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After installing a new radio, I no longer have dash lights. I've pulled the radio and checked all connections and there are no loose wires. I've checked what I believe is the fuse for the dash lights(don't recall the #) and it appears to be good. What else could it be? Is there more than one fuse for trhe lights?
Everything is hooked up to the factory wiring through an adapter.
Where is this relay located at and how is it tied into the instrument cluster lights?
I'm not 100% sure but I think it is one of the 3 square relay looking things that sit side by side under the dash kind of at the top of the tranny hump. I noticed my door panel lights were not working early one morning and that afternoon I found those three relays and removed and replaced them one by one. It made something start to make contact again because now they are working again.
I still haven't found the cause of the no dash lights. I did stop by a dealer today and the service advisor mentioned the GEM, which is located somewhere under the dash(apparently). He said he couldn't say for sure without having a tech tear into it. All I see with taking it there is a bunch of cash out of my pocket and into theirs and hopefully working dash lights.
I only see two fuses that have anything to do with the dash lights, # 15 and 16. Have you noticed anything else not working? You could check you light switch for power to dimer wheel then power out of dimmer, just in case one of those are bad.
I haven't noticed anything not working, the switches for the windows/locks on the door work and the aftermarket radio is lit up. I'm going to pull the radio again and double, triple, quadruple check the wiring and also hook the stock radio back up to see if that does anything. My thoughts (today) were to remove the head light switch assembly and test the dimmer, maybe it went bad.
You really need to check all fuses, not just the ones that say the dash lights. Ford does not do a good job of labeling all of the circuits that run off the fuses.