Stock Radio CLUSTER F***

[AlpineE30]

Replaced the HL switch. No luck. 

Anybody have any insight into wiring troubleshooting?

[Boris3]

Not much of a wiring expert, hint if you have your hazard switch installed upside down in an e30 which is possible by the way your headlights and turn signals will exhibit strange behavior...and there was that rewired 1955 Willy's Jeep kind of on fire incident in the mid-70s. 

That said: 

-If you're getting power to the head unit have you tried running a cassette in the deck to see if you get any sound from that? If yes could be just a radio specific issue which leads to other things. I don't know the unit but If no longer power to the head is there an inline or internal fuse?

-With the radio the clicking sound through the speakers is one click when you turn the unit on or constant? 

-As far dead dash lights which fuses have you checked?

-Also to rule out the "doh" factor with the new light switch have you rotated the switch knob to make sure things aren't just dimmed (been there I am sad to admit)? 

-Lights aside do the gauges themselves still work (tach, speedo). If yes that is a good thing, if no you might have damaged/shorted your SI board.  You have had the battery disconnected during the install yes?

[straight6pwr]

Boris3 said:

-Also to rule out the "doh" factor with the new light switch have you rotated the switch knob to make sure things aren't just dimmed (been there I am sad to admit)?

ooo, good idea! could easily be missed

i wish you were closer so i could look at this myself.

I found this on r3v: (they suggest to check the grounds)

someone said:

All the ground wires in the console are brown. I don't suspect that radio ground connection as being the cause of your lights not working unless they cut the wire. As long as they just tapped into it it should be okay. If they cut the wire, then I agree with you, that becomes the most likely fault. Try grounding the loose end of that wire if it is cut.
Probably easiest to take the cluster out and trace the dash lighting circuit back to the rheostat in the headlight switch. The connector for the dash lighting may just be disconnected from it.

someone said:

I killed alot of time tracking it down, but it turned out that someone spliced a ground from the heater control light and used it as the ground for the stereo. Since all the lights use the same ground....they all stopped working

[AlpineE30]

Boris3 said:

Not much of a wiring expert, hint if you have your hazard switch installed upside down in an e30 which is possible by the way your headlights and turn signals will exhibit strange behavior...and there was that rewired 1955 Willy's Jeep kind of on fire incident in the mid-70s. 

That said: 

-If you're getting power to the head unit have you tried running a cassette in the deck to see if you get any sound from that? If yes could be just a radio specific issue which leads to other things. I don't know the unit but If no longer power to the head is there an inline or internal fuse?

-With the radio the clicking sound through the speakers is one click when you turn the unit on or constant? 

-As far dead dash lights which fuses have you checked?

-Also to rule out the "doh" factor with the new light switch have you rotated the switch knob to make sure things aren't just dimmed (been there I am sad to admit)? 

-Lights aside do the gauges themselves still work (tach, speedo). If yes that is a good thing, if no you might have damaged/shorted your SI board.  You have had the battery disconnected during the install yes? 

Yeah, I have tried the cassette deck. Still no sound. Cassette deck itself seems to be working. 

The speakers click once when the radio turns on and the sound is turned up. 

Dead dash lights (& PS rear Tail light) - I have replaced fuse #'s 10,12, 19, 21, 22, 23

I did rotate the knob.  I wish it was that easy! 

The speedo, tach, etc. all work, just no longer light up. 

Yes, I did have the battery disconnected.

[AlpineE30]

straight6pwr said:

ooo, good idea! could easily be missed

i wish you were closer so i could look at this myself.

I found this on r3v: (they suggest to check the grounds)

I'm getting more and more concerned the ground got messed up in the process of all of this. All of the ground wires that I can find (3 of them 1 from the radio) are all connected. Any advice on re-grounding it them? 

My analog clock is still lit and working, but I don't have lights for my heat/ac controls. 

I am concerned about pulling the cluster and causing more issues.

[straight6pwr]

the fact that all the lights that are out are in the same circuit leads me to believe the cause is one wire in that circuit. (causing all of them to not have power or ground.)

i'd pull the cluster/knee panel/etc to start following wires from start to end to inspect.

the cluster is easy to pull. more time consuming if you have an airbag steering wheel. i can swap clusters in about 5 min with an non-airbag wheel. there is no risk to damaging anything if you don't pull on stuff like He-man

[Jdesign]

Did you get this sorted? @AlpineE30

[AlpineE30]

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAND my speedo stopped working. Tap the dash and it comes back for a second and fails again. If anyone has tips on pulling the cluster and checking out everything. It would be much appreciated.