologies if it seemed otherwise.

[Mike-92RT]

So i am to plug-in the Rheostat, then stick a pronged light bulb in both either power wire, and the ground to see if the bulb lights up?

[Steve '92ES]

So i am to plug-in the Rheostat, then stick a pronged light bulb in both either power wire, and the ground to see if the bulb lights up?

Are you talking about the rheostat test procedure in the manual? If so then no. They want you to unplug the dimmer and bring it under the hood and hook it up to the battery as shown in the diagram.
You can try it but I'm not sure it will tell you any more than ohming it out with the meter did.

I think what both 95GTO and I are suggesting is that you try jumping the black and black/yellow wires together to see if that gets your dash lights to turn on. Just cut off a couple inches from that rat's nest you pulled out, strip a bit off each end, and stick one end into pin 2 (the black wire) and the other end into pin 3 (the black/yellow wire) of the connector the dimmer plugs into (instead of the dimmer). Turn on the lights and see what happens...
If the dash lights work with the jumper that would pretty much prove the dimmer is shot.

[95gto]

Are you talking about the rheostat test procedure in the manual? If so then no. They want you to unplug the dimmer and bring it under the hood and hook it up to the battery as shown in the diagram.
You can try it but I'm not sure it will tell you any more than ohming it out with the meter did.

I think what both 95GTO and I are suggesting is that you try jumping the black and black/yellow wires together to see if that gets your dash lights to turn on. Just cut off a couple inches from that rat's nest you pulled out, strip a bit off each end, and stick one end into pin 2 (the black wire) and the other end into pin 3 (the black/yellow wire) of the connector the dimmer plugs into (instead of the dimmer). Turn on the lights and see what happens...
If the dash lights work with the jumper that would pretty much prove the dimmer is shot.

What he said.

If you connect the black/yellow wire to the black wire in the dimmer harness you are completing the circuit for the dash lights. If everything is good with your wiring the dash lights will come on with the headlight switch, they will just be full bright. If the lights don't come on it means you have wiring issues elsewhere and you probably blew the tail light fuse in the process.

If the lights work when jumped together but not with the dimmer plugged in it means you have a bad dimmer switch.

[95gto]

I'm afraid sometimes the tone of my posts come off differently than I mean them to. I wasn't trying to argue with you, or "correct" you, I was just trying to explain my reasoning. More thinking out loud than anything. My apologies if it seemed otherwise.

No worries