Page 1 of 1

dash lights died

Posted: Fri Feb 29, 2008 11:33 pm
by borntospeed
Hi all,

i hope someone could point me in the right direction.
my dash lights have died recently, its been modified by the previous owner before so its sorta green/bluish.
the vacuum gauge lights still work, only the dash lights have died. the dimmer has no effect on the lights since they have been disconnected in the past.
also, where the clock used to sit was changed to a oil temp gauge which has never worked since i owned the car. what could be a cause?

Thanks so much in advance.

Posted: Sat Mar 01, 2008 12:10 am
by maggsy
are the dials aftermarket or stock, it could just be a fuse.

as for the oil temp guage, it might not be wired in correctly (if it's even wired in at all)

Posted: Sat Mar 01, 2008 3:03 am
by borntospeed
the dials are aftermarket. its a white face type dual blue/green illumination

i think i'll try pulling out the oil temp gauge and see if that solves that

Posted: Sat Mar 01, 2008 5:28 am
by Pomwa
Theres a chick on the fto-ireland site that had a similar problem:
See can ye figure this one out? Andrew has took the car apart twice over the week end!
Ok it's kinda hard to explain but my car is haunted!
Either that or I just bought the night rider's car?
The light's keep knocking off as I'm driving if I've on the heating, if I go over a bump? If I look at them! But if Andrew is in the car they work no bother! It's as if the car is trying to make a lier out of me?
BUT then it happened again last night when we were doing our weekly shop and Andrew WAS in the car so HA I'm not mad?
Any idea's?
and here are their responses:
sounds just a loose plug on the power invertor.
make sure the terminals are clicked in the right way round and, wrap tightly in insulating tape, also make sure that there's no tension on the wires going from the dials, make sure there's plenty slack.

make sure the switch/brightness control (if applicable) is fitted securely to the dash.
Yeah - I agree!

If those dials are anything like mine the little plugs kinda click in place - but it's very easy to think they're fully connected..

Posted: Sat Mar 01, 2008 7:38 pm
by borntospeed
loose plug in the power invertor? forgive my ignorance, but what is that and where is it located? what kind of power does it invert? AC from the alternator to DC?

after changing all the fuses, i have managed to get my dash lights working. i've checked all the fuses and none of them look blown. maybe it might have been a small break???

still trying to figure out how to remove the oil temp gauge and check the connections. where does the cable link to? does the vacuum manifold gauge cable connect to the ECU?

so sorry for the numerous questions...