with my instrument panel lights, in a nutshell I have done the LED conversion and had one of the bulbs going dim so I took everything apart and was fooling around with the bulb and poof ALL the instrument panel lights go out at the same time, now I've checked all the fuses (even ones that have nothing to do with the panel), I've checked the green circuit board and no burn marks and I've changed all the bulbs and sockets and still no light.
So if anyone has any ideas I'd be more than happy to try them out, otherwise its off to the dealer for me.
thanks, Jeff

 

i just want to make sure i have all the info correct first....

you did the LED conversion and one of your bulbs was going dim in your cluster. you were toying with it to find out what the issue was and everything went out spontaneously while you were touching it?

check your dimmer switch with a DVM to see if it is functioning. i doubt the LED conversion should have affected you (although i don't want to rule it out). if the green board seems to be in good shape then just follow it back to your power supply. check to see that there is actually a voltage going across the fuse.

SSTS

 

sorry for being a noob but DVM? I'm pretty sure VM is Volt Meter
also I should point out that the outside temp, odometer and trip odo still function fine.
so where do I find the power supply? do you mean take the fuse out and check with the DVM?

pretty much, I was moving the bulb around in the socket and zap bye bye lights, as well there was a puff of smoke from the left side of green board
thanks

 

no problem about the DVM thing. sometimes i forget that i deal with this stuff every day. DVM is just Digital Volt Meter. if you have any questions about operating one (checking DC/AC voltage; continuity checks) please don't hesitate to ask. i know alot of people don't feel comfortable doing this stuff. i'm an electrical engineer by profession so i am more than happy to go out and do things like this and to explain them to other people.

does the ODO actually light up? or does it just come on? there are a couple of things you can do to check if you're getting power at all, now bear with me because i am writing some of this based on memory of what the greenboard looks like....also if you allready did this forgive me, i'm just going through step by step.

first thing: when you check the fuse, physically take it out and put a DVM across it. most DVMs have a feature where it will make a real annoying buzzing sound if you touch the probes to something and it makes a complete circuit (the DVM i got from sears has this feature, you just rotate the knob on the front to select it). this is useful because sometimes the fuse could have a hairline crack and you might not see it. so put a DVM on it and if it buzzes then you know for a fact the fuse is good to go.

second thing: find the input and output wires on the back of your dimmer. the panel in front of your knees should come off pretty easily. if i recall there is one screw in the fuse section that hold the panel in, then if you pull it straight towards the driver's seat it should come right off. disconnect the plug on the back of the dimmer and put the DVM across this as well. it will tell you if you have voltage going INTO the dimmer,

next test the two connectors on the dimmer itself for continuity (buzzing noise on the DVM). if everything checks out this far then we have to move onto the green board.

Green board testing: this is where i have to stop and think because you said you saw a little smoke.....do you think you installed an LED backwards? (unlikely because it shouldn't have lit up at all if you had). where you saw the smoke come out do you see any charred components? (little resistors, capacitors, etc.). with the board plugged in (i can't remember how much slack there is in the cable) you should try using a DVM to check the little light sockets for voltage, or if you can find a wiring diagram check the wiring harness before plugging it in to see if it has a voltage going into it.


i'm hoping someone else jumps on to help out because i'm running out of ideas. the key thing is finding where the smoke came from to see if you melted something or blew something out.

SSTS

 

thanks SSTS i'm going to get on that tomorrow, i figured out what a DVM is and bought one, as far as the greenboard goes there are no visible burn marks, the ODO lights up and dims when the headlight switch is in the on position, all the trouble lights are still functional also

Jeff