Instrument panel lights not working?

WESLOSNIPES1995

MEMBER
1999 HONDA CIVIC
1.6L
4 CYL
2WD
MANUAL
186,000 MILES

I have the car listed above EX model and had to rebuild the motor. I replaced the aftermarket radio with another after market radio. Now the instrument panel lights are not working. I made sure fuse 30 was good. And tested for voltage at c13 at the instrument panel and have 13v test for ground at c12 at the instrument panel and have 68 ohms, thinking it was high resistance I ran an overlay to jump the dimmer switch and it popped the fuse, so could it be that the dimming sensor in the OEM radio could be causing it to now work or should I look at the 68 ohms of resistance of the ground side?

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3 Replies

KASEKENNY

MECHANIC
18,907 POSTS

If you have 68 ohms of resistance, we need to start there. I would just back probe the connector and run a wire to a nut and see if the radio comes on.

However, I just want to make sure you took that reading correctly. It sounds like you know what you are doing but 68 ohms is clearly high when you should have a half ohm or less on a ground wire. Just make sure you probe the wire with your meter and then touch a ground location or the ground nut that this is using. Also, make sure the meter is not set on a different scale giving you 68 ohms when you actually have .68 ohms.

Let me know this and we can go from there.

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

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Wednesday, December 9th, 2020 AT 2:56 PM

WESLOSNIPES1995

MEMBER
3 POSTS

Thank you for the reply. I back tracked down the ground circuit and cam to the dimmer switch. I performed a resistance test between the dash lights and the dimmer switch and have.01 ohms. Then tested from the dimmer switch to the ground qn date.01 ohms. I then did a bench test on the dimmer switch and have that 68 ohms. I had to order a used dimmer switch from eBay but the "new" used dimmer switch fixed the problem. Thank you so much for the help.

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Tuesday, January 5th, 2021 AT 3:59 PM

KASEKENNY