and read through several various other threads trying to get an idea of whats up...im assuming a short but its weird...

the console gauges don't light up for one but thats no big deal for now...

main thing is, with the lights OFF, the console gauges work just fine...

but the other night we drove the camaro around town breaking in the new motor and had to turn our lights ON of course...well once we did that, the gas gauge and the temperature gauge instantly shot up above the max mark...so according to the gauges the gas was instantly full and the temperature was showing it was definitely overheating...i mean obviously it wasn't because somethings wrong here...with the lights turned back OFF for a moment the 2 gauges went back to normal, as for the voltage gauge and oil pressure gauge in the console, those worked just fine and didnt spike up with the lights ON.

any ideas?

thanks for any help in advance!!

Missing the grounds from the console gauge plates to ground.

hmmm....nice ok. ill definitely take a look at that. thank you sir :)

speaking of, theres one black wire coming from the console towards the shifter that my dad said he had unhooked when he put the new shifter in...haha...so im assuming thats an easy fix then..?

Yes, its an easy fix. Thats also why you guage lights aren't working. There is a ground jumper that runs from one plate to the other that isn't shown on any wiring diagram, but you need that as well as a ground wire from one plate to ground.

I would say 90% of all console gage issues are ground related!:yes:

I have had many myself!

thank you guys...appreciate it...i found 2 black wires that my dad left sitting around after his shifter install so i grounded them...haven't drove the car with the lights on to really check, but have turned the key and turned the lights on and it seemed fine...(assuming that's all thats needed to check to see if its fixed??) appreciate the help though!!