Manager Forum

I have an 07 Equinox that customer complains of the dash lights going from bright to dim intermittently whenever they want. I checked BCM and the IPC for codes and none in it. I have yet to get it to duplicate the issue. The battery is the original, and test borderline, Im not sure that a battery would only cause problems with that. It starts fine. I am going to drive it again in the am, so if anybody has seen this or has any hints of what to watch I would appreciate it.

need a defined bright to dim level. if they mean head lamp on to head lamp off difference then the issue may be in the switch. scroll the brightness control up and down and see if there is any scattering. if the gauges remain constant and read correctly i would lean towards a switch. all the scenarios i can think of revolve around the switch. that's where i would start.

The definition the customer gives is like when the headlights kick on. I have been driving it and I cannot get it to duplicate. She want to go ahead and repalce the daytime running lamp sensor, since it is not that expensive. She says sometimes she can be driving for 2 hours before it starts doing it, they go dim and then a little bit later they come back to normal brightness. We will see next week when she brings it back if it fixes it.

"she", i understand. it's like this. the dash lights get brighter in the night time, and are dim in the day time.

nickscarcare wrote:The definition the customer gives is like when the headlights kick on. I have been driving it and I cannot get it to duplicate. She want to go ahead and repalce the daytime running lamp sensor, since it is not that expensive. She says sometimes she can be driving for 2 hours before it starts doing it, they go dim and then a little bit later they come back to normal brightness. We will see next week when she brings it back if it fixes it.

yup. they drive for 2 hours, at night. then go through a tunnel dash lights get dim, then they get bright again?

I think it is more of a user issue, not the truck.

btw. sometimes i get out of the jetta and lleave the key in it. sometimes it wont crank when i try to start it. now when that happens instead of calling my piece to tell him somethings wrong with the car. I check to see if it is in park wont start in drive (i know, i've tried)

Sorry for one I said "she" should have been the "customer". And the customer does not do alot of driving at night, this will happen in broad daylight, the clock and dash lights for odometer etc. go dim and the customer can't read what time it is. I asked the customer that right away if it was at night or during the day. It is just like that sensor is reading it is dark out and dimming the lights. These people are assinine about things wrong with their vehicles. They keep them in very good shape. An A1 cutomer to have. I will just see what happens after the sensor. Thanks for now.

put a piece of tape over the light sensor and let the drive it and see what happens. if it stops it from dimming and flickering you now know it's in that side of the system. if not them i'd look into cluster module.

I've seen these sensors with dirt or dust or debris on them and blocks enough light for the lights to come on in shaded areas. Curious about the fix, let us know please. Bob in sc

Well installed a new light sensor in the dash a couple of weeks ago and the customer is ecstatic, it hasn't happened since. Sometimes you just have to throw caution into the wind and go with the gut feeling. This wasn't in shaded areas, it was doing it only during daytime driving, the lights would fluctuate dim and normal.

yea!!!! it's fixed

a piece of black tape over the sensor will help to diagnose this in the future. sorry it didn't register until now.

Steve the problem I had with doing that is the sensor would only do it while she was driving during the day. The tape over it would make it think it was night time, and it didn't do it then. Wierd I know, but just going off what the customer said, after all they are always right!! LOL