I recently bought a 1992 integra and the problem I'm having is the lights that are supposed to light up the needles in the cluster don't work. the lights that are actually behind the numbers on the guages work but you can't see the needles and where they are pointing because the lights in the upper corners of the cluster are not working. When I got the car one was working, then last night I noticed it was off, so I beat on the dash and one came on but I wanted to see if I could get them both to come on so I hit the dash a few more times and now niether of them come on. The dimmer switch works fine, and all my temp control lights work too. I think I need to pull the cluster out to see if there is a loose connection somewhere or maybe the bulbs went bad but I wanted to see if anyone else had anymore advice or if they had the same problem and how they fixed it. any help is great, thanks for looking.

 

My needles don't light up either, I just look for the dark spot on the numbers, haha. Too lazy to pull my cluster. Check the bulbs first.

 

i checked the bulbs and replaced one. the one i replaced goes into the back of the cluster an has two leads coming off its pigtail that go to the circuit for the two bulbs in the upper corners of the cluster, those looked fine. i put everything back together an its hard to tell but it still looks like the needles arent lighting up. and also my speedo does not work anymore, i made sure that i put the cable back into its hole behind the speedo but does it have to go in there a certain way? it doesnt look like i broke it or anything so i'm kinda stumped as to why its not working

 

Speedo cable needs to be put in properly, it can be a bit of a pain sometimes as the cable does not "seat" itself, just remove and try again.

As for the illumination, you need a multimeter or 12V test light to test the circuit. 94

 

alright, i noticed when i put everything back together there was a plastice clip that was on the back of the speedo where the cable goes in that you can remove. would it be easier to remove this clip then put the cable through this and then re-attach to the cluster?

and as for the lights, i would just look on the circuit board for a ground point and put the black lead of the multimeter there and then the red lead on the circuit where the lights for the needles make contact and see if i'm getting voltage there with the cluster lights switched on right? It looked as if the lights for the needles got there power from that bulb i replaced going into the back of the cluster so do I test there for power as well?

 

disconnect the cable at the transmission end to get more slack

 

The cluster illumination is controlled by the "Dash Lights Brightness Controller" and it has it's own "dimming circuit".

The red/black lead is illumination power, [hot when park/head lights are on] the illumination ground is black, [no brightness control] or red w/brightness control, [ground is controlled by the DLBC.

In other words, any cluster light the is effected by the DLBC has a red/black for power and a red for ground, any cluster light that is not effected by the DLBC has a red/black for power and a black for ground, so you will need to look for those circuits on the board.

To check for power the meters ground probe, [black] can go to any chassis ground point and check for voltage to test for ground switch meter to continuity, ground probe to chassis ground point and test for continuity to ground for the illumination grounds, either controlled by the DLBC or not. 94

 

new cluster