Hello to everybody that may read this and thank you in advance for any help.

First, I a have a 98 Monte Carlo, 3.1 engine. In late June the car developed an oil leak, more like a shower. I parked the car and poked around on the internet for a possible solution. I did look for the leak but there was so much oil on the block, starter, transmission that it was difficult to tell where exactly it was coming from. My first thought was the head gaskets.

After searching the internet, I found the lower intake to be faulty. My car had the right miles for this problem 119k, so I replaced the lower and upper intake gaskets. I also replaced the oil assending unit located above the starter.

Here's where the problem starts. I began this the second week of July and with working 2nd shift, 2 to 10 or later, it was difficult to find time during the week to do the work. The car sat.

After 2 and a half months I finally finished the work and jump started the car, battery was dead.

There were no problems with the intake and the oil leak stopped and the car ran fine.

The problems I'm experiencing are::
The dash lights do not come on.
The turn signal, if I move it up or down but do not "lock" it in place
they work, if I "lock" them in place they do not work. Hazards do work.
I replaced the battery (higher cca 780 to 800) I had to again jump start it to get to the AIM testing station. I had the Alternator tested, under load it was operating fine, the battery would just not take a charge.
The rear running lights do not light up, the brake lights light though.
Lastly, the brake rotors were severly warped, almost threw myself out the windshield the first time I tried to stop. I replaced them and the pads the next day.

I checked the owners manual and found the fuses, I found that all except one, were good, that one was for the trunk release button on the dash. The engine light and other warning lights on the dash do light up. The gauges work. The radio works and the memory also keeps the pre-sets and time. The dome light does light when openening the door and using the slide button on the dash. The cigarette lighter, windows, locks and sun roof also work. The powered mirrors have never worked.

I can turn the headlights off and on with the knob on the dash.

I suppose my question is what the heck happened? Everything (minus mirros and trunk relese) worked properly before it sat for 10 weeks. Is there something in the dash that operates the lights on the dash and the rear running lights?

I'll watch the forum daily for questions and they will be answered as soon as I can later that night.

Thanks in advance,

Jim,

Welcome to AF. I believe the dash lites and running lites are one fuse.

Thanks for the reply, I did check the fuses and they were all good accept for the trunk release fuse, I replaced it with a 15 amp fuse, at this time all the fuses are good.

It just seems strange that the tail lights and the dash lights dont work. I'm wondering if maybe the switch on the dash, the one that controls the headlights, could possibly be the problem and if so, is there a way to safely test it without causing other problems.

Pull it out and test for 12v in on the appropriate wires and 12v out to the lites, a wiring diagram is available at autozone.com, repair guides.

I had similar problems with my 96 LS when I bought it. Both the problems with my dash lights, and the problems with my tail lights. Actually my problem was with my Brake lights, but similar situations with the turn signal switch. My brake lights would only work if I was stepping on the pedal and pulling back slightly on the turn signal switch. Since I believe the brake lights and turn signal lights are the same bulb, and not separate entities, there is a bypass in the actual turn signal switch that makes it blink even though you are stepping on the brake. Not wanting to mess with taking the steering column/wheel apart and messing with airbags, I had the shop replace the actual switch down in the column and that fixed the problem. As far as the Dash lights go, mine would come on intermittantly for split seconds at a time. I discovered it was the actual dimmer switch in the headlight switch. Since I rarely ever dim the dash lights, I opted against replacing the switch with a new $80 one, and I just bypassed the switch. I have a Hayne's manual and I studied the wiring diagram in the back for a little bit, and just cut the wire going into the dimmer and the one coming out, and just connected them together. It fixed the problem, except for the fact that I can't dim the dash lights now. Turn the wheel all the way to the up and it still turns on the dome light. So as far as I'm concerned, the problem was fixed. Hope this helps.