Newby with no dash lights and blown fuses

[chrisshields11]

I'm new to the forum and have searched for my problem but I'm not able to find it, so here goes:

Bought my 86 CJ7 about a month ago. I noticed none of the dash lights work. Signal lights, 4x4, E-brake and high beam lights all work fun but no other dash lights work. Not even the small identifying lights above wiper, fan, etc. Tried rotating the dial on the light switch but still nothing. Checked the 3A fuse...it was blown. I didn't have a 3A fuse handy, so I put a 40A in the 3A space and turned on the lights. The dash lights lit up for a second, then went off. I checked the fuses again, and the 40A and the adjacent 20A fuse (that lights the tail lights) had both blown. I went and bought 3A and 20A fuses and replaced both. Now, as soon as I pull the light switch on, the 3A fuse blows immediately.

I've pretty much ruled out the light dimmer dial as being bad (I think), so the only thing I think could be causing the immediate smoking of the 3A dash light fuse would be the ground? Only problem is I don't know where the dash lights are grounded. Plus, I have the factory A/C unit under the dash so I can't reach up in there and pull or wiggle bulbs to check anything. If I can get away with not pulling the A/C and dash, I would prefer to do so, hoping the ground is somewhere on the dash and I can attempt to re-ground if I know what I'm looking for.

Any help is greatly appreciated.
Chris

 

[Hedgehog]

First off ALL, welcome to the board.

The dash lights are on one circuit, the Orange wires. Why would a ground wire be your problem? If the ground wire isn't working, nothing will work in the dash light circuit. Plane and simple, you have a short in the dash light circuit. You have three choices, you can learn to live without dash back lighting, you can hire someone to find the short or you can fix it yourself. There is no real short cut for you here. Find the wires and start chasing them out until you find your short somewhere on the hot side of the dash light circuit. You'll likely find a wire that has been pinched by something like the pedal assembly.

 

[Torxhead]

You might want to try using the dash light dimmer again, but turning it down all the way to test it. Otherwise, it does appear to be a short somewhere. There should be a red wire coming off that fuse that could be the problem, or just try tracing back from each of the dash lights. Also, try removing the adjacent fuses then test again to try and find where the short is.

 

[Lumpy Grits]

Do you have the OEM cig, lighter installed?
LG

 

[chrisshields12]

First of all, sorry for the delay guys...somehow I couldn't get logged back into my account, and I requested the password reset multiple times over three days and still haven't received the email. So I set up another account so I could reply. If this one conks out, I may no go back through that again.

Hedgehog-Thanks for the info. I guess I will need to pull off the A/C unit under the dash and start wiggling wires. I don't have a tester.

Torxhead-i've tried changing the "dim" on the light switch multiple times, but I still get an immediate blown fuse. If I check the adjacent fuses to the interior lights (3A) with a tester, would that indicate which wire is experiencing the short? How would that work?

Lumpy-I just bought the rig but the OEM cig lighter appears to be installed. I haven't yet checked it to see if it is working...should I check it and look for something here? I read a thread that warned for anything stuck down in the lighter so I looked for that but nothing, so I didn't bother with it again.

Thanks guys,
Chris

 

[Torxhead]

Well, for my reply, you could pull the ajacent fuses, since they seem to be in question, then try it. That would determine weather they are related to the problem. Hope you have lots of fuses. Sorry about the issues you are having signing on, I have seen this issue before, keep trying. Do report it to the moderators.

 

[Lumpy Grits]

Just for 'grinz' disconnect the cig lighter.
The powder supply wire just plugs into the back.
I've seen problems with them that were not seen by the eyeball.
LG