Dash board not lighting up

RIDEORDIE0719

MEMBER
1992 LINCOLN TOWN CAR
V8
2WD
AUTOMATIC
98,000 MILES

At night, my dash board is no longer illuminated. It seems like a minor issue to most but I can’t see which gear I’m putting the car in after starting it up. I can’t tell by feel alone. So far the only trouble shooting I’ve attempted was checking for a bad fuse inside the car. No luck there. Should I check the fuse panel located under the hood next? Could there be a light bulb that’s gone bad? If so, where is that located?

Wednesday, September 2nd, 2020 AT 11:20 PM

1 Reply

FREEMBA

MECHANIC
1,152 POSTS

In the Instrument panel fuse box, check fuses # 7 and 11. The fuse panel is located under the instrument panel to the left-hand side of the steering column.

Information on checking fuses here:

https://www.2carpros.com/articles/how-to-check-a-car-fuse

If fuses are good try turning and wiggling the dimmer control (located on the headlight switch) while observing the instrument panel lights. A bad dimmer switch will often make the light go on and off and you wiggle it.

If none of these determines the problem, replace the headlight switch (it has the dimmer built in). Reason being, it is highly unlikely that all of your instrument panel light burned out at the same time, so it's less likely that they are at fault.

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