bm3w

G'morning everyone!

I'm in need of some electrical/technical assistance! hmy: I had to have messed something up in my 1999 Honda Civic SE while trying to install an aftermarket tachometer (no clue what actually caused this problem though =/ )

Anyways, for those willing to help, here's the situation:

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My 'white' gauge cluster lights that illuminate the speedometer, fuel gauge and temp gauge aren't coming on when I turn on my lights. Even more weird, is that the *stock* radio is dimly lit up when the car is running (when the lights aren't turned on), and then if I turn on the lights, the radio will go almost completely black (you can see a bit of light, but very very faintly).
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So, that's my problem, and now I'll try and give you some other relevant (I hope) info that might help in solving this thing:

- I attemped to install my tach which has four wires coming out the back: power, ground, lights and tach signal. I tried splicing these wires into the appropriate ones leading into my gauge cluster, but when my tach didn't end up working, I unhooked it all and then taped up the wires.

- This 'lighting' problem only happened the day after I tried installing my tach. I know for sure that the lights were working on my dashboard the night I installed the tach, and it was the only the next day that it seems that I messed something up. What I was doing the next day was rather than untaping the wires that I already exposed, I decided to just unplug the two big connectors that plug into my cluster, and then stick the wires from the tach into the female end of the plug. I thought this would give me the same connection results for test purposes (rather than going to the bare wire), but I'm thinking maybe this could have caused a short etc. Should I refrain from doing that in the future?

- Lastly, I checked a bunch of my fuses (ie. Meter, Instrument Lights, Radio, etc.) and they all seem fine. I also checked to see if there was a signal going to the dimmer switch and gauge cluster lighting wires, and both times the signal was present, which makes me think it's not a fusing problem.

So that's that.. sorry for the long post, but I'm at a loss of what else I should do!

Thanks very much,
Matt

PLAN:B

Hopefully you disconnected your battery (safety measure, and no blown fuses) before you started right? If it's not a fuse prob., then i'm guessing you have wires crossed. Logically, if you taped everything back the way it was and there are no blown fuses, it all should be fine. Check the wires again, and make sure they are connected TIGHT not loose. Hope that helps.

bm3w

Thanks for the reply mEKsican;

Yes, initially when I was stripping the wires, I had the battery disconnected. I didnt cut the wires (so I'm sure they're not crossed or anything); all I did was strip back some insulation from the top, and then loop my tach wires under the loops. In taping the wires back up, I rolled the insulation back over the bare wires then added electrical tape.

As for fuses, I'm gonna go through each one by one, just to be sure that none are blown. I'm still not convinced that the fuses are a problem though.. just because I am getting power to the red and red/black wires going into my cluster (both of those are the instument lighting wires).

- Matt

bm3w

Hi, me again

Here's another piece of information that I just found out:

- First of all, I checked all my fuses and all were good.

- Secondly, I took out my "Instrument Lights" fuse, started the car, and when I turned on the lights, the radio no longer would go dim. (--> With that fuse in and the car on, the radio would no longer glow when the lights were turned on).

Just a lil Note: The Instrument Lights fuse has a wire that connects to a junction connector, and then splits off to the gauge cluster, dimmer switch, radio, and a few more places.