The dash lights on my 1993 Subaru Legacy don't work, and I can't figure out why. What can be the causes?

I recently purchased a 1993 Legacy from a mechanic to use for trips back and forth around town for computer repair. The car is old, and has high miles - 210,000. However, it runs very nice and I got it for next to nothing, so I like it. The only problem, however, is that the dash lights don't come on at night when I use the headlights. None of the guages light up, nor does the climate control or the indicators on the gear shift. Since none of these light up, it leads me to believe it's either a blown fuse or something more complicated, because it'd be a little too coincidental that all the bulbs in all those places would blow out. And yes, I've checked the dimmer switch. :-P I've checked all the fuses and they're all intact - can anyone help me out as to what may be the problem? I'm not sure if there's a board or anything that controls these lights, but I'm willing to get one from a junkyard to be able to see at night. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!
The dash lights on my 1993 Subaru Legacy don't work, and I can't figure out why. What can be the causes?
May have been a burned fuse, like you said. They're pretty cheap, try replacing and see what happens, just to knock that out as an option.


If it is 15 years old, and highly used, it may be a connector knocked loose, or depending on how the circuitry is wired, if one of the bulbs go out, they all go out?


I still lean towards the fuse, but....


Is there any other simple on-off controls you're missing? If so, are these connectors loose?





Check under the board and dash for lose connectors, (or even something somebody ELSE may have disconnected for whatever reason.
The dash lights on my 1993 Subaru Legacy don't work, and I can't figure out why. What can be the causes?
not being a smart a**, but are you sure they're not just turned off? look for the simplest things first.
Reply:I believe that there is a grounding problem with the dash board lights. Run a test wire to the dash board frame from a solid ground. Best of luck.