GenVibe - Community for Pontiac Vibe Enthusiasts

I just bought a 2003 Vibe GT and for the most part I'm happy with it. Previous owner took everything out of the cargo area so I'm piecing that back together.My problem is the dash and gauge lights. The HVA/C and radio lights will not come on at all (except for the time/station window). At the same time, the gauge lights will not dim at all either. I just got a dimmer/left vent/mirror control assembly off of ebay and swapped out the dimmer to no avail.I've tried every combination of testing the dimmer function: during day and night, with the lights on and off, with the door open and not, car running and not.I guess the next step is to look at the fuses. I guess I put that off since they're kind of hard to get to. It didn't seem likely that ALL of the dash lights would have failed. Any suggestions?Thanks,ThomasDenton,Tx

You might get those symptoms if the tail fuse is blown Unfortunately the tail fuse is in the fuse block under the dash. There is also a tail relay, in a junction block just above the glove compartment. The DRL module also plays a part. Here's a wiring diagram from a matrix, but it should be the same on a Vibe

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Hi and welcome to GV..!I would be looking around for hacked up wires.. I sounds like someone did some install work that wasn't up to snuff... it could take a while, but it's worth it... If you have to, one weekend, pull the front seats out so you can get in there easier... it's easy to pull the seats, just don't forget to unplug the passenger, and maybe the driver seats sensor harness before removing them.. Maybe behind the stereo? I can't tell you how many times I've seen people hack into the factory stero harness to put an aftermarket unit in, only to chop it back out before a sale, putting the factory back in and leaving exposed tags of wire hanging about in the dash.. true story.. Also, in my signature, I have a link to the shop manual, maybe you can find something in the electrical section... Cheers.

Turns out the problem was further reaching than I originally thought.I didn't know that my driving lights were out as well until I got pulled over! I then found that the "rear lights" fuse was blown. Thanks to another post about downloading the factory service manual, I was able to trace all the different circuits that use that one fuse. The source of the problem stemmed from one of the two FRONT driving lights. I pulled the two bulbs and sure enough my multimeter no longer "beeped" indicating there was a short. I put a fresh fuse in and everything suddenly worked! Yeah! Put the dash back together and went to bed (11:30pm) Sometime this afternoon I'll get to check which bulb/socket has a short.

Sweet..!!BTW, I have the link to the service manual in my Sig, no need to DL the whole thing..