kimrpaige

Hello,
I am a newbie to Hondas, just bought a 97 Civic EX for my Son. My problem is the only dash lights that are working are in the cluster itself. All others are not. Is there separate fuses for the backlit panels? Thanks, Kim

ezone

If the gauge cluster illumination lights up properly, I think the lights that come on are inside a few of the individual switches and the heater control panel (and radio, if original).

Looks to me like Cruise, Hazard, and Defrost are the only switches with backlights.





And one bulb in the shifter plate if an automatic.


Switches, gauge cluster, and the rest of the dash illumination are all controlled with the brightness controller (#1 in first pic above), they all share the same power source and ground, they are all wired in parallel. If some work and some don't, then you probably just have some of the tiny light bulbs burned out.

Easy to test with a voltmeter.

kimrpaige

Well then I have a lot of bulbs out as the only dash lights I have are in the radio (factory) and the instrument cluster. All of the switches, mirrors, sunroof ,cruise, heater control, and auto trans, etc. are not working. Thanks, Kim

ezone

Odd that so many would be out, but it is not a new car either.

Before wasting time and money replacing bulbs, see if they are actually the problem:
Use a test light, see if any of them have their power and ground for the illumination circuit. A wiring diagram may help, along with a test light or a DVOM.

I'd start with whatever switch or connector in the circuit is easiest to get out of the dash to check.