Gas Guage/Int Light Issues

[JCampbell]

I've developed a problem lately and I'm not sure where it stems from or when exactly it started. When I turn on my lights, my dash lights don't come on, my gas gauge stops working (needle drops to 'e'), and my high beam indicator turns on for low beams/goes off when I hit the high beams.

Any ideas? I tore the dash apart this weekend to look for the obvious, but to no avail. Headlight switch maybe?

[swb85]

Probably a problem with the printed circuit on the cluster. Mine was doing a very similar deal when I bought it (gas gauge only worked with headlights off). I got fed up and replaced the whole cluster with autometer gauges.

[JCampbell]

I thought about that too.

[JCampbell]

Nobody's ever experienced this before? C'mon.

Guess I'll start at the headlight switch.

[Captkaos]

Assuming everything worked properly prior to all this, what electrical changes have been made to the truck? My first though is a short and printed circuit.

[wedgemon]

Check for shorted wires - i/e: screws thru or wear spots along the affected circuits.

I had a '83 GMC, push in the cig lighter and the dome light would come on. Turns out that the lighter fuse was replaced oversized and melted the shared circuit wiring to the floor - along the driver side run to the dome light. It was kinda cool though... Hated fixing it.

- Dave

[JCampbell]

Originally Posted by Captkaos

Assuming everything worked properly prior to all this, what electrical changes have been made to the truck? My first though is a short and printed circuit.

Nothing. No electrical changes.

I'll take a peek at the circut.

[Captkaos]

Check the fuses like Dave said also. And check your grounds on the upper left under the dash. I had my interior lights blow out when I hit the brakes regularly, ended up being a lost ground.