gauge back lights do not light 98 voyager

[smurfcorpse]

I put a different stereo in during the day. After all was back together I started it later that night, no dash lights or any lights for any of the controls at all. Dome lights are good van ran like always but I cant drive at night. I found a blown fuse and I replaced it. Still no lights. Ive pulled the dash apart looking for a pulled connecter or something strange. I also had a dash that quit once in a while. I pulled it out and touched up solder joints while I was installing the stereo. That part seems to be fixed (so far). The dash lights not lighting is a new problem. Does anyone have any ideas. What have I done! I'm at the end of my rope

[vipergg]

Originally Posted by smurfcorpse

I put a different stereo in during the day. After all was back together I started it later that night, no dash lights or any lights for any of the controls at all. Dome lights are good van ran like always but I cant drive at night. I found a blown fuse and I replaced it. Still no lights. Ive pulled the dash apart looking for a pulled connecter or something strange. I also had a dash that quit once in a while. I pulled it out and touched up solder joints while I was installing the stereo. That part seems to be fixed (so far). The dash lights not lighting is a new problem. Does anyone have any ideas. What have I done! I'm at the end of my rope

Try going under the hood in the power and relay center and pull the IOD fuse for 20 seconds and then reseat . this kills power to the BCM which controls almost all this stuff , this helps a lot of dash anomalies.

[smurfcorpse]

Thanks for the reply. I found the culprit. It was me! I connected a ground to a wire (orange) that was hot when the lights were on. It looked like a ground source when I checked with my meter. The lights were off when I did the check. I thought orange was an odd color for a ground. My only hope is that others may learn from my mistake.