Outback dash lights

Maggoo · Post by **Maggoo** » Fri May 13, 2011 7:38 pm

G'day guys,

I own an 03 Outback and I'm having troubles with my dash lights.
I have no dash illumination whatsoever when i turn on my headlights. No speedo, tacho, fuel gauge, air conditioner lights or illumination on any switches.

I tested both positive and negative wires in the illumination circuit and both are at 12v. I beleive the negative is meant to vary from 0v to 12v which is how the dimmer works.
I also read somewhere it could be the illumination control module so i went to the wreckers and bought another one (100 bucks....) which unfortunately didn't fix it (the module could be broken though i have no way of testing it).

I have tried everything i can think of to try and fix it but no luck.
Any help would be much appreciated!

Cheers,
Paul

Maggoo · Post by **Maggoo** » Tue May 17, 2011 9:49 pm

Well I'm about to give up and hand it over to an Auto electrician as i am completely stumped as to what it could be.
Any last minute theorys on what it could be would be great.

Cheers,
Paul

taza · Post by **taza** » Tue May 17, 2011 9:57 pm

Hey. I cant help but do you have any photos or instuctions that you could tell me on how to pull it out? Pull the whole panel with the dash lights out? (where the speedo and that is). A mate of mine has an 03 outback and cant figure out how to pull it apart and replace one of the globes.

Cheers
Taza

Maggoo · Post by **Maggoo** » Tue May 17, 2011 10:10 pm

Here is a link to the guide i followed.
http://www.mediafire.com/?7c33m6e9vtkz7ka
Pretty much the whole dash has to come apart starting where the gearstick is and working your way up and across. There is about 4 screws holding the instruments panel which you take off then the whole thing should slide out.

Cheers,
Paul

taza · Post by **taza** » Tue May 17, 2011 11:11 pm

Thanks, Its quite similar with my Forester but a few things are different.

Post by **Alex** » Wed May 18, 2011 10:35 am

i had my dash apart in my 02 liberty on the weekend (basically identical to your car) i was looking for a rattle

its easy to pull apart, the cluster has a seperate globe for each little part of the cluster so i doubt theyve all blown at once.

Have you checked the fuse (stupid question i know)

also the dimmer switch might potentially be rooted. One thing ive noticed with my car is, if the fog lights are on, it doesnt allow you to dim the dash lights at all.

just afew ideas.

Maggoo · Post by **Maggoo** » Wed May 18, 2011 10:43 am

Thanks mate
I Have checked the globes and the fuse and both are all good.
I was thinking it may be the dimmer switch but i don't really want to go spend more money and find out it wasn't it.
Know of anyway i could test it to be certain?
Cheers,
Paul

Post by **Alex** » Wed May 18, 2011 10:55 am

honestly i have no idea how to check the dimmer. Maybe the contacts are worn or something??

also have a good look around under the steering column and stuff, make sure all the plugs are connected properly (dont join any of the green/black plugs tho, they are ecu code checkers)

youd be suprised on how one plug thats not joined properly that has nothing to do with the issue can easily be the problem.

alex

Maggoo · Post by **Maggoo** » Wed May 18, 2011 11:05 am

No worries
I will have a look for any loose plugs. I might have knocked something when i was poking stuff through one of the grommets in the firewall.
Cheers,
Paul

78sti · Post by **78sti** » Wed May 18, 2011 11:21 am

You could always bypass the dimmer by grounding the light circuit to the body. Dash lights will should then be full brightness. If that works I would be looking at the dimmer switch.

Also what happens if you hold on the auto button on the ac to stop these lights dimming?

Maggoo · Post by **Maggoo** » Mon May 23, 2011 12:41 pm

I tried bypassing the dimmer by grounding the circuit to the body but all it did was blow a fuse.
The back light on the AC is on a different circuit and it does dim when the lights turn on but no buttons light up. Holding the auto button just makes the back light go back to full brightness.

Going to have a look at some wreckers for an indicator/headlight/dimmer stork and hopefully can test it out before buying it to see if that is the problem.

Cheers,
Paul

Post by **Alex** » Mon May 23, 2011 12:52 pm

Let us know how you go mate. Im keen to know the answer to this problem.

Alex

Maggoo · Post by **Maggoo** » Wed Jun 15, 2011 7:30 pm

For those who are interested

Well i finally gave up and i took my car to the auto elecs.
Ends up i fried both my illumination modules because i had terminated the two illumination wires from the old stereo together.
The guy bypassed the module for now by using a paperclip haha
Works great now, don't think i will even bother buying another module.