The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The Electrical Bay what happened to my instrument panel lights??

I'm working on my 49 = 3100,I got a new speedometer and ins:-) talked it with no problems. while I was under there I decided to replace the light bulbs, when I pull out the light switch to the park light position everything works great, but when I pull it on out for headlights all the instrument panel lights go out. A the lights on the outside of the truck is working fine just loose the inside ones. Any advice would be appreciated, thanks.

Have you check the fuses yet? What voltage are you using in the truck 6 or 12. I would suspect the headlight switch is the problem and it just happened to go bad while you were working on the dash.

I was kind of leaning that way myself, I'm running a 12volt system, would an off the shelf switch work for this application? How many terminals would there need to be? Thanks.

A stock headlight switch will work regardless of voltage. To verify that it is the switch you can just run a jumper wire from the power line coming into the switch and connecting to the instrument lights line.

Might be a silly question, but did you install 12v bulbs when you replaced them?

Mike B

check the little fuse on your head light switch. It is a tiny fuse off the back. If that is blown your dash lights and probably your dome light will not work. I had that issue with mine.

I don't know if your 49 switch is the same as my 58 but you may have your power for the panel lights coming from the same side on the light switch as the parking lights. When the switch is pulled out to the first click, it is parking lights only all the way out the parking lights go off and the headlights come on. Make sure you did not move the panel light wire to the parking terminal.

There is no fuse on the original headlight switch. It sounds like a problem with the dimmer portion. Have you tried rotating the knob?

Is there any chance you don't have a good ground on your instrument cluster? Sometimes, lacking a good ground the instrument lamps can seek ground through another light (ie headlight lamp) until you put power to the second lamp. Worth a try. Other choice is likely the headlight switch. If you are considering replacement anyhow, sometimes you can carefully pry the tabs on those old switches, remove the guts and clean the contacts.