1994 Mercury Villager, new CD, 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=74933
Printed Date: June 20, 2025 at 9:51 PM

Topic: 1994 Mercury Villager, new CD, no dash lights

Posted By: bscott1238
Subject: 1994 Mercury Villager, new CD, no dash lights
Date Posted: March 22, 2006 at 7:51 PM

Hello! I'm hoping someone can help with this. My wife has a 1994 Mercury Villager, and I just installed a new CD player in it yesterday. The CD player works great, but now none of her dash lights are working at night (when she turns her lights on). I'm donkeyuming this has something to do with a few extra wires that were plugged into the back of the old radio that I left had to leave unplugged when I installed the new radio (because there was nowhere to plug these into the new radio using a wiring harness, of course). The problem is that I can't seem to find a wiring diagram anywhere that helps with this or anything in any forum online. Anybody ever run into this? Can somebody tell me what to do to correct this?

Thanks in advance!

Replies:

Posted By: bscott1238
Date Posted: March 22, 2006 at 7:53 PM

That "donkeyumming" above is the word ***uming... guess it didn't like the a double-s and replaced it!

Posted By: xscash
Date Posted: March 22, 2006 at 8:25 PM

sounds like you either left the interior ill. wire bare and it contacted the case of the radio...or you tapped it for a ground. this ground is common when people install during the day,the wire will show ground until the lights are turned on and then it goes positive and blows a fuse. either way... it should be a fuse. but you should check the wiring before replacing with a good fuse.

Posted By: bscott1238
Date Posted: March 23, 2006 at 6:22 PM

Thanks for the response, but that's not the case. I didn't have to tap any wires for a ground, as that was built into the wiring harness that I used. I didn't leave any wires bare - there were two small factory harnesses that plugged into the back of the factory radio (in addition to the two main harnesses for power and speakers), so I had to leave those two factory harnesses unplugged (since there was nowhere to plug them with the new aftermarket radio). I checked the fuse which controls the illumination panel and chime, and the fuse isn't blown. Anybody else have any suggestions?

Posted By: geepherder
Date Posted: March 24, 2006 at 12:53 PM

I know it sounds stupid, but check the position of the dimmer switch. (It annoys me when other people drive a company car and have to tweak with basically everything.) Other than that, disconnect the dimmer/illumination wires from the stereo harness to eliminate them as possible culprits. I'd probably next reinstall the factory deck to ensure they still come on with it. You can always check the bulbs if not. If they do come on, meter the wires behind the cluster and see what wire(s) read(s) differently with the factory deck or the aftermarket deck installed. From there, you can post your results if you're unable to come up with a solution and I'm sure someone will gladly help you.

-------------
My ex once told me I have a perfect face for radio.