2000 ford superduty, no dash lights

Printed From: the12volt.com
Forum Name: Car Audio
Forum Discription: Car Stereos, Amplifiers, Crossovers, Processors, Speakers, Subwoofers, etc.
URL: https://www.the12volt.com/installbay/forum_posts.asp?tid=108117
Printed Date: May 10, 2025 at 2:40 AM

Topic: 2000 ford superduty, no dash lights

Posted By: ziggyb222
Subject: 2000 ford superduty, no dash lights
Date Posted: October 12, 2008 at 7:24 PM

Wired a cd player for this ford superduty today and all was fine. Tonight went to use the lights and there were no dash lights. Then I smelled something hot. It was comming from the light switch. Used a Scoche harness.. Had the 12 volt,ignition and ground soldered along with my other connections. I still have no dash lights and the five amp fuse looks good.. It only occures with the aftermarket harness plugged in and the light switch turned on..that is when it gets hot.. Is something back feeding or what... Thanks for your help.

Replies:

Posted By: i am an idiot
Date Posted: October 12, 2008 at 8:09 PM

Sounds like the ground pin and the illumination pin of your harness may be in the wrong positions. Try cutting the ground wire of the deck from the harness, and grounding the deck to the chassis or a dash support piece. The illumination wire works as a decent ground untill the lights are turned on, when the lights are turned on there is 12 volts on that wire.

Posted By: ziggyb222
Date Posted: October 14, 2008 at 5:39 PM

That was it.... grounded it to the chassis and replaced the fuse. But still no lights on the dash. Checked every fuse in both boxes and all are ok now. GEM module????? Thanks for all your help..

Posted By: i am an idiot
Date Posted: October 14, 2008 at 6:09 PM

That wire is almost always protected by a fuse. It is probably going to be a 3 or a 5 amp fuse. Did you check the dimmer knob to make sure it is not all the way down?

Posted By: reax222
Date Posted: October 14, 2008 at 7:30 PM

No, GEM causes other issues, wipers, power windows, ect and if you don't have a VSM then it can also effect power locks. You may want to verify that the org (I think it's orange) wire in the headlight switch has voltage.