The dash lights will not come on. The only light that comes on is the red battery light?

TYLERH30

MEMBER
1980 CHEVROLET EL CAMINO
169,000 MILES

The car is a 1980 chevy El Camino
The dash lights will not come on. The only light that comes on is the red battery light. The lights for the speedometer, and gas gage will not come on. I tried replacing the bulbs with new bulbs, no luck. ( There are about 4-6 bulbs) they are the standard bulbs, the same bulbs required on my 96 chevy Silverado. It is the rectangle speedometer style, with the gas gage on the left, and an empty spot for a gage on the right. Both the gas, and speedometer themselves work just fine. I checked the fuses, no fuses were broken.
I have 4 pictures. It is currently taken apart. I do have one showing it back together. Also one picture has a piece of tape on the only light that works (The battery light). Also one close up of one of the bulbs towards the back, which is one of the 4-6 bulbs I replaced, and that aren't coming on. Please help, cant drive at night without using a flashlight.

1 Reply

KASEKENNY

MECHANIC
18,907 POSTS

More than likely this issue is with the printed circuit board used to light the bulbs.

Basically, what happens is there is a power circuit that is used to send power to the cluster and then there is a circuit board that sends the power around to the bulbs.

What is most likely happening is the circuit is not intact except to the battery light.

So, we need to check the voltage to the bulbs and see if there is any there. If not, you need to repair the board or replace the cluster.

https://www.2carpros.com/articles/how-to-check-wiring

Please find the wiring diagram below and let me know what questions you have.

Thanks

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