With the dimmer switch disconnected and the headlight switch turned to the on position you can use a test light to see if there is power to the switch which sounds like there is because it worked briefly. If there is you can jumper across the terminals with a wire and the lights should be bright. If they are then it is the switch that is bad. The switch does not normally fail so you should be fine getting one out of a salvage car as long as there is no water damage. Look for a lower mileage car as well...

 

If you decide to test, jump terminals red/blk to red. If you jumper red to blk, you will blow a fuse.

good luck

 

Thanks for the info guys! Looks like I have this weekend's project cut out for me.

 

So I tried shorting the red/black and red, but the dash lights still doesn't come on. I tried doing this with and without the dimmer connected. I checked for continuity on the ground wire and that seems to be good too.

Any suggestions?


Thanks.

 

Did you confirm 12V supplied to the red wire on the dimmer switch. If not, then fuse or wiring problem.

I assume switch was on during this test?

good luck

 

It was actually 13.4V rather than 12V. This was without the dimmer connected, on both red/black and red. It was difficult to get a steady reading with the dimmer connected because it fluctuated with the flickering.

If by "switch was on" you mean the lights were turned on, then yes.

Wouldn't a fuse problem cause the dash lights not to work altogether? In this case, it's flickering, so I'm guessing wiring issue?

Either way, how do you suggest I proceed?


Thanks again.

 

If I'm reading the wiring right, jumping red/blk to red will not turn on the dash lights. You have to jump red to blk (or ground the red wire) to complete that circuit.

 

Wiring diagram I reviewed has black to ground and red provides variable voltage to light systems. If you jump red to black, there can be no voltage to lights (directly connected to ground), however I don't think it would blow a fuse.

Perhaps there is a different wiring colors on different diagrams. I'm looking at a 1994 hard copy manual.

good luck

 

Turns out I mistakenly shorted red/black to ground, thus causing the fuse to blow. According to the shop manual, shorting red to ground should give full brightness. I replaced the fuse and did that, and it worked as expected.

So the problem is in the dimmer then? One thing I did note was that when I used an ohm meter on the dimmer, there wasn't any difference if I turned the **** around. I checked both red to ground and red/black to ground.

 

Mea Culpa. I misinterpreted the wiring diagram. Voltage is not distributed by red, but ground path is instead supplied, either through variable resistance or directly to ground (max bright). I should have looked at referenced diagrams.

Your dimmer variable resistance is open. You should be able to find a used part on ebay or car-part.com. New part might not be unreasonable, if available.

good luck