no gauge lights??? need help

[doubleup87]

it started when i went about installing foglights in my 2000 xj, i had heard rumors, on a few different sites, that the wires under my bumper (has a harness but isnt connected to anything) was for foglights along with wires that come out near my rear defroster (also with a harness but is connected to plastic) was for foglights. i snipped of the harnesses and treid using them (def didnt work) and now i have no gauge lights, i eventually pulled my head out of my ass and figured out the fog lights but i have no clue how to fix this problem ive created

[BigG]

Do you still have radio? If not, it might be the fuse.

[doubleup87]

my radio does still work

[Matthew Currie]

Do any of the console, heater control, etc. lights work, or are they all out? If all out, check the dimmer on the light switch. It could be burned out or damaged. Try turning the knob back and forth a few times to see if it wakes up. You might have to do some tracing of the current path. Double check the fuse. On a 99 it's fuse 6 in the junction block, and it is between the headlight switch and the panel. You should be getting voltage out of terminal 1 on the headlight switch.

If only the cluster lights are out, check the connector on the cluster itself.

[non-stick]

I'm going to ask a stupid question here. Did you check to see that you hadn't dimmed them down all the way? The soon-to-be ex did that on a minivan a number of years ago and damn near had the thing to the dealer for repair before I asked her why she called them.

Not implying anything, just trying to make sure we're not over complicating things.

HTH

[doubleup87]

the lights for my ac/heat nobs are out as well, and no my dimmers not all the way down

[Matthew Currie]

the lights for my ac/heat nobs are out as well, and no my dimmers not all the way down

Double check that fuse, then it's time to check out the headlight switch. It's a common failure. First order of business is to get a meter or a test light onto the terminal of the light switch that feeds the instrument lights and see if it's the switch. If there's voltage there, it's either the fuse or a bad wire somewhere else in the circuit. Make sure you didn't accidentally pull a ground wire during your fog light installation.

The terminal to test on the switch is #1, tan wire.

[j99xj]

Its almost always a fuse. The way I "cured" this problem was put a new fuse in, but when driving at night with the lights on, I turn the knob to the right to dim the gauge lights to reduce the load on that fuse. Hasn't blow since.

You could put a higher amp fuse in but I didn't do that because I thought I might mess something up.