in my 77 the lights in the instrument cluster wont work and ive tried to differnt thangs and they still wont work ....but all the guages work just not the lights on them ....has anybody else had this problem ? wat could be wrong with it ?

apprciate the help

 

There is a fuse for the instrument lights, check that first.

 

Make sure your light switch is rotated to the correct spot. If it's turned clockwise (I think) than your lights will appear to be off.

Did you check all the fuses?

Sometimes in the back of the cluster get corroded and the connection isn't as good.

Could be that your light switch is bad.

 

NumberDummy, I want to ask you some questions about the dealership you worked at!

 

Everything works but the dash lights? Could be the rheostat in the headlamp switch. When you turn the ****, that activates the rheostat, which brightens or dims the dash lights.

D7TZ-11654-A Headlamp Switch (Motorcraft SW-1381)

Replacing the switch is simple...disconnect battery cable, pull out headlamp ****. Reach under dash, find the switch. On the bottom, there's a button, push it in, and pull **** and shaft from the switch. There's a plastic nut that holds the switch to the dash, remove it..carefully, and switch will drop out. Unplug the loom, re-install in new switch, reassemble. It's not necessary to push the button again, just push the **** and shaft into the switch.

 

Take test light and see if there is power at the Blue/red striped wire coming out of the headlight switch.

 

ok thanks fellas ill do all of that tomromorw and see wat i come up with ...i know i got it turned so there on

 

not the fuse and the plug aint corroded ....so were can i get a switch at ? and how much are they ? ...and if it dont fix it im takin it back ....but if u thank about it , the lights on the heater and stuff wont work either and they work right now ...so theres must be somthing wrong with the cluster ....

can the plug on the back go bad ?

 

How did you check the fuse ?

Look at it OUT of the socket or test it with an ohm meter ?

 

i took it out and looked at it

 

Test it with a multimeter as sometimes they (filament) break off on the end where they are attached

 

Yep...Like Dennis said..

I have looked at many fuses and even replaced fuses because they "looked" good and ended up spending a lot of time wondering why things didn't work. I probably ended up going in a circle replacing bad fuses with bad fuses and good fuses with bad fuses...Well you get the picture. Test it with a meter or test light.

 

I had this exact problem when I bought my '76.

Either the instument cluster flex circuit was replaced, or the harness was replaced by the previous owner. One of the two was for the incorrect model (Ranger vs Custom). When I traced the red/blue wire into the instrument cluster, it dead-ended at a point in the flex circuit that had a spot for a bulb, but the cluster did not have a hole for a bulb.

The fix: I traced the circuit lines on the cluster to a place in the plug. There wasn't a wire there. So I moved the dead-end blue/red to that spot. Done.

Wish I would have figured that out before I replaced all the bulbs, sockets, and headlight switch.

 

Well, Ranger Vs Custom wouldnt make any difference in the clusters, as both came standard with idiot lights. Optional with gauges.

It does matter what year the truck is however, as some of the years were "rewired" drasticly from the others.

It sounds like the cluster back was replaced due to cluster rot. If you post the numbers off the printed circut, one of us here can tell you if it is compatible with your year of truck, or which cluster back would be correct for your truck to make it fully functional they way the cluster should be etc... It's possible that some of the warning lights are not hooked up correctly even now.

hope this helps...

 

the owners manual says " INSTR.PNL. & CLUSTER LAMPS, ASH TRAY , TRANS IND. LAMP , RADIO LAMP , HEATER , A/C LAMP , HEADLAMP & W/S WIPER ILLUM. ( 3 AMP ) "

so if it says that ...none of them other lights would work and they do ....so its something to do with the cluster not the fuse , im just gonna buy me a little light at walmart and mount it somewere and let it light up the speedometer b/c i dont need none of that other stuff at night.... thanks fer all the help fellas