91 civic hatch dx, the instrument cluster lights won't work when the headlight switch is turned on. Headlights work fine. The red brake light, door light, oil light, battery light, trunk light and CEL works fine. But the cluster itself will not illuminate.
I don't know whats wrong.

could it be the reo. adjuster thing. I turned it up and down and it doesn't do anything.

well the license plate light doesn't work either if that helps.

 

sumone help him i have same problem 2....

 

Its hard to describe where they are at on the cluster, but if you have the cluster out of the car, its really easy to fix. There are very tiny bulbs along the top side of the cluster that simply twist out, finding replacement bulbs isn't the easiest thing in the world, but if you look around long enough; they'll turn up.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by tehondafrk &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Its hard to describe where they are at on the cluster, but if you have the cluster out of the car, its really easy to fix. There are very tiny bulbs along the top side of the cluster that simply twist out, finding replacement bulbs isn't the easiest thing in the world, but if you look around long enough; they'll turn up.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Yea right, ive been trying to fix this problem for months, ive tried clusters from other peoples cars and they still dont work im my car, This is a lemon half of the civics and crxs both from 88-91 and there is not a single person in the world who can solve this problem 100%... And if there is they deserve the nobel prize for something

 

i think the problem is not the bulbs in your cluster, but your headlight switch on the little arm on the left side of the steering column.. they have been known to go bad and cause all kinds of mysterious lighting problems, like my car for instance.. mine is bad, and only my headlights come on when i turn the lights on. no corner lights, tail lights, dash lights come on, especially when its less than 40 degrees outside. . then about ten minutes into the drive, they will magically come on and will stay on the rest of the trip. turn off the headlights, and the same thing happens, only it takes less time to turn everything on. the reason i havent replaced it, and why a lot of people dont bother, is because those little arms with all the switches are really expensive, to the point where i am willing to put up with it until i can afford the luxury of not having to wait 5 minutes for my dash lights to come on. the other culprit, if your left "switch arm" is not bad, is the dimmer switch.. they are also notorious for causing interesting lighting events.

doesn't the Nobel Prize come with a million bucks?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by projsectEF &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
well the license plate light doesn't work either if that helps.</TD></TR></TABLE>
fuse, fuse, fuse. check your fuses, i believe that the licence plate and the cluster share the same fuse.

 

Mine acts up periodically in my hatch....I give the dashboard and good smack or two and they come back on for a few more weeks until I have to repeat. I guess it is part of the joys of owning older cars!!!

 

regarding the license plate light I had a strange problem I wonder if anybody else has seen this. so all my fuses were ok, so I went to look at my gutted civic, and the plug that connects the light (near the passenger side brake light) was unplugged. so I check my other car and sure enough it was also disconnected. i think it was this way for 10 years a least, without any fix it tickets

 

damn it. I don't know what to do. I guess i'll just leave it alone.

 

I bought indeglo gauges but my license plate lights work

 

hey thats not a bad idea. When the lights are turned on, its not turned on by the headlight switch is it? I could put a switch or something to operate the lights right?

 

I'm just curious, did you check the license plate light connection near the passenger side brake lights? feel around for some dissconected wires and see if any connect. 2 of my hatch's had this happen.
this is an important light too, you could get a fix it ticket

 

no I haven't But i'll try it, thanks for the tip man.