CJ dash lights not working

Thanks for asking, but no, I checked that and it's not the problem :-)

Jumping in in the middle of a thread--cop told me that tail lights & dash lights are fused together so you'll notice if tail light fuse blows.

Paul B.

yes, parking and brake lights work

The main dash ground is just beside the steering column on the right on the inside lip of it.

Mike

Jeff Scherb wrote:

You can twist the light switch to control the brightness of the instrument panel lights.

There is no ground, per se. The bulb is grounded by the socket. If the gorund is missing, then the dash panel is isolated, and that is very difficult to do. It is easy to fix though, attach a dedicated ground from the dash panel to the battery or other known-good ground, like the block or frame.

I think your problem is the light switch has been twisted to the OFF position. Turn it to the RIGHT to turn the lights on.

That's the main ground, but all of the screws that hold the dash on also provide a ground path. If the dash was not grounded, other stuff would not work anyway, like the radio that is also grounded to the back of the dash panel.

I have had the same problem in the past. What it was, was the "rehostat"on the light switch was broken (coiled wires got brittle and crumbled)and therefore no matter where you turned the switch, it would not form a circuit for the dash lights to come on. You may want to pull the switch and look it over. Dan

All the bulbs in my 86 CJ7's dash have an orange power and a black ground wire to them.

The ground tags to the right of the steering column on the inside bottom lip.

Mike

CRWLR wrote:

My stock dash lights have a dedicated ground wire that tags on that bolt.

Just to name some, but the tach and clock lights plug into plastic, so do all the pull knob lights.

Mike

CRWLR wrote:

Oh, my headlight switch also has a black ground wire for the dash lights that tags the same bolt too!

Mike

Mike Roma>

No.

I have the stock dash and the stock dash wiring harness in it.

I just had to run a dedicated ground from the dash to the battery negative power bar post I made.

My dash lights are dual wire with their own ground. They plug into plastic parts Bill, they need a ground wire.

Mike

"L.W.(ßill) Hughes III" wrote:

There are a couple that are just one wire come to think of it.

The dimmer still needs the wire ground tag on the dash from the headlight switch.

Mike

Mike Roma>

Really!

I don't remember a dedicated ground to the dash panel on my '81 CJ5. My stuff all works fine.

The dimmer switch (not the correct name, but we are talking about the dimmer function of the instrument panel lamps) does have a ground wire that goes somewhere. All of the panel lights are a single feed though, with the ground coming from the sockets.

Don't make me take my Jeep apart!