Dash problem...I think?

[tomtom72]

Hi guys, I need to see if I actually have a problem with the center display on the dash or if I just don't understand how it's supposed to work.

In daylight I can see the LCD where the speed & milage & all the other stuff is but if I go into a garage that is way dark all the stuff disappears??? I have to turn on the parking/marker lights to see the center section again. What am I doing wrong? I've had only one other car with an LCD display and when the same situation presented, it was a light bulb that was out.

Is a bulb out on my dash? Is that photo-eye on the top of the dash n/g? Thanks for any light thrown my way!


Tom

[Tom]

It sounds like everything is working properly. My car does the same thing. I think I have seen you mention you have the GM/Helm shop manual. It can answer most questions on how things are supposed to operate. I haven't read this section in the manual in a while but I believe in this case the ambient light sensor varies how bright the dash lights are according to how much ambient light there is. When you go into the darker area it dims the dash but it dims it too much. Once you turn the lights on you have control of how bright you want the dash.

[tomtom72]

Thanks Tom! I did look it up in the owners manual and the Helm but I wasn't sure that my analog brain was gettin the point!

It seemed to me that I was somehow interpreting the books incorrectly! I would have thought that the dash would go brighter if the ambient light falls off? I just didn't want to start taking things apart, especially the dash, if I was missing the point!

Thank you very much for sharing your info with me!

Tom

[Tom]

When the outside light is brighter, the dash needs to be brighter so the dash is not washed out by the ambient light, when you pull into your garage the system over corrects and dims the dash too much.