Loss of dashboard lights

[Peter Roberts]

Whilst testing the car in the dark i noticed i have lost my dashboard lights. First time out in the dark so this could have happened during the ferurb but i did not change any of the wiring/ connections behind the dash but did fiddle around up there to access wiper motor and airvent cables. Loss of lights also includes the highbeam light.
Any suggestion where i might start looking as what common connection i may have disturbed? What is obviously common maybe the earth connections but with all the clocks being separately earthed it is unlikely i would have disturbed all the earth connections.

[Lightweight_911]

A silly question but you do know that the brightness of the bulbs is controlled by a rheostat which is part of the main lighting switch don't you ?

Have you tried twisting the switch knob all the way round to the right ?

,

[Peter Roberts]

An excellent point you raise and i would now be feeling very foolish if i had not tried that.
I have made sure that is all the way back for max brightness but there are no lights.
I must admit i have not checked all the bulbs to see if they are ok but all of them being out makes it unlikely. At my age having to bend underneath the dashboard for some considerable time troubleshooting is not what i was looking forward to so hope someone can point in the right direction to reduce the time i spend doubled up

[mycar]

Hello Peter, if the all instrument lights do no operate :-

If the sidelights and headlights are working pull the wire out of the light switch terminal 58b. Measure the voltage at the vacated terminal 58b with the parking lights on.

If there is no voltage at the light switch terminal 58b and the side lights and headlights are working, disconnect the battery, the earth is the easiest cable to lift off.

With the power disconnected and the light switch on measure the resistance of the dimmer control.

With the knob turned fully counter clockwise the resistance from terminal 30 (red wire) to terminal 58b will be infinity.

As the dimmer is turned slowly clockwise the resistance will go from infinity (open) to about 20 ohms and on to nearly zero resistance.

Working under the dash can be made a little more comfortable by using a similar set up used in waterboarding.



Let us know how you get on.