hey guys, I was driving my Z last night, and the dash backlight, the side marker lights, and tailights just stopped working. I had brake lights, turn signals, and head lights, but nothing else was working, they just randomly stopped shut off?

I was guessing it was a fuse, but I replaced it and it still doesn't work.

Help?

Is there a relay?

as of now I can't drive my Z past 8pm

 

I had this exact problem. It turned out that there was a black wire in the harness under the steering column for the combo switch that had pushed it's way out of the harness. I pushed it back in and it solved the problem.

The harness is black on my Z...

 

I second that harness idea.

My 1982 Z did the same thing often. I would unplug and then re-plug in that harness below the column. It was the biggest plug and was very hard to undo the first time. I never did find a fix for it but it was obviously just a bad connection somewhere.

 

so should I take the steering column panels apart or the little floorboard with the courtesy light?

 

You should just have to take off the panel with the light...

 

This fix worked for my 82 today. A friend told me the parking lights were flickering occasionally. Finally the lights went out and never returned. Fortunately I found this posting. I pulled the largest connector apart as described above. The connector was discolored in one area due to electrical arcing. Volt meter says there is 12 volts here. I scrapped the melted plastic off the male contact with a utility knife as best I could. I scrapped the female connector with a tiny screwdriver. Carefully added a tiny amount of anti-oxidizing compound to the female connectors with the screwdriver. Pressed the connector back together and quickly heard the familiar car voice telling me, "Light are on !!!". Thanks everyone for posting the solution 11 years ago.