radar1234

I think my 2000 Impala dashboard has been taken over by spirits. When I drive the vehicle during the day, my dashboard lights along with the radio light will go out and then come back on. It has no consistent pattern. Sometimes when I start the car the dash and the radio lights don't come on at all. Sometimes when I start the car the lights won't come on then after a few miles of driving, they come on. When I drive the car at night the dash and radio lights never come on at all. They only come on sometimes during the day and never at night.
WTF.

U.Nanimous

Is your dimmer turned all the way down?

Here's my guess, your daylight sensor is going bad. During the day the sensor is thinking it's night and turning the lights on at which time your dash lights go through the dimmer, just like at night time when turn the lights on yourself with the switch.

radar1234

Thanks for responding so fast. I never even thought about the dimmer switch. One more question, Where would the location of the daylight sensor be?

oldchevy

It is located on the dash near the windshield.

oldblu65

I had a similar problem with my 2000 LS . No dash lights , no radio lighting , no console shift indicator lighting , no lighting on the door mounted power window and locks switches , etc. . Although the Impala has automatic DRL's during the daytime and headlights after dark , the above mentioned lighting never worked at either time ? The problem turned out to be the headlight switch . The switch contains the circuitry that controls the switching between DRL's and automatic headlights at the appropriate time . When the DRL's turn off and the regular headlights turn off , the circuitry in the headlight switch dims all the interior lighting ( as mentioned above ) . This circuitry had failed . Replacing my headlight switch with a new one solved the problem for good .

radar1234

Sorry for not responding right away. You mentioned that my headlight switch could be the problem. It very well could be. I bought the car in 2003, and in 2006, I had changed the headlight switch. It was for a different reason, though. It was just broken. 10 years have gone by and it is possible that the headlight switch took a dump. Earlier I had another response indicating that my daylight sensor could be bad. It is located on top of the dash near the windshield. I am trying to figure out how to get to it so I can remove it to try to test it. I just want to be sure I am replacing the device that is really broken. The headlight switch is easy money to replace, but the daylight sensor is another thing. Once I figure out which one it is that could be causing my problem, I will respond with updated results. Thanks again for the response, but just so you know, my gut is telling me that the headlight switch is the problem.