Head light switch

[CAPTAINK5-CT]

I remember someone saying a faulty light switch will affect the guage lights. My left side guages light up (temp,oil,clock etc.) my heater panel lights up, but my speedo and gas guage don't light (most recently the speedo light quit). Could this be due to the switch? I find it unusual that the heater panel lights (all the way across the dash) but the two guages in the middle don't. Thanks in advance.

 

[tRustyK5]

I would suspect your little dash lights behind the gauges. They just turn out with a quarter turn, problem is they are a little hard to get to. I removed my instrument cluster and replaced them all. Not that bad of a job, as long as you keep track of what screw goes where.

Rene

 

[CAPTAINK5-CT]

I checked at least one of the bulbs and it was good. Funny thing is, when the speedo does light up I can't dim the guages (slightest turn makes them go black). When the speedo isn't lit I can dim the four little guages and the heater panel. Hmmm! This is what makes me suspect the switch.

 

[NYC K5]

im not an expert on this but i think the dimmer switch is a variable resistor if part of it has burned out it can cause the symptoms that you are having.

 

[DBLAZER]

Im pretty sure that if you were having problems with the switch then you would either have dash lights or no dash lights, not partial. Heres why. When you turn on power with the switch it sends voltage through a single wire (grey i think, but i could be wrong) to the dash lights it then splits and goes to all the bulbs. The switch doesnt have a wire for each bulb. So if some of the bulbs are lighting up, then there is voltage coming off the switch. Check the guages themselves, thats would be my guess.

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[Smitty]

Might also check the connection from the wiring harness to the cluster. I've seen a lot of them with a bad connection at the plug. I'd find it hard to believe the switch is bad if any of the gauge panel lights are working.

Smitty

 

[CAPTAINK5-CT]

Thanks for all the help guys. I'll to try those suggestions.

 

[fr8train]

Also since the clusters are made on printed circut boards if the green sheet of plastic is bent anywhere you can have a break in continuity that wont let voltage pass evenly or at all. You are basically going to remove the cluster and find this one out. If the bulbs are good look at copper/gold circut paths. If they are broken or bent flatten them out and solder them back. Dont go crazy with the solder though. Just enough to connect the line. If you have questions email me at [email protected]