intrument panel lights out

ok...im haveing problems with my intrument panel lights...i was workin on it for 3 hours and finally found the ground(the one i think it is) and took that off and scraped the metal...this did not work...i then seen that my raido wires were touchin and pulled them apart and a fuse blew...so i changed that and thought i had the problem fixed....

now when i hit a bump my intrument panel lights will go out and ill hear a faint clicking noise...i then hit another bump and they come back on...im thinkin its a short somewhere....but im not positive...

i also noticed that when i turn my lights on that my clock comepletly gose out...but when the lights are off the clock works...

this is causeing alot of trouble...:banghead: ...i would like any kinda input anyone has...


THX

k check that.....after messin with stuff under my dash the lights on the instument panel dont come on or go off when u hit a bump...

now it is jus...no lights on instrument panel but when u turn the lights/brights on the clock dims to almost out...

no fuses were blown before i went to work...so i dont think that is the problem...but im goin to check tomrrow after class...if its not one of the fuses then the only other thing i can think of is a short somewhere...and i dont know where to being with that...

so any help would be great....

Knowing what model year you are working on would be helpful.

Also, please review the forum guidelines that you agreed to when you registered on this site and post accordingly. If you don't recall how to access the guidelines, they can be found here - http://www.automotiveforums.com/vbulletin/guidelines.html

-Rod

this is my bad about the language....ill watch that...and a make an model would prolly help...i jus asumed you could see it from my profile or something...

make and modle is a 95 taurus

If you've entered the make and model into your profile, we can see it. Unfortunately, not everyone keeps that up to date. Plus, some of us like to be lazy too. It's not fair to us to make us search out information to help you out, provide us with as much information as possible to help respondents give you as accurate an answer as possible.

Sorry, not trying to accuse you of all of this, just making general comments.

As for your questions, if you are getting on and off lights, but the fuse isn't blowing, you probably don't have a short. It sounds more like you have a loose connection that is making intermittant contact somewhere. I'll have to check the schematic diagrams to see if something jumps out.

If you don't have access to a service manual with wiring diagrams, you may want to consider purchasing one. Or, your '95 is old enough that you can probably find wiring diagrams for the lighting system for free at the AutoZone repair section of their website.

-Rod

Now that I think about it more, it sounds like you dimmer knob is probably the culprit. Since your instrument cluster lights appear off, and the clock seems to go out, the dimmer would have control over all that illumination. However, if the circuit were losing power completely, I think your clock backlighting would go completely out.

In the instrument panel fuse panel there is a 5A fuse for the instrumentation illumination. This fuse should have power through it when the parking or headlights are on. Verify that it does when the instrumentation lights are not working. If so, then you need to make sure the power is making it to the dimmer knob. This is the white/light blue wire at the dimmer knob. If there is full battery voltage on the whith/light blue wire, then make sure the dimmer is turned to full brightness and check the voltage on the light blue/red wire. If you don't have close to battery voltage on this wire, rotate the knob a few times while watching the voltage on the light blue/red wire and see if it jumps or is intermittant. If so, you most likely have a faulty dimmer rheostat.

-Rod

yea man i hear you on the lazy part lol...and you do have a good point about the info...im jus new to this whole site thing and im learnin how to do things...

now about this 5a fuse...i just went and did some lookin around the fuse box...i found that my "slot" 16 5a fuse looks as if it is only being held in by one clamp...and the only other 5 a fuse in "slot" 13 has two clamps holding it in..."clamps" being the part that actually touches the prongs off the fuse...the 5a 16 can be moved around alittle bit like possibly when hittin a bump...so im hopeing this is the problem and we can trouble shoot this...

if this is the problem id have no idea where to start with a faulty fuse box...that just spells disaster for me...lol

If you can wiggle the fuse in the slot, you can take a small screwdriver or punch and tighten up the connector in the fuse box. Just don't go too heavy and break the plastic locks.

well no i dont think the metal clips is in there....it dosent look anthing like how the other fuses are in there....the metal piece that you push the fuse into looks like it is completly gone...so i think im jus goin to go to a junk yard and look at a taurus there...see what i can get from that....

my dad is now having the same problem with his truck...

Before you get too far ahead of yourself with a junker fusebox, you may want to try a little more invetigating on those missing clamps you call them, which are the circuit contacts. They went either to two places, they broke off and fell down on the floor, or they are still in or on the fusebox. They could either be broken or just pushed to the back side of the box. I'd try looking around some more as you will need to take the old box down anyway if you are going to replace it, so go ahead and pull it down. You should be able to find either a wire with the contacts still attached or with fust a stub on the end. Instead of replacing the whole fusebox, which I think would be a bear of a job, you may be able to buy just the part that is gone seperately, new or used, and crimp or splice it on. Truthfully, I'm not so sure you'll easily be able to change that thing out with a junker box. Good luck