Dash light issues

[TX Heat]

Man this has been bugging me for quite a while. My dash lights, as well as my marker lights, and tail lights do not work. But my headlights do. Odviously the first thing I looked at was the fuse. It was blown so I changed it. As soon as I pull the headlight switch the 15 amp fuse blows. I've looked as best as I could at the switch, but it's hard to look up there. I also looked at the back of the fuse box, and it looks fine. So I think it's probably the switch itself.

How in the world do you get it out of there???

Do I have to pull the entire dash for this dumb switch?

any help would be awesome

[SVOeric]

I would bet the switch is the problem (Unless you got a wire crossed somwhere)

to pull the switch, reach up in there (technical terms!!) and on the fairly close to the front of the switch there is a spring loaded button.

pull the headlight switch on, push the button, and then the rod will come all the way out of the switch.

then just un-screw the plastic gromet, and the switch will fall out.

[Pat_in_L.A.]

Two other things that cause lighting problems on Fords...

1) bad ground wire continuity.

2) bad ignition switch.

[Eyelawdoc]

If those things don't fix your short, look at the individual lamp sockets, especially the ones for the front sidelights. They are up inside the facia/inner fender where all kinds of stuff can accumulate and facilitate corrosion and short circuits.

[TX Heat]

Man, for some reason, I'm having a tough time trying to get it out.

When I reach in there, I can feel a tab, or button, or whatever, that feels spring loaded. I can pull it back (towards the front of the car), but the rod doesn't seem to want to come out.

Just to make sure I'm pulling the right "button" where exactly on the switch is it. The only thing I can feel, is the little tab thing, and it rotates w/ the rest of the piece.

Thanks for the help.

[David Riedle]

Button

I just did this, and you push the button down, towards the bottom of the car...not towards the front of the car. Make certain that you disconnect the battery first, and then pull the light switch out all of the way. It's very important to disconnect the battery to prevent any sort of short circuit.

It took me a while to get it, and when I did, it just popped out easy as pie.

Remove the front trim bezel, it just screws in, and you should be able to retract the switch.

To reinstall the switch, connect the wiring, push the switch in place, reinstall the screw bezel, and gently push the knob in. You have to make certain that it is indexed, so you can change the dash lighting and turn the dome light on and off, and then just push. The button will automaically move, and knob will snap into place.


Dave Riedle
86 2R

[TX Heat]

Cool, thanks for the reply, I'll give that a shot.

[SVOeric]

BTW:: that switch can get rotated , so it is possibe you could be pushing the button straight up -- there is a large flat spot on the switch where the button is -- the button should press down against that flat spot - which is also towards the rod you are trying to remove..


pull the rod out 2 clicks (normal headlights on position) then press the button, and it should pull right out-- I find sometimes rotating it a bit will help also.

[TX Heat]

I finally got around to getting the rod out of the switch.

But that's about it. The bezel is the black thing attached to the dash correct? If that's it, it's not budging. And I sure cant' see how this thing is suppose to come out. Good grief. Any kind of engine work no problem. Change a head light switch and I'm getting my butt kicked.

Thanks for all the help.

If anyone can explain this that would be awesome

[David Riedle]

Bezel

I used a "jar lid" rubber pad to grip mine, and then just turned it. I think I bought the pad at a Bed Bath and Beyond store for about $1.99.


Dave Riedle

[TX Heat]

Re: Bezel

Originally posted by David Riedle
I used a "jar lid" rubber pad to grip mine, and then just turned it. I think I bought the pad at a Bed Bath and Beyond store for about $1.99.


Dave Riedle

LOL that's awesome. I think my wife has one of those. I'll give that a shot.

[TX Heat]

Well I swapped Light switches. It worked for a little while, then the lights went out again.

What the heck. Not sure what to check next.

[TX Heat]

Dash lights fuse problem figured out

In case you haven't read the previous post.

My dash lights, outside marker lights, and tail lights were all out, due to blowing fuses. Couldn't find any obvious falty wiring. Changed the headlight switch, didn't fix it. Finally I looked at the ground lugs under the hood, for the headlights, that are grounded to the frame. They looked really dirty/rusty/old. So I cut them off and put new lugs, and cleaned the spot underneath them. The lights stay on, so I think that was the problem.

[SVOeric]

I hate to razz you-- but why on earth would you start a new thread to report this ???

I'm gong to merge this into the other thread.

[TX Heat]

No problem.

I did that so if someone did a search looking for dashlight fuse problems they would find that one first.

That was a problem I had. Lots of posts about that particular problem on alot of different forums, just no solution.