Electric Gremlin OBD1 s14

[Vision Garage]

Okay, heres the problem Car runs fine but some electronics do not work. Mainly....

Guage cluster lights
Shifter lights (auto)
rear tails. (works when braking)

From what ive read, its the TCU. Which they show pictures of from an s13. Little white box which you can change. However, s14 do not have this at the same location. *if they even do. not sure

Basically checked all fuses and relays and they seem to work fine. Just cant get the lights on. So no one can see me at night and I cant read my gauge cluster. By the way, all cluster lights work. (check engine, airbag, ABS.)

[devnull]

The transmission computer has absolutely nothing to do with your lights.

Do the lights on your A/C controls and your cigarette lighter work?

Does your dimmer switch light up?

If none of those work, it's either the headlight switch or the wiring between it and the dimmer switch.

Since your taillights don't work I'm going to say it's the headlight switch

Does your clock light up?

[Vision Garage]

TCU. Timing control Unit. Not transmission.
 
Google It.
 
Dimmer does not work. Tried replacing and nothing. clock does not light up. ac controls work and light up. Only works on max. not on other settings. Not sure on cig lighter. headlights work tho.

correction clock light is on

[devnull]

Clean the ground behind the driver's side kick panel. It's between the fuse block and the door.

The headlight switch also controls the cluster lights, dash lights, corner/marker lights, and the tail lights.

Also I asked if the dimmer switch was lit, not if it worked.

[projectRDM]

Blower motor only working on high speed is the blower resistor. Replace it, but that's completely unrelated.

So you're saying some of the dash lights work but others do not, and then some of the parking lights work, but not all? Shit. There is no TCU in the S14, the entire lighting circuit is handled through the combination switch and to the dimmer for the ground side of the dash lighting. It's all one circuit. So to have various legs of that circuit dead while others work, you've got something crazy going on. I can't even begin to imagine what it is.

FYI, the headlights are on a different circuit. They'll work regardless, so will brake and turn.

[Vision Garage]

sorry russ. Let me explain a little better. The gauge cluster does not illuminate. All the gauges work properly. All the warning and cluster bulbs light up. IE. Check engine, airbag, abs, seatbelt, cruise control. Just that the cluster will not illuminate for me to see how fast I am going or RPM. I will try to re ground the wire behind the kick panel.

Any other suggestions?

[devnull]

There's a red/blue wire coming off of the headlight switch that runs to the dimmer switch.

Check for continuity between the headlight switch and the dimmer switch on that wire.

[projectRDM]

sorry russ. Let me explain a little better. The gauge cluster does not illuminate. All the gauges work properly. All the warning and cluster bulbs light up. IE. Check engine, airbag, abs, seatbelt, cruise control. Just that the cluster will not illuminate for me to see how fast I am going or RPM. I will try to re ground the wire behind the kick panel.

Any other suggestions?

K, so only the gauge cluster lighting is out, everything else inside/outside works fine? That's still weird. Pull the cluster and trace the red/blue, there should be two or three of them, verify you have power with the lights on. It could be the bulbs are just all burned out. If there's no power, run a lead from any of them to the red/blue behind the radio (or the hazard or defrost switch) and see if it comes on.

[SochBAT]

I had checked and swapped stalks from the other S14.

No dice. Nothings changed. Tracing power FTL.

[upsdude]

hi i had this similar problem but it's not completely fixed. But i had the same situation with the guages/parking lights being dead-pretty scary at night since peopl driving behind me couldn't see me unless i hit the brakes...and the inside was like, pitch black lol. turned out the tail lamp fuse kept blowing...which was only remedied by me taking out the radio. i had just bought the car, and the previous owner apparently had some kind of elaborate audio set up. he took out everything except the head unit...but yeah something was shorting that stuff out. i've cleaned things up a bit, since i'm only gonna use the 4 speaker seat up..i don't need a giant system.
Anyways, have you tried taking out your radio (if it's aftermarket)?

My next obstacle is the dead dash lights...trying to search for a fix on that one. Hope you get to the bottom of things dude :)

[chetacheese]

Im having the same exact problem in my s13 also its frustrating. The "tail lamp" fuse on mine keeps blowing out as well. I have still yet to try the TCU. Did you check your driver side fender for the harness? your tire may have rubbed it if your car is lowered.

[SochBAT]

harness is intact. This car is HIGH AS FUCK.