no lights in dash panel

well... i bought a 98 malibu last year for dirt cheap... i am a college student and have no money to pay for anything to be fixed by a professional.

so anyways the day after i got it the lights in the dash went out. the gm cd player lights also went out. fuses are good and tail lights are good. the cig light doesn't work or the accessary plug. all the warning lights in the dash work just not the speedometer or the rpm or gas or temp lights do not work. the wierd thing is that i just installed a new pioneer cd player and those lights work fine.

please someone help because it is really annoying driving without dash lights. thank you

did u try the dial on the left of the steering wheel that turns the interior dash lights on and off?

yes i did, i even switched it from one that i know worked......... thanks for the suggestion.... any more?

Did you check the first light in the run along the top of the gagae cluster it feeds the whole row.

The cigar lighter and aux power outlet are a different problem. For them did you check the 20 Amp fuse in underhood electrical center to see if it is blown? I think it is fuse #34 but it is the only 20 Amp fuse in any case.

In regards to you complaint on what I would call your instrument cluster backlighting, does other backlighting in the vehicle also not work?

Trunk Release Switch
Panel Dimmer Switch
Heater A/C controls
Door Lock Switch
Power Window Switch
Shifter Gear Indication

This would help determine if this is a problem with just the instrument cluster or something else. It is good that you confirmed that your tail lamps work and that you checked fuses. The most important fuse to have checked would be the 10 Amp fuse in the right hand Instrument Panel Endcap fuse center called "INST LPs". It is the one on top kind of by itself.

Your comments on aftermarket radio are interesting but does it actually have any backlighting which varies in intensity based on rotating the dimmer switch?

I have some additional suggestions but provide back response on these questions first

Thank you.

Hello,
I have a similar problem. The "INST LPs" fuse is OK. There are no lights in the dash and the backlights for the various controls (ie: radio volume dial and buttons, fan dial etc...). The funny thing is, this seems to have affected my head lights also. My head lights always stay on now, even during the day time. The "service engine" warning light is also on. I think the manual says this indicates the ALR function is not working.

Any help in diagnosing this problem is greatly appreaciated!!!

chvydriver,
in your case a couple questions.

Do your rear tail lamps, front park lamps and license plate lamp work? Just check with the ignition off by turning the headlamp switch to Park position.

This park lamp signal is used as power feed for this INST LPs fuse and so if they aren't coming on your backlighting will not either.

You mention that your head lamps stay on also. Under what conditions: When your ignition turned on? When you are in any gear? And if your headlamps are on are your rear tail, front park and license plate lamps on as well?

If your rear tail.... etc lamps are working OK and the INST LPS fuse is OK then I guess I would be suspecting a wiring issue or the dimmer transistor ($20) in your vehicle when kaput.

The warning light you have on is probably the Service Vehicle Light, if it is the Service Engine that is a completely unrelated issue

The rear tail lamps, front park lamps and license plate lamp do not
work.

The head lamps (low beam) comes on as soon as I turn on the
ignition, and in any gear. Also, the rear tail lamps, front park lamps and license plate lamp do not come on even though the head lamp is
on. Note that I can turn the high-beam on and off.

A side question.. I was wondering if this problem might be cause
by a defect relay.. specifically the mini-relays that control the
ALR and DLR functions. I was trying to pull one out from the engine fuse
block but it will not come out. Do you know how to put those out?
I did't go all out when I was trying to pull them out though... I didn't want to cause any more damage :)

Well lack of tail lamp ... etc explains why the backlighting isn't working. That is kind of a bad situation when driving around at night because rear of your vehicle isn't lit up for others to see.

I would suggest you take a look at the 15 Amp PARK LPS fuse in your underhood electrical center (fuse #45 on label) and see if it is blown or not. Post back when you get a chance and we can take this diagnosis further if you would like.

On the other item it sounds like your vehicle Automatic Light Control (at least what I call the feature) is working but not recognizing DAYTIME mode and switching to DRL.

At this point I wouldn't focus on the relays for the DRL and ALC function. It is more likely a problem with the light sensor or associated wiring which is telling the body computer to put your vehicle in nighttime mode all the time.

The relays just pull straight off although I know terminal retention is pretty good. However I wouldn't suggest doing that since your ALC problem is likely with the sensor. You are right to be somewhat concerned because if you damage the terminals inside the fuse block it would have to be replaced.

I am not sure how to go about troubleshooting the light sensor without having access to scan tool (or at least an ohmmeter) but lets figure out the park lamp/backlighting problems first ;)

Yep... the 15 Amp PARK LPS fuse is blown. I put a new one in but
as soon as I put it in, it gets blown again when I turn the
lamps on. Looks like I have a short somewhere. Where could it be
though. My break lights used to have this problem... that is, I put
in a new fuse for the break lights and then it gets blown. But after
a few fuses, the problem seemed to have gone away. I guess the
short just moved elsewhere. Can you tell where I should look for this short? There seems to be a relationship between these 2 shorts. Thanks again for all your advice so far...

Well that might indicate a problem in a rear lamp since that is a common point.

Isolation of problem is what is required at this point. "Fortunately" the problem you are experiencing is repeatible enough. To assist please print out this link of applicable lighting schematics. They aren't really needed for this first step but wanted to pass them along to you.

http://www.geocities.com/raj380/malibu_nolf/misc/98malibuextlight.pdf

and this one for rear lamp removal. No real tools are required. The fasteners are able to be removed by hand - although pliers might be needed to get them initially loosened.

http://www.geocities.com/raj380/malibu_nolf/misc/taillampremoval.pdf

when you have time my suggestion is to remove BOTH of your rear lamps on the vehicle and unplug them. Then put a new 15 Amp Park Lamp fuse in the underhood center and turn the lamps on again. See if the fuse blows. If it does not then plug in each lamp individually and see which rear lamp causes the fuse to blow.

I realize it is Sunday night so you might not have a chance to do this for a while.

Unfortunately if you do find that one of your rear lamps is causing problem it will be difficult perform a fix unless it is something really obvious. My suggestion might be just to disable to offending circuit (I will give you details) to give you at least partial functionality for the rest of the vehicle. However let's not get ahead of ourselves.

Let me know how things work out when you get a chance.

On 2nd thought. The Malibu has 2 stop lamp bulbs in each rear lamp. Have someone step on brake and check your vehicle. Do any of the stop lamp bulbs not seem to be working? If so I would just remove that rear lamp to perform the test I suggested

If I should continue details in PMs (since boring everyone else) then someone let me know ;)

Yep... there was indeed one stop lamp that was not working. I took
out that lamp from its socket, put in the PARK LPS fuse and
all the problem symtoms are gone :)... the tail lamps, parking lamps,
stop lamps and instrumental panel backlings, are seem to be working
now... at least the fuse didn't get blown right away when I turn the
lights on or step on the brakes. Even the check engine warning is
gone.

This is a huge step forward since I am getting most of the functionalities back for now except for one stop lamp. Thanks so much for your advice!!!

Glad I could help :)

So do you still have the problem with headlamps being on all the time (in daylight)? And now since your park lights are working they should probably be on as well. That would also cause your radio display to be hard to see in daylight since your lights are on.

Or maybe that problem went away as well?

The head lamps were working normally... and yes, the radio display is harder to see in the daytime.

But I have some bad news. The problem came back. It was working
fine on the way to work and back. When I used the the car again in the evening, the short came back... sigh... Back to square one. Certain movements must be causing the the short circuit.

That is unfortunate :(

Well if you only moved the wiring going to the rear lamp then as you say maybe something in harness chafed (or still something else wrong with that rear lamp). I know these harness branches could get tangled in the mounting attachment for lamp. So for now I would stay focused on whatever portion of the harness you handled and the rear lamp (which side was it?).

As a test you could completely disable the tail lamp feed to this rear lamp and drive it for a couple days to see if problem goes away which would isolate whether problem is just with the lamp or somewhere else. This would be done by "backing out" the brown wire going into cavity "D" of the rear lamp connector. You would have to put some electrical tape over the terminal to keep it from shorting out when removed.

To remove the wire you would need to temporarily take off the plastic retailer on back of connector which helps retain wires and then depress a tang on the terminal you want to remove from the front in order to back out terminal (need a very small tool to do this). Push the tang on terminal back in place so when you reinstall it snaps back into connector.

The only problem with pulling terminals out of sealed connectors (as well as taking a bulb out your lamp) is that is messing up the sealing of the lamp assembly against water intrusion. So these are things you can only try temporarily.

In regards to the bulb you removed, did it look like a filament was burned open, melted base, heavy corrosion on terminals, or did everything look OK? I think this bulb is a #3057 if you need to get another one

Finally I think you said you were still having problems with headlights and park lights being on during daytime. Since your Service Vehicle Soon light was NOT also on, it somewhat narrows down the problem. Likely it is an issue with Ambient Light Sensor or wiring for sensor have open circuit or short to ground. Take a look at the light sensor

http://www.geocities.com/raj380/malibu_nolf/misc/ambientlight.pdf
There is a potential it might have fallen out of its mounting on defroster duct and is stuck sampling light inside your instrument panel (where it is always dark) :)

Enough for now ;)

OK... I am going to try disconnecting the brown wire. One interesting thing I notice about the socket that housed the bulb I pulled out. I can see and smell burnt plastic. The connector in the socket is also somewhat browned... it appears from burning. So it appears that is where the short is? On the other hand, the bulb appears fine.

One concern I have is your comment on sealing of the lamp assembly... does that mean I eventually have to seal the assembly?

What I meant about the headlights was that it appeared to be working normally (when the fuse is not shorted)... that is, I can turn it on and off including the parking lamps... When I turn it on during the daytime, the radio clock is hard to see.

Back to work now... that is, poking around the car :)

Oh, OK so when fuse not shorting everything sounds like working as expected - I didn't realize you were able to control headlamps in daytime - cool :)

I kind of forgot what the rear lamp assembly on Malibu looks in regards to how the bulbs and socket work so maybe there is not an issue if you leave a bulb out in regards to sealing. I now seem to remember there is a seal around the whole assembly with bulbs that snaps into the lamp so removing a bulb probably no big deal. However the wire I suggested you remove will cause a leak path into the lamp assembly so this is only a short term test. If that resolves the problem I am sure you could find something to plug the open cavity - however we haven't been having the greatest luck yet so we'll see what happens.

It might be that there was poor retention of bulb in the socket leading to high resistance and heat build-up which caused the damage you are seeing. I know that I have seen an awful lot of this body style that don't have all 4 stop lamps working. Don't know how this could be causing the intermittent tail lamp short but I know there is a network of "metal frets" in this assembly and maybe one somehow is now shorting out against a ground due to this other damage.

I couldn't get the brown wire out. I depressed the tang (by this you mean the contact pin for the wire right?) and removed the
plastic retailer on back of connector but when I try to pull out the brown wire, the tang (the side that is not depressed) got caught in the plastic of the connector... it dug right into the plastic so its hard to get it out. So I tried the test with all the wires still in the connector, but the connector is removed from the plastic moulding that houses all 4 sockets for the builds. The first fuse I put in only lasted less than 1 min. I forget how I got the fuse to blow... whether I turned on the lights or stepped on the brakes. The second fuse I put in didn't blow yet. I'll see how long it lasts and pay extra attention when it blows (ie: the Service Vehicle Soon warning light will go on).

BTW... the bulb that is not working and where I see the burnt mark is the left hand side brake lights... the outer most bulb of the 2 brake light bulbs.

But you don't want to drive around with your rear lamp disconnected because then the turn signal, back-up and remaining stop lamp on that side doesn't work. I could send you something (a small wiring jumper) next week that would give the same effect as backing out just the brown wire (although I am starting to doubt this lamp is causing this problem now based on last post). If interested PrivateMessage me with an address to send a jumper to.
Reason is:
If you really had the wiring harness unplugged from this lamp and the fuse still blew anyways then the problem is elsewhere and at this point we might just have to give up finding problem :(. My next suggestion would have been more invasive (disconnect battery, remove underhood electrical center and individually measure each park lamp circuit at underhood electrical center connectors from it looking for something that has too low of a resistance to ground). This would be more difficult than removing rear lamp assembly (which is supposed to be something a customer can do to replace bulbs) and require use of a tool like a digital ohmmeter.

Yep... I found that out when I started to driver. I managed to disconnect the brown wire and the light blue/black wire which is
the power to the left side brake lights now. Actually the brown wire kind of broke off but I guess it has the same effect. I was able to remove the light blue/black wire properly though.

I have a digital multimeter. If you can give me some instructions, I can try to take those measurements.

One observation I have is that the last two times the fuse blew seems to be when its dark enough and the lights automatically turn on. Does that mean anything?

Well that means that it requires the park/tail lamp circuit to be energized to blow fuse which makes sense but doesn't help.

I looked what I provided you already and you have everything you need for schematics (but as a reminder).
http://www.geocities.com/raj380/malibu_nolf/misc/98malibuextlight.pdf
The first page is one we are initially interested in.

This shows how the park lamp circuit gets is distributed inside the vehicle. Since this is a little easier to access I would start here rather than underhood for next step.

It might be a good idea to disconnect negative battery cable at battery before proceding. This is the safest way to disconnect battery power from your vehicle (by the way)

Here are more details on what are called pinouts for each of the electrical centers connector in vehicle
http://www.geocities.com/raj380/malibu_nolf/misc/becpinout.pdf

This helps you better understand the pinout and what each connector looks like. We are focusing on Fuse Block Right IP, C3 (pages 10-12) and circuit #9

I would recommend first locating the right hand IP electrical center

http://www.geocities.com/raj380/malibu_nolf/misc/ipelectricalcenter.pdf

Just disconnect the one visible connector (C3) -it is bolted on and requires 7 mm driver. You don't need to disassembly any further. Then probe the 3 cavities of that connector for 9 circuit with your multimeter that go to the rear lighting in vehicle for resistance to ground (there should be some ground ring terminal in area you are working in). The cavities are A4 (left rear lamp), B4 (license lamp) and C4 (right rear lamp). I don't know what resistances you are going to see so report back. Anything that is < 1 ohm will be suspicious. It is possible the problem is not in these circuits but somewhere else but check these first. Before you put this connector back in place also probe one of the corresponding blades of the electrical center itself that connect to any of these terminals in the harness connector and measure resistance to ground on it. If you didn't see any low resistances on the wires you measured likely this circuit will show <1 ohm but it is going to rest of vehicle so more diagnosis is required.

The next step will be to remove this electrical center from IP (see instructions) so that you can disconnect connector C2 and probe the wiring in these 4 cavities (A9, B9, C9, C10). Same thing, resistance to ground. Look for something <1 ohm

It is unfortunate the brown wire broke off going to your left lamp cavity D (park lamp). That is going to have to be repaired at some point. You should reinstall the light blue/black wire back into connector cavity A. That wire is used for the Left Rear Turn Signal.

I finally have some time to go back to this.

I managed to measure the resistence of the cavities A4
B4, and C4. They all appear normal. Nothing below 50 ohm.

I couldn't measure A9, B9, C9, C10 though. Do I have to
remove the glove compartment to disconnect connector C2
I couldn't figure out how to do it.

I disabled the power at A4 for now to see if the problem
would still occur.

A thought crossed my mind. I was wondering if it is possible
to install 10 Amp fuses at A4, B4, C4, A9, B9, C9, and C10.
If the 10 Amp fuse blows the next time the short occurs,
this will help narrow down the problem. Do you think this is
do-able?

Installing inline fuses to isolate an intermittent problem is something dealer techs sometimes have to do.

To access connector C2 you have to remove the electrical center from its mounting bracket. If I remember correctly it snaps in and so there is likely something that you have to release with a screwdriver to pull it out. I haven't worked on one for a while to remember better how it is done.

Take a look at this link again
http://www.geocities.com/raj380/malibu_nolf/misc/ipelectricalcenter.pdf

i am too having the same issues with my 2001 malibu my friend
indeed the 15amp fuse was blown due to a tail light problem
that did not occur to me til i read this thread thoroughly
however now i have my exterior lights working again i have a problem still with o dash lights...any ideas on that.
i did take them out last night to test the wiring in the actual instrument cluster and did not realise i had no tail lights til this thread
i knew i had no DRL and that's why i am investigating
had service vehicle light on which went off with replacement of the 15amp fuse
wiggled my tail light bulbs a bit and cleaned...all now work (weird eh)
i'm gonna remove my instruments again @weekend see if i just didn't plug in properly tho...fuses fine by the way
DRL relay fine..(swapped 3 way with othere (ALC) etc)
but still no dash lights..also need to check 12v @ dimmer switch i guess
any help a bonus for me

thanks

I to have a 1998 Malibu that the dash lights (back lighting) doesn't work but I noticed that one of my tail lights in the driver side was out could that be the problem. My parking, turn, stop, and interior lights all work as well as my cig lighter plugs.

Please help cause I have to use the light on my camera phone to drive at night...

did you check the fuse mentioned in this thread (the 15 amp in the fusebox in the engine compartment)
worked for me but still had no dash lights
do your lights come on in the daytime m8
i don't know if your car is DRL and ALC equipped???

UPDATE FOR MY DASH LIGHT ISSUE
i managed to get lights in my dash by bypassing the dimmer switch located in the dash
had to patch from the live(brown) wire to the green wire which enters my dashpanel on the multi wire connector
i think perhaps my dimmer is bad but have no real way to test it
so if someone can post up that info...would be grateful

This is the problem I had too. I have a 1998 Chevy Malibu - tail lights do not work - dash panel dimmer does not work and service vehicle soon light is on. It all went wrong when I replaced a tail light. The brake lights, turn signals, headlights all work. I solved it by replacing the 15 amp fuse in the Fuse Relay Center under the hood labeled 45 - Park LPS. There was a spare amp in the drivers side fuse panel. The Service Vehicle Soon light went off. The dash lights work again (after I turned them up). All but one of the tail lights work again. I'm good with three out of four tail lights working. I fear if I try to get the fourth one working I'll blow the fuse again and have to go through this again.