New dash bulbs not working

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RockNRoLL198705

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Hi everyone, I have a probably small problem, but I'm not having any luck figuring it out at the moment so I thought I'd try the experts.

I just got done pulling my dash to put the wipers back together, so while I was in there I thought I'd replace the bulbs since only one worked plus the turn signals. I bought 8 Sylvania 2825 bulbs, and replaced all of them. I also sanded the entire back of the circuit board since it was pretty nasty, the car did have a water leaking problem after all. So after I reconnected the board I noticed only the left turn signal worked, no other lights. Not only that the left signal was pulsating and doing some funny things so I pulled the dash out and wiped the back down a few times...my guess was that some sanding dust remained and was maybe causing current to jump tracks so to speak. That didnt fix anything, so next I swapped the one working bulb to the right turn signal. That did it...right signal worked, left no longer did. I threw my jacket over the dash and I can see the lights are barely on in the dash in some of the gauges. What am I missing here? Is it possible most of the new bulbs are bad? Did I buy the wrong ones? I'm running out of ideas. Im gonna try to clean the black bulb holders but feel free to stop me if I'm on the wrong path.
 
Ok, quick update. Cleaning the black bulb holders did NOT work. I also pulled all the bulbs out of a '73 dash I have and swapped them in, nothing changed...so I'm assuming the new bulbs are good. One new thing I noticed though -If you have a turn signal on, then turn on the headlights, the turn signal on the dash reverses direction. So if I have the right turn signal on, then turn on the headlights, the right indicator on the dash will stop and the left one will turn on, but the exterior turn signals will still flash on the right side. Could the problem be the headlight switch? I don't understand how that could effect turn signal operation though.

*Car is a 1975 Dart custom if that matters*
 
Update #2:

I swapped the headlight switches, no change. I have the dash from my '74 duster out too, Im gonna swap that whole dash in and see if it changes anything. Im running out of time to get this fixed before i have to put everything back together and deal with it some other time...probably a few weekends from now.
 
Final update:

Dash swap has shown no change. I'm putting everything back together and waiting for the jump box to finish charging, because it seems my battery/alternator has given up. Would that cause these problems?
 
well not knowing what year the car is, its sounds like a bad ground between the dash assy itself and the outer dash shell, i would try a ground jumper and see if they work, if not then it could be the voltage reg in the dash if its new enough, try that and let us know what happens
 
also there is a dimmer in the headlight switch... turn it and they should get brighter or dimmer...
 
The dimmer switch didn't seem to do anything on any of the 3 switches I threw in the car today.

How would I run a ground jumper...and which part is the dash voltage regulator?
 
The instrument panel simply will not function properly while dangling from its harness connectors. It gets a chassis ground through its mounting hardware. To add a dedicated ground wire is a good move. Factorys' routing that ground path through pot metal, screws, u nuts , etc.., never was adequate.
 
DO YOU have a shop manual. Once again, for the XXXX time, there was a 72 manual posted on the site.

Sounds to me like the cluster is not grounded
 
Good info on the grounding. I reinstalled dash but it still didnt seem to work properly. I have to wait til 1am for my jump box to be fully charged, after that I'm going to do more diagnosis. I have a shop manual for a 74 duster, but its stuck in my cd drive on my computer with a blown cpu. How can I connect a ground jumper to the dash? Should I follow where a ground wire hits the printed board and just solder on a wire and screw it into metal somewhere or is there a method?
 
There is a small hole on your cd drive that you can put a paper clip in and release the tray, Usually near the button. At lease you can get your manual out and take a look on another computer!

John B.
 
ok, 2am update. I jumped the car and the dash lights work! I guess they werent earlier because the battery was giving out. I also tested the car since I got it running, did AC Ripple test, AC voltage, Alternator output and screwdriver test, passed all so I'm guessing my battery itself is failing...not that its worth mentioning anymore. Thanks for your help everyone.
 
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