Hello All, New to the forum and just recently purchased a 2006 Malibu LT 3.5L V6. I took the car on a test drive and all was good as were fluids and such, no signs of leaks or other problem issues so I got a good deal on it. I purchased it during the day, last night I took it for a drive down to the convenience store and noticed I had no gauge lighting except for the needle indicator, the PRDNL LCD and the "mph" orange light is on but there isn't any back lighting for the dash gauges, a/c control panel and the console shift selector indicator lights. I checked the fuses to the left side of the console and the cluster lighting fuse is good, checked it with a continuity tester. I was trying the dimmer switch by the way all the while when I was troubleshooting this and noticed it was a bit sloppy so I checked on the price of the switch and it was 20$ so i said What the hell and bought it. Well that didn't help either. My dome lights and such also work but no gauges. What am I looking at doing next to figure this out? Thanks for any help I can get! :confused:

See the wiring diagram at http://cid-54465800aad91b49.office.live.com/self.aspx/pub/va234411.pdf. The BCM detects the voltage drop across the dimmer switch and then adjusts the power level to the illumination lamps. You'll need to work through the process of elimination:

Is there any voltage across the dimmer switch at all?
Is the INTERIOR LIGHTS FUSE good and voltage present across the junction?
Are all the lamps powered off the IP LAMP V+ circuit inoperative or only some?
Is the ground side on the inoperative lamp actually connected to the ground?

I'm getting a headache just thinking about possible permutations. Good luck.

Thanks for the response and diagram. If I am reading that diagram correctly is that 10a fuse for the interior lights near the battery under the hood? The fuse on the instrument panel fuse block on the right of the console (cluster lighting) is good and it is completing the circuit because with it out the indicator needles wont light up and when I put it back in they do light up, just not the panel back lighting. Again, thanks

If I am reading that diagram correctly is that 10a fuse for the interior lights near the battery under the hood?

Yes, although it's hard to imagine that woud be out.

OK, I'll have to take a look at that fuse anyways just to be sure at lunch time, but as a response to the other question about if all or some of the lighting works off of the I/P LAMP V+, I would have to say that I am not completely sure. I have no illumination of the dimmer switch or hvac control or the steering wheel controls, But, I do have illumination on the needles for the gauges and I have dome lighting. My Malibu also has a center console (not sure if they all do or not) and since the radio works I assume that its illumination is powered and grounded through the radios circuit, but the gear selector illumination is a no-go. I got this car to save on gas because my 72 Chevy Malibu is costing me an average of 366$ a month to drive just in gas alone!:eek: I built that motor to race not to be a daily driver (~7 mpg on a GOOD day) and when my old straight 6 truck was stolen I had to start driving it. I do not like electrical issues but have managed to do pretty well on most cars I have to work on. Thanks for your info, more help than the dealer at this point!:)

The instrument cluster illumination lamps are on the IP LAMP V+ circuit. The rest of the instrument cluster, including the lit needles, is on the CLUSTER/THEFT FUSE and ignition switch. See http://cid-54465800aad91b49.office.live.com/self.aspx/pub/va235390.pdf. The dome lamp and other courtesy lamps are yet on another BCM circuit. See http://cid-54465800aad91b49.office.live.com/self.aspx/pub/va234410.pdf. BTW, the INTERIOR LIGHTS FUSE is not under the hood (my bad) but in the instrument panel fuse block.

Well, I had checked that fuse before but I just went out there and pulled the fuse again and is still good and it has voltage there because when I pulled it, the dome lighting went out. I also found out earlier that i have the park lamp fuse blown. I have been driving in the morning when its still dark without any rear tail lights. Lucky I haven't been pulled over! I replaced the fuse (in the trunk fuse box -10a fuse) and checked the running lights and they were working again. I then turned the head lights on and off and the fuse blew again, tried again with same result, so now does that mean I have a dead short somewhere or is something else wrong. OR are the 2 issues related? Thanks for your help.

I'm not sure. How about a couple more wiring diagrams on the exterior lamps:

http://cid-54465800aad91b49.office.live.com/self.aspx/pub/va234260.pdf
http://cid-54465800aad91b49.office.live.com/self.aspx/pub/va234261.pdf

And, one on the headlights:

http://cid-54465800aad91b49.office.live.com/self.aspx/pub/va234218.pdf

There's a short on the exterior lamp circuits but where? You'll just have to formulate a process of elimination.

Well, I had checked that fuse before but I just went out there and pulled the fuse again and is still good and it has voltage there because when I pulled it, the dome lighting went out. I also found out earlier that i have the park lamp fuse blown. I have been driving in the morning when its still dark without any rear tail lights. Lucky I haven't been pulled over! I replaced the fuse (in the trunk fuse box -10a fuse) and checked the running lights and they were working again. I then turned the head lights on and off and the fuse blew again, tried again with same result, so now does that mean I have a dead short somewhere or is something else wrong. OR are the 2 issues related? Thanks for your help.

When my parking light fuse in my 2000 'Bu started blowing like yours is, it turned out to be the Fine Piece Of Stuff (FPOS) tail light boards.

My mechanic found them in Dorman ( part #s 923-005 and 923-006 for the 2000).

Don't know if yours has boards like that, but it's worth checking each light one at a time to make sure they're not rusted and shorting inside.

RwP

i know this is a completely different vehicle, but i had the same problem with my camaro a couple months back. ended up being a combination of a bad headlight switch, and a loose connection on the rear side of the fuse block for the parking lamps. but in your case, it could be the headlight switch or the dimmer switch. in the camaro headlight switch, it was the interior dimmer part of the switch that caused it, but in malibus the switches are seperate.

Starship- I appreciate all your help, its definitely food for thought. I'll take a look at those wiring diagrams and see if I can't find out where the short is coming from. Thanks for the diagrams!

RalphP- I replaced the 2 brake light bulbs #3057 and there wasn't any rust or corrosion in the socket, Its an AZ car so it was pretty much like new on all the electrical connections and I didn't see either of those tail light circuit boards back there, I'll take a closer look at it though because I am at a loss and cant hurt to check. I looked up a tail light circuit board for an 06 Malibu and it did show results but I dont see anything like that in the trunk. Do those boards have the sockets for the tail lamps? Thanks!

jurgs2007- Thanks, but I have replaced the dimmer switch early on because it was cheap and to no avail. I see what your saying about the it maybe being the headlight switch or the fuse-block wiring. I'll have to take a closer look. Thanks!

I really appreciate all the help I am getting from you guys. :) I'm going back to the dealer today to finish up some paperwork, I guess they are having a hard time getting me financed, shouldn't be a problem because I have good credit, but I think everyone knows how the banks are acting lately with their money. In Az there is no cooling off period after buying a new or used car, but there is a lemon law which says I have 15 days or 500 miles if any major problems occur with the vehicle (i think having no tail lights counts as major). I think I am going to invoke that when I go to the dealer this afternoon and if they get snarky, well my cousin is a lawyer and I am sure he cant write me up something in legalese that should make them fix it, along with a complaint to the BBB. Hell, I cant drive it at the moment because I leave so early in the morning and don't want to get a ticket for the tail lights being out. I drove my trusty 72 Malibu this morning. Good thing I never plan on selling that one, never an electrical problem and I have had it for 16 years.
We'll see though, and again all, thanks for the help!

yea, you have to remember that the headlight switch actually runs 3 seperate circuits: running lights, interior lights and driving lights. but maybe in these cars that third circuit is in the bcm now. but i would definately also search for shorts around the fuse block area or near any other connection. these areas tend to give out after a while, especially if you are running the car on rather rough roads.

If you get desperate you can try something I've done in the past when I couldn't find the cause. Take one bulb out of its socket and find the (probably) brown wire that turns the parking/running lights on. Then take your jumper cables or another heavy wire (I'd suggest 10 ga minimum) and use a jumper to put 12V to that wire. Be ready to pull it away quickly. If it's a hard short then you'll heat up the wire rather quickly, and so long as you don't melt the insulation or, heaven forbid, start a fire, you can start feeling your way from the socket to the dash and might just find where it has been grounded. Some things to look for are accessories or repairs where the device or its screws damaged the wire, or where the wire has been moved and now goes over a narrow metal edge. You may have to repeat it every once in a while, or have someone help you.

Again, this is what you do as a last resort and isn't considered a professional method by any means. But sometimes you just gotta do something.

You can also do something else to fix it.

You say that that fuse is getting power but when the fuse is inserted it blows. Get an add-a-fuse (auto parts store) and use it to take the power on one leg of the existing fuse socket. Use the added circuit and don't put a fuse in the "original" socket extension. Now you have a wire that is powered by your headlight switch. Wire your running lights to that wire. There is no switch to install since all of the running lights operate from the same signal - your powered fuse socket.

well if he were to add another fuse to the deal, why not just run it through the original fuse? just disconnect the original wire thats shorting out and add the new wire there and run it back. saves a few bucks and the extra work adding an extra fuse. and it even looks original yet.

I thought I remembered that it was shorting out the fuse when energized. But, yeah, you could abandon the factory wire and replace it with new. You might even discover the section with the fault. Good call!

Well all, the dealer fixed it after threatening to complain to the BBB. It took them about 3 1/2 hours. When the tech was done, he said the malibu had been in an accident because he saw dimpling on the inside of the body near the fuse block (this was not in the carfax report). I was told the park lamp circuit wire on the back of the fuse block was chaffed allowing it to short intermittently. The service manager said they couldn't find it until one the techs had his head in the trunk when they were poking around and saw a flash of light coming from behind the fuse block, after they saw that, they were done in about 20 minutes. I then had beef with the salesman who had showed me a carfax report that didn't say anything about any kind of fender bender when I bought the car. I asked if they would run it again so I could see the report as it came up on their computer screen and it was the same as the one I saw when I bought it. I dont know about carfax now, can it be trusted?, I mean; I made sure that the vin number on the report was the same as mine so their wasn't any funny business going on. No matter though, the salesman apologized to me and now I have a $5000.00 credit for service work if need be in the future (got all this in writing). Now everything works, the dash back-lighting, running lights, everything that had not been working before. Thanks for all the help I have gotten, this is an awesome community.:)

Glad to hear.:) This forum has been growing like crazy. Glad you found us.

You ended up with the best resolution you could. Fixed plus a credit. But that's weird that CarFax didn't show the damage. In KY, when you buy a used car, you're allowed to contact the previous owner through some process. (Don't know the particulars, but it exists.)

carfax only shows accidents if they were covered through insurance. someone may have hit their car with another vehicle in the driveway or something and just had it repaired without an insurance claim. glad you got it figured out though.

Thanks everyone, I am just glad it is fixed now. :)