My problem started a little while ago. I have a 92 Nissan Sentra and all of the lights on my panel started to go dim very slowly over a period of time. Now the lights are completely out and nothing on the panel lights up anymore like the speedometer and the gas and the oil temperature. Is there anything I can do to fix this? (Or do I have to start guessing how fast I'm going at night and if I'm about to run out of gas.:o):)
I worked for a guy a long time ago who had pasted on his speedometer "Ignore it- just go faster". Mind you, that was on an Austin Mini Cooper S... Please bear with me- all I have is a diagram for an '89 Sentra (I don't do much with Japanese cars) but I have to guess it will be simular. First of all, check the fuse that feeds the circuit- make sure its good, then pull it out and reinsert it a couple of times. That helps ensure the problem isn't corrosion. Try the lights. Go? That problem is solved, but you may want to clean out the fusebox. No go? Then we need to go upstream. Pop the light rheostat out of the dash. On it (from what I see here) are four wires-
BLACK/ red- control ground to lamps
GREEN/ black- power from the headlight switch (park lamps)
red- rheostat fuse power in
black- rheostat ground
So- check the black and red wires first. Then, check the
GREEN/ black wire- you should have power here with the markers or headlights on. If no power here, you have a problem with the headlight switch. If you do get power here, connect your test lamp across the across the GREEN/ black and the BLACK/ red wires. Turn on your lamps, then operate the rheostat. No, or a very dim response means the rheostat is bad. If the rheostat is working, you'll need to check the specific set of lamps and sockets not working.