Dash light problem

ElChaco

Hey, I have a 99 chevy prizm, and the only lights that come on in the dash a are the three main 194 bulbs. But for some reason the whole dash actually lights up fully when it's freezing cold outside, and that's only for a minute or so after startup. This is how the dash looks most of the time. and this is it just after startup on a freezing cold day

Mr_Shiftright

Very strange. Usually it's the other way around with fussy electrics. I can only guess that we're looking at either a bad connector somewhere behind the dash or some defect in a printed circuit board back there. This looks like one of those "go fishin' kind of problem and I don't know how important this is to you, to start tearing apart the instrument display. If it comes out relatively easily, it might be worth looking around for corrosion, breaks in the circuit board, or loose wiring.

You could also try the "jiggle test" if you can reach back there and tug gently on the various harness, to see if that revives the lighting.