Instrument Lights

[TJW124Spider1975]

None of the Instrument lights work and none of the fuses are blown.

Makes it hard to drive an night, and know how fast I am going...likely too fast!

Does each instrument have it's own light?

Where should I begin?

Thomas

[nelsonj]

Mine went out - and then I lost my headlights. My fix is posted here. Still working great.

http://www.fiatspider.com/f08/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=19979

[TJW124Spider1975]

Thanks...that is a starting point at least.

But is there one circuit that powers all the instrument lights?

I have a small knob that the symbol would indicate that it controls the intensity of the lights?
This knob is on the Center of the car next to the wiper speed knob.

[vandor]

The instrument lights are on the fuse that protects one of the running light circuits, so if both taillights work then the fuse is good.
Just because a fuse looks good does not mean the ends aren't so corroded that they do not make contact.
Yes, the instrument light dimmer is the round switch in the center of the dash. Even on max the instruments are pretty dim.

[TJW124Spider1975]

My Tail Lights work.

I do have some Fog/running Lights in the front grill and they never come on either.

I have only had this car for a week, so I have not had a lot of time to do much.

[nelsonj]

This is for a 76 - should be very close.

http://www.mirafiori.com/faq/content/Fi ... 1976_7.jpg

As I recall, all dash lights have a common ground. At first I suspected my dimmer switch, but as I traced the voltage with a volt meter, no power was making it to the main light switch. All power flows from that switch to the dash and head lights.

You will have test for voltage at various points in the circuit until you find the open area, then "close" the circuit back up.

Good luck.

[TJW124Spider1975]

So I have been trying to take your advice and test for power along the circuit.

I can get the front main instrument panel loose but but cannot get it pulled out very far since the steering column is in the way and the wires are pretty short anyway.

I did get to the dimmer and do not get 12 v at any time.

Do I have to remove the steering column to get to instrument lights?

[TJW124Spider1975]

This is the light for the water Temp gauge and it also does not get 12v when the lights are on (or ever).

I Ohmed the bulb out and it checks good.

[RRoller123]

You can either remove the steering wheel, or pull a couple of bolts underneath and lower the whole column out of the way. There is plenty of slack in the wires, it just seems not, since they are bunched up in there and probably haven't been moved in many years.

[TJW124Spider1975]

Well thankfully I did not need to drop the column!

I found that there was a connector that went nowhere and it happened to be the one for the instrument lights.

Also found that there was never any voltage at the dimmer switch.

Rather than dig into the wires, I just ran a new wire from the Dimmer to the empty connector and when I applied 12+ to the dimmer the instrument light came on. Then I just found 12v that is only there when the lights are on and now they work perfectly.

Took it for a drive (just to test it out ) and all the instruments worked, and since I'm low on fuel...I could get the red low fuel light to come on as I sloshed the fuel in the tank.

I think all is well now with instrument lights!

Thanks for the tips everyone.

Thomas

[giuliot60]

Glad you resolved your instrument light issue, and good luck with the car.

Does anyone know how to brighten the panel lights? Can't we just add a brighter bulb? I know some have swapped to LEDs, but never heard of them getting brighter. Curious.

[seabeelt]

I think there is a post somewhere ( havent been ablke to find it yet) where someone put in the LEDs. You can also put a resistor across the dimmer ( but need to do the math) ( Some electrical engineer among us could do that) to make sure you dont get them too bright and burn out the bulbs

[baltobernie]

You can run your panel lamps at full system voltage without doing any harm. Near-zero ohms is in fact what you should be getting at the dimmer at full intensity.

We've gotten acclimated to the high-intensity cluster illumination of modern cars. Personally, I don't like it, and usually drive modern cars at night with the dimmer cranked way down; I feel the high cluster brightness negatively impacts night vision, even with red or orange illumination.

If your Spider instruments have clean glass (both sides) and good lamps with 13-14 volts, they should be perfectly readable (except for occasional fog, but that's not an electrical problem ). You can Search this forum for LED solutions if you prefer a higher level of illumination. There are also higher-wattage 194 size bulbs, too.

[seabeelt]

I shouold have remembered that "zero resistance part" Forget about the parallel resistor comment