I tried replacing the lights behind my dash cluster but only a few seemed to work. Originally I thought that all the bulbs were burnt out. I went back in and flipped all the new bulbs I put in because I thought it might have been a polarity issue. But still to no avail. Only the abs light and the check engine light seem


to work. I checked the fuse and it looks fine. Anyone have any ideas as to what I should check next or is it just a busted cluster? (BTW: The needles do move and work functionally)

 

Check the illumination power out of the headlight switch into the printed circuit.
Do the turn signals work?

 

I had a similar issue, fuses all looked good, i was about to rip out the cluster and replace the bulbs but I figured they are cheap enough and just replaced all my fuses. Then all my lights started working again. If I recall correctly there was more than one fuse that could impact the lights. One in the car and one under the hood. It’s been awhile though, I could be wrong.

 

Would you be able to explain that a little more? I'm still pretty new to building up vehicles (especially when it comes to electrical!) How would i go about doing so? Are you referring to the circuit that's on the actual cluster? And yes the turn signals do work. Thanks!

 

alright I'll definitely be replacing my fuses then

 

Yes, you just want to check a few powers into the cluster through the printed circuit connector(s) in the back
So if the turn signals work but the cluster has no blinker, you can check for power at that wire in the connector
The headlight switches have a habit of melting the connector
When aftermarket stereos are installed, I used to see where the illumination wire was hooked to the radio wrong causing no dash lights
That dash light fuse is the 5 amp in the panel
Just so you know
You check for power on both sides of the fuses with a test light, not just pull and inspect the fuses

 

I'll definitely be buying a multimeter here soon to test it all out. The truck did have am aftermarket stereo in it and I'm about to put in a new one. What should I be looking for IF it is the illumination wire. I'm not sure how someone could/would connect it to anything other than the original illumination wire. To my understanding it should be the blue/red wires that I should put to my new harness. Once again thanks for your help MM!

 

Not to high jack this thread but I've got lights going out in mine on my '96 and was wondering how many bulbs there are? I was going to place an order with LMC and was going to get LED's while I was at it as i have sections going dark. Thanks!

 

I belive it was 12 bulbs in total. But I will double check tomorrow and let you know for sure. Doesn't hurt to have extra though. I got about 20 off of Amazon for about 13 dollars. Since they're LED's I'm not really worried about brand of bulbs since led's tend to last a while no matter what.

 

LEDs typically are polarity sensitive. I am replacing bulbs in my cluster. I can confirm it's minimum of 12 with 1 or 2 optional ports not used on my model.

My '89 F350 had no dash lights, replaced the light switch assembly and it resolved the issue.

Working on a '91 F150 now. Sticky clutch and brake pedal assembly and a couple dead bulbs. Removed cluster for more access to top of pedal box and had bulbs to replace anyway.

I came here to confirm if anyone had issues converting to LED assuming polarity at install was good. Not sure if some circuits require a certain ohm range for the computer. In that case, the computer might see a fault. (?)

I am going to order a pack of LED bulbs from Amazon and will report the result here.

Thanks for sharing.