All of a sudden I have no gauge lights. I checked the fuse, actually I checked all of them when that didn't work, they're all good.

every other light on the car works, all interior dome and under dash, all exterior lights work. It is just the guage lights.

Couple other clues: my dingy thing stopped warning me the lights were on when the ignition was shut off, but it still chimes for other things. My stereo has a feature that automatically dims the display when the exterior lights are on. No more dimming when I turn em on now.

I'm stumped.

do a search. the same thing happened to me and it turned out to be a faulty transistor. i replaced it, and voila! functioning dash lights. it will aslo dim the shifter indicator, climate controls, and radio. if one of them still dims and the others dont, you have yourself a problem that is beyond my experience. have fun!

the resistor is easy to change, too. just unbolt it and put a new one on (with plenty of dielectric grease)

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Brandon Edmonds

1996 Taurus SHO (my baby)
1986 Ford EXP (rust galore, but im keepin it!)
1986 Fiero (to be my street rocket)
1977 yamaha xs750-2D (in pieces right now, will be done for summer!)

Thanks

Did a search. A few references to the transistor but none I found say where it hides.

Where is that bad boy?

Take the cover under the steering column off and look up to the right of the column. The dimming transistor is mounted to a finned heat sink. It's easy to get to. One other thing, did you check and make sure the thumbwheel under the light switch didn't accidently get turned down? (Sometimes it's the little things)
It might also be worth checking to make sure the connector on the thumbwheel hasn't come loose.

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Rod Schneider, Woodstock, Ga.
White 88 GT

Check Ogre's Cave under "Lighting" (links at top an bottom of the page).

Good call on the transistor. 5 minutes to replace, gauge lights back on.

Picked up a 15 amp transistor at Radio Shack for a whopping $1.99. P/N 276-2041

Thanks

I am going to buy and try that transistor in a couple days how do you install it??
is it easy, I found the transistor under the dash, how do you sub the radio shack one for it...
thanks
dave

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DAVES
86 1/2 FASTBACK
GT

It's a direct sub:

will the Radio shack transistor handle more amps?

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