My dash lights quit working today. Everything else works ok just no dash lights. I checked the fuse and swapped out the headlight switch with a spare I have and they still dont work. I looked at the schematic in the sticky and there is power at terminal I on the headlight switch but I loose where it goes after that. Can anyone point me in the right direction???

 

Ok I was looking at the fuses wrong and I did have a blown fuse. I replaced it and it blew again right away. I have the gauge cluster unhooked and all my isspro gauges and the heater control light are unhooked. The fuse still blows am I forgetting a dash light anywhere???

 

Did the fuse blow before you turned the lights on?

 

No as soon as you turn the lights on it blows. I think I found a short near the radio. I was using a very bad method of finding a short where you just look for smoke and I saw smoke near the radio and the wife saw a spark. I took the radio out and the short is gone dash lights work again. I pot the radio back in and all is good I couldn't find a chaffed wire anywhere. I hate when this happens cause you know it aint fixed and is gonna mess up again it is just a matter of time.

 

If you put a 1/2 amp in-line fuse in the wire to the radio it would probably blow before the 3 amp fuse feeding all the instrument lights. Need to put the fuse as close to the instr panel as possible. Of course
you need to find the short at some point. When I look for a short I pull the fuse that's blowing and connect a test light across the fuse receptacle. The light will stay lit til the short is found.

 

Check out the light for the Cigarette lighter/ash tray. The housing for mine shorted and caused all kinds of headache to figure out.....

Lots of little things fees off the wire after the headlamp switch. gotta follow the diagram very carefully......

 

That is a good piece of info right there thank you!!!

 

I guess I dont thoroughly understand the wiring schematic the wire only goes to the end of the page how do you know where it goes to after that??? For now it is working but I know it is not fixed however I cannot seem to get it to mess up again and I cannot seem to find a bare wire anywhere.

 

Follow the wire across the page to diagram #25. http://dens-site.net/Dodge_CTD/1991....ams/Scan25.jpg The wire near the top labeled 20OR is the wire out of the headlamp switch. It goes to the splice labeled E2. The E2 is surrounded by a diamond. Where the diamond points to is a large black dot that has several wires coming out of it. All of those wires go to other lights and what not. Anything attached to those wires can cause the blown fuse you had......

I got to follow most of them a couple months ago as well. A real PITA.

 

Y'all probably know this, but just in case, 200R stands for 20 gauge wire
with orange insulation. I just figured it out, duh.

 

There is always someone new to this out there that just learned something from your post.

 

Try using some 20-mil pipe wrap as extra insulation where wires are likely to be pinched. Comes in a roll an inch-and-a-half wide and works pretty well as a protective wrap for wire bundles.

 

Thanks for the explanation I was kinda lost.

 

Thanks for the help everyone.