I hope everyone is riding out this Corona scaredemic safely. and still able to work.
Finally got to register my 84 Cavalier today. Took it out for a ride and for some reason my directional and high beam dash lights do not work.
The front and rear lights blink and the headlights work fine on high beam and low. Anyone ever had this problem?
Have you checked the bulbs in the cluster? Odd that both left and right would both be burnt out, but I suppose it is possible. Check the runners and the bulb sockets for any corrosion. If all looks good there, I'll see if I can find anything on it in a service manual, but my oldest one is 1988. They might be basically the same though.
Have not had a chance yet. All exterior work as they should. Strange that the high beam and directional dash lights would burn out at same time. I have had headlights go out days apart so anything is possible.
I’ll keep everyone posted. At least the few remaining hold outs here.
Had some time today.
Pulled the I/C and found the high low beam bulb was burned out.
Both directional bulbs ohmed out fine, but I replaced them anyways as I have a few spare instrument clusters hanging around (Thanks Orlen).
Put it back together and all lights work.
Car sat for two years so maybe just a little cleaning is all they needed????
At least I was able to clean inside the I/C glass (plastic) and the dash area while I was in there.
Fantastic!
I wonder if the high beam indicator bulb triggers the signal circuit to not work, as a warning? GM did have a warning for a blown brake light bulb. If a brake light bulb was burnt out, when you hit the brakes the interior light would come on. This was on 70's cars for sure. I don't remember if it was on 60's or 80's though. I don't know if there were any other 'warning' systems for a bad bulb.
John those little plastic pieces that hold the bulbs and fit into the IC are famous for loosing their connectivity to the IC printed sheet. Sometimes you can buff the copper circuit sheet at the bulb connections and bend the tiny pins that connect the bulb adapter to get an little tighter connection. My guess is the car has sat awhile and that is giving you a fit.
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Mine gave up completely on my 2nd Gen, had to replace the cluster, all the copper fingers on the circuit board the main plug goes into were corroded and torn from previous work and didn't work any more, got a used cluster off Car-Part in Minnesota, took a whole afternoon just to find one yard that would ship it down here, one of the last week's of parcel post too. One yard had it in stock for 4000 days but wanted more money to ship it than it cost to buy it.
Very fragile with age, more if you live in a hot climate.
Doug in P.R.
92 Pontiac Sunbird LE, 2.0, AT, Red / Black with Grey 155K miles. Hurricane Maria Survivor ! ( It takes a licking and keeps on ticking ! ).....in Salinas, Puerto Rico!
My thoughts are with Orlen. When I swapped in the new green plastic sockets, I pulled the tabs up to give them a better contact.
Or it could possibly be the I/C to dash connector that has to be disconnected and reconnected to access the bulbs.
Car now has that old car smell from sitting like the old cars from when I was a kid back in the 60's and 70's,
84conv wrote:
Car now has that old car smell from sitting like the old cars from when I was a kid back in the 60's and 70's,
Well, that makes it officially a classic.
Yeah Butch, but John has special cheat function - his is a convertible and he can easily air out that smell and have extra fun doing it!
...................................................................Missing that Wagon
John is not alone!
I finally got to take a nice spin in the '84 Sunbird today. I was so excited that it runs like a top and handles great!
However the left turn indicator light is also out on the IC.......
Oh well, it'll be ok . Last year I installed a whole mess of mechanical gauges and the IC will be a major , major job to get into now.
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