hello all, my first post.

I have an 87 gt fastback and the other day while I was chaning the carpet in the passengers side I had both doors open. I don't know if I messed something up by having them open but now the lights for the guages that are supposed to come on when you turn the headlights on aren't coming on. My pin in the driver's door was messed up and causing the door to lean. With it being open all day it leaned pretty bad to the point that I had to close it with the window down and lifting the door up(so not to break the glass. I have ordered replacement pins and gaskets(brackets...whatever they are called) and in the meantime the pin has been tapped back up and the door is working just fine now.

I was wandering if while I was closing it I might have messed up something causing this to happen. On top of the lights for the guage cluster not working the door ajar light won't go off. It did rain the other night and I have a hood scoop that is operational on the engine compartment, so when I opened the compartment some water drops hit the engine(at night) and I heard them fizzle. I mention that in case I might have shorted something without knowing it(though I am doubtful that is the case).

I looked in the haynes manual and it said that the fuse that operates the guage cluster lights also operates the warning signal that I have left my headlights on. Sure enough that isn't working, so I would naturally think it is the fuse. I checked the fuse(number 13...5 amp fuse according to haynes) and it looks just fine, no breakage in the wire.

Just curious as to if there are any ideas out there as to what the problem might be.

thanks for the help

Welcome to the forum,theirs a wheel on the left side of the dash that rotates controleing the brightness of the dash,try rotating it untill the gages can be seen.If they still dont come on then the contacts on the roller wheel are probubly bad.As for the door ajar light, it's probuly a bad or dirty pin switch at the doors,hood or possibly the trunk (not sure if theres a pin switch for the trunk).Take a look at your interior at night because those courtesy light could drain your battery if there on (so you might want to pull the bulbs untill you fix that problem.

Fuse, happened to me the other day when i was helping a friend wire some external lights on a 99 Chrysler Sebring Limited. The wire was caught on the steering wheel, so when he got around his first curve he pulled the wire (along with what it was attached to) out of the dash. We shorted about ever fuse in the fuse box and scared him to death. I would say that you should replace the fuse regaurdless of it looking ok. Infact I would pull every fuse in the car out and check, i did this when i got the car and i found several that had gone out and I had no idea. Secondly I would check around the door seal for the switch ( I'm sorry I haven't gotten to that yet so I can't tell you where it is, but it should be a stub the you can push in). I'm not very keen on it being the switch however because of your gauge problem. So.... 99% sure it's a fuse.

Oh and by the way, you shouldn't worry about the water on your engine. I've taken a high pressure hose to my engine just after getting it hot, to clean it. The factory builds cars to take alot of water and not be affected. The steam you heard was completely fine. and as for shorting something out, the only thing you could have back there that would have had affect on your interior lighting is the battery.

Good luck with finding your culprit, and welcome to Pennocks Forum.
-Paul

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