How to: fix Tail/Fog/Dash Lights Out

[luvmybravada]

My tail lights, fog lights and instrument panel lights were all out all of the sudden. The car also chimed at me like the headlights were on every time I shut off the car and opened the door to get out.

First check all fuses and relays relating to these areas. If these are all okay like mine were, then perhaps your LCM has a bad resistor like I found.

Remove the lower dash panel by removing three 7mm screws. Remove the trunk/fuel panel by pulling it out. It is retained by clips. Pull out the twilight/dimmer panel by doing the same. This will reveal two 10mm hex head screws. Remove these then remove 2 more on the bottom side of the dash panel. The panel should then come out. To the left of the steering column is a black box. Mine has a blue label around it as seen in the picture below.



This is the LCM and is likely the culprit. It slides out toward the front of the car. First remove the two electrical connectors, then the LCM. To remove the LCM, press the piece of plastic on the end holding it and slide it out. It should come out easy. Here's a picture of what you'll see after it's removed. The small curved piece of plastic is what holds it in place.



Mine has a melted terminal which gave me the first clue.



Open the box and slide out the circuit board but handle it carefully. Carefully inspect the board for any blown, melted or burned resistors or capacitors. Mine had one bad resistor in the middle. I could tell because it was brownish like it had been burned.



I went to radio shack and bought a pack of 5 for 99 cents! I replaced mine with a 1/2 Watt, 100ohm resistor.

Next, be sure to clean off any burned connections. Here is mine before I cleaned it.



Put it all back together and be glad you saved yourself a huge repair bill for only 99 cents and some work.

Now, onto my next problem... hopefully it will be a while.

[mmathers14]

You might reconsider your resistor selection. The resistor pictured on the board is 100 ohm 3W metal lead resistor. The 0.5w resistor is probably getting really hot.

[luvmybravada]

I matched it best I could. Thanks for the input. I'll get a three wAtt version and put it in there. How can you tell the wattage when it's not on the resistor?

[mmathers14]

By size and type of resistor as well as experience.



From left to right, the wattage ratings are:7 watt, 10 watt, 2 watt, 1 watt, 1/2 watt, 1/4 watt and a 1/8 watt.

[luvmybravada]

Okay got a three watt 100 ohm resistor ordered from digikey.com. Hopefully no melt downs until it arrives.

[jprice90]

i had the same exact problem, along with many other people on here, bought the lcm, 330 bucks lol, few weeks later theres one on ebay for 55, oh well..couldnt find one at the time

mine was actually worse, had a 2, almost 3 holes burnt through the plastic, my camera sucks (hp junk), if i can get it to work i will post a few pics

edit: just realized i was the guy that told you to check it out lol, glad i could help

[luvmybravada]

jprice90 should get all the credit for this one! Thanks for helping me find my problem. I just thought I'd post a write up as I'm sure others will likely have the same problem.

[jprice90]

no problem at all man, glad you got it straight, but yeah this is the better write-up, so this one should be stickied

[lanceslambos]

i don't know if this is whats wrong with my car or not. my dash lights have been coming and going but my headlights and fog lights have been just fine. coming home last night my buddy behind me warned me that my brake lights and turn signals are working but i have no rear running lights. today i checked all the fuses and they were all good. i don't have any money to do squat right now, i don't have a soldering iron and with one hand i really doubt i can even tackle this job.

i called Randy but his number has changed, the operator doesn't have his number since it's a cell phone. i left a message for you Collin & with one of Randy's brothers. i thought you might have his new #. no one has called me back though. in the meantime i can't drive after dark which is gee only half of the time!

update: thanks for getting back to me Collin. i've called every place in town i can think of, no one will touch this besides the stealership and it's a $145.00 part plus tax and $260.00 plus tax to install it. they claim you have to download software into it! why the heck wouldn't it come with the software already? hhhmmm....... $430.31 oh that's b/c it doesn't need any software! stupid service dept doesn't know what their talking about

well it's off to the salvage yards

ok i have the bottom of the dash off and up to the removing the LCM part. i found one at salvage for $50

Nov 7, 2010 21:26:22 GMT -6 luvmybravada said:

To remove the LCM, press the piece of plastic on the end holding it and slide it out. It should come out easy.

ya i'm up to that part. probably easy with 2 hands but not 1. i'm afraid of breaking something and my back is killing me lol

what a mess. i never got the LCM off but when i took the dash apart my rear lights weren't working. after coming here to post the above i went back outside and they were on. then i couldn't find my keys for 30 minutes. they were under the seat

i started putting everything back together then they stopped working again. i took it back apart and they were working so i put it back together again and this time they are still working except for the little green light on the fog light button. i don't know if my dash lights work or not since its too bright outside. there is def a short in a wire or a loose connection somewhere... ahh poowie.

some pics








well good grief now image shack is screwing up and trying to post these same pics over and over even though i'm uploading different jpgs. eh forget it, i believe its beer thirty!

[jprice90]

IT'S THE L.C.M...YOU HAVE A LOOSE WIRE, CHECK IT OUT ASAP

[kyngofpop]

I went to a local J/Y to pull the LCM and there were 2 boxes there, one was the box for the chime module and the other was what appeared to be similar to this but all of the connectors were soldered in??

[oldiebutgoodie]

I've had a similar problem for quite a while. On my 97', the Heads-Up Display works if there is light getting to the sensor on the dash, then quits when it gets dark. My dash lights and fog lights never work.
I pulled the LCM. The circuit board and terminals looked good. All the wires are nice and snug. I have the steering column cowling taken apart, and I'm looking at the multi-function switch tomorrow. Thoughts, anyone? It really stinks to check my speed at night with the overhead lights. Excellent write-up, by the way! Easy to follow.

[XJSman89]

This may be as simple as a wire being loose... check ALL of your wires and fuses.

When I went to install my stock radio under my dash to retain the date with the aftermarket head unit I ran into something similar. There was one wire (check the how-to for details) that was specifically for providing a backlight to the radio. I'm willing to bet that something similar is set up for the guages. Even if ONE ground wire is loose/broken/crimped/etc. it might stop it from working.

[oldiebutgoodie]

Fixed! I checked the fuses and it looked good, so I went to the dimmer switches for the sentinel and interior lights. After pulling the plug off, I ran a continuity test by putting a test light in the ground and a small nail in the other holes. It must have set something in place or cleared up some corrosion. Two and a half years and I finally got my lights back on! Thanks for the help.

[adfdsfdwefsfd]

Nice work. Why I didnt find this thread a while ago.......

[auroraandy1]

Can a BAD LCM prevent the car from starting?

[tim1993]

Does these info help get the rear fog lamps on as well cause I have a 2gen Aurora and my rear Gog lamps don't come on at all

[ko]

I work @ GM/Delphi: your LCM or Sentinel control module that causes this overload to burn out this > is from the 1 of the four contacts sticking, don't go to the salvage yard, file contact points or switch out the contacts with each other, don't use your max time to leave your automatic light shut off time. Don't use max dash bright lights. Age and max power causes these contacts to stick, burnouts happen

[theghost]

Fog lights and instrument panel wont come on at all..
Radio lights work fine until I put the car in gear.
Checked fuses for fog lamps and the panel.

[theghost]

How do I clean Multifuntion switch
1999 olds aurora

[sall]

Jul 19, 2016 13:15:10 GMT -6 theghost said:

How do I clean Multifuntion switch
1999 olds aurora

It is literally in the thread right below this one...

aurorah.proboards.com/post/206883/thread

[theghost]

Thanks.. I'll attempt everything this week. Quick question. Could the switch still be the problem even if my headlights aren't flashing. Everything is fine. I just dont have my fogs and my instrument panel lighting.

[sall]

Check your IP1 and IP2 fuses under the rear seat.

[garyjr]

So I was on my way home tonight from buying a 99 aurora that needs a new nose and Hood for a killer price of 450.00 I get stopped in my 97 aurora for no taillights. I just cleaned the interior earlyer and used air like always to blow under my seats . Could I have discnectid something.

[RCA1186]

I wouldn't think that would do it. Usually this is a light control module (LCM) or multifunction switch problem. It'd be worth it to check fuses first.

[paulf]

Hi all. I'm in the middle of this fix on my wife's '95, and having trouble. It's the instrument panel and fog lights out, nothing else. I'm trying to remove that LCM, but it's a little different than in the photos at the top of this thread. Can't find a tab. And there's no room to slide it out towards the front of the car. It'll have to come down. I did get a smaller black box out nearby, mounted on the other side of the white plastic, but can't find a way to move that damn LCM.

Meanwhile, it looks like I've damaged the sentinel/interior lights module when I pulled it out. It came apart. (unhappy face).

Luckily I have a '96 and '99 for parts. Anyone know if I can swap these things into a '95? The LCM, too: can I just swap out the '99 or the '96 one into the '95, instead of looking for resistors, etc? Assuming I ever get it out.

Thanks

Paul

[paulf]

Update to above post: I got the damn LCM out. Not sure what I did, to be honest. There was a very difficult-to-reach tab which allowed me to slide the thing ever so slightly towards the front of the car, then with a bunch of wiggling and some cursing it just finally came down. That's the good news.

The bad/good news: everything looks pristine on the circuit board. Nothing even slightly burned or damaged, at least to my eyes. So I'm back to Square 1: not knowing the cause. IP fuses (under the rear seat) look fine. I'll probably break down and take it to our mechanic, who at least is well versed in the Aurora.

[AuroraGirlFromMars]

www.ebay.com/itm/332564852749

This is unrelated but looking for things to help you with your issue I came across a 1995 only wind noise fix which the parts to complete the repair are cheap on ebay.

I could not find any information to help tho, I apologize.