bought 02 lx about 6 monthe ago. recently, major problem with instrument cluster lights. when headlights turned on, cluster is dark, only thing lit up is blinker arrows. sometimes after several hours of driving lights will come on. have not replaced anything yet, and, if dim the dash lights, center hvac cluster will blink with blinkers. with rheostat switch turned up, hvac lights will not blink. any ideas? wife is second owner, no apparent signs of collision or flooding.

 

One of three things. Some "genious" wired an aftermarket radio or installed a part wrong or a dual filament bulb half-blew and crossed one filament onto the other creating wierd grounding problems. Or could be a bad ground (including fried solder from a circuit board or a wire or fuse misplaced).

 

thanks for the reply and info. car has oem radio (cassette). sounds like i need to get into dashboard or at least cluster. don't think there is any chance it could be headlamp/dimmer switch?

 

Stranger things have happened. Anything that looks overloaded could be. Why not start simple and try cleaning the battery cables first?

 

Hi. I had exactly the same thing happen to me. It turned out the cluster had a bad ground and had to be replaced. I have an SES '02. I remember reading about it some time ago and also other members had same issue. I am not the one who changed the cluster, but according to what I understand it is an easy job but very long as a lot of stuff has to be moved to get to it. Good luck.

 

You may be able to re-ground it yourself if you can decipher positives in the line from negatives.