I know that there is a wire to disconnect if you want the overhead console lighting to stay bright when you turn on the parking or headlights. Here is a link to a picture of the wire to disconnect in a 2002 PSD:

http://www.billgart.com/l12.gif

So I open my kick-panel on passenger side and I cannot find the wire pictured (in fact, I cannot find a harness with the AE tag on it as in the picture)...I assume that 1999 (early) uses a different wire. Has anyone done this mod on a 1999 and does anyone know the color of the wire? I'm leaving for a few days of rockhounding and I sure would like to do this before I leave (I'll be driving all night). Thanks!!! Neal

On EDIT

I FOUND IT! It is the blue to blue green wire with red stripe on the BD harness connector.

Remove kickpanel keeper (large plug like thing) and pull panel towards the drivers side (no need to remove completely).

Unplug the BD harness behind the passenger side kick-panel. Pull the red lock out of the center of the plug (a small screwdriver will allow you to pry it out enough to grab it). Then I used a test light probe (an ice pick or maybe even a 2" wire brad would work) to push the release for the blue green with red stripe wire. The male end of that wire will now just slid out of the connector.

Presto..bingo..overhead console and radio lights now stay bright when I turn the headlights or parking lights on! I now can see the radio settings and the overhead console with the lights on even in the daylight !

 

Nicely done! I wonder if the color of the wire has changed... cause it sure looks light blue in Bill's pic.

I still need to get around to doing this, myself.

 

I can't tell you because I am monochromatic color blind...I get the wire I think is the one I need and then have the wife check to make sure (that is my Ray Charles colorblind look). It is what looks blue green to me...I know it is in the lower left corner of the BD harness as you look down on it.

 

Nice work.

I added this thread to Cookie's list of common mods in the sticky thread at the top of the first page.

 

Great info....I'm headed out to do this now! I'm tired of turning off the lights or removing my sunglasses and shading the display with my hand just to read the dang thing.

 

Since I don't have the overhead display, I pulled the radio and removed the wire from the plug in the back. It's the lower left wire, right on the end of the plug.
Works great! No more dim radio display.

 

I completed the mod. Good stuff. I can't believe I didn't know of that link before. Ok, yes I believe it.

 

My radio doesn't dim. Just the overhead display. It's like FMC just needed something to dim to feel hi-tech.

 

LOL, yeah they had to run that wire somewhere!
One of these days I'm going to rig up a small toggle switch next to the radio so that I can control that feature.

 

Found this thread and decided to try it on my '04 6.0 PSD and sure enough it worked beautifully. The pic showing the plug, wire, and its color are the same as my '04. As is the location of the harness in the passenger side kick-panel. The only difference was that my harness was labeled "BB" not "AE".

 

Glad to hear it. I got really tired of trying to see the overhead display during the day. I always drive with my head-lights on so I guess it's self-inflicted but it still drove me nuts....

 

I snipped the blue wire behind the passenger kick panel and it worked for the lie-o-meter but the radio still dims....anyone have any insight or pics of which wire to snip, unplug or otherwise modify to make the radio stay bright too??? Thanks...Dave

 

It's the same color code to your radio. On my '99 it was one of the farthest left wires in the plug. It's been a month or so and the memory is fading which one it was but you can verify the correct wire by pulling the radio and then testing which one it is with a test light and turning the headlights on and off. Find the wire that turns on and off with the headlights.
From there you can cut the wire, or if you want to save yourself the hassle of having to repair it later on if you ever need to, remove the red portion of the plug. That is the interlock that holds all the wires into the plug itself. Then there is a tiny little tab for each connector inside the plug that you bend down a little to enable you to remove the connector from the plug. Don't worry about any of the other wires falling out with the red lock plate removed unless you yank hard on the plug.
Anyway bend down the tab from the connector that you want to remove and gently tug on the wire and it will come out. Lay the wire flat against the harness and tape it down to electrically insulate it. Reinstall the red lock plate and then the radio.

 

Thanks Kwik....I will give that a shot when I get back from Talladega!!!

"Question of the day for Talladega...Who will get upside down?"

 

So, I took out the wire that went to the overhead console display, but I still want to fix the radio one. Couldn't tell from this description where the wire was that I needed to remove from the plug (if the plug was behind the same kick panel as the one for the overhead display or behind the radio). Could someone explain? Thanks.