Instrument Cluster--night lights out.

dletc · Post by **dletc** » 31 Jul 2005, 11:00

I just followed the excellent instructions on how to fix the odometer on my '97 850 and everything works perfectly...except when I drove it last night, I discovered that the night lights on the instrument cluster do not work. The other lights on the dash are fine, the gauges, LCD, and warning lights all work...just a dark instrument panel at night.

I rechecked the two electrical connections (the instructions appear to indicate three--but my VDO unit just has two), and they seem to be in tight. I guess I screwed up somewhere, but I don't know where. Did I disrupt a circuit somewhere? Any suggestions would be apprecciated!
Thanks.

adrianmitu · Post by **adrianmitu** » 05 Jan 2006, 06:53

My 850 does the same thing and I am trying to figure it out.... Thanks for any help out there!

Post by **MadeInJapan** » 05 Jan 2006, 09:21

Hate to ask the obvious question, but there is a dimmer "wheel" that controls the brightness of your instrument cluster....could it be turned down all the way??

adrianmitu · Post by **adrianmitu** » 06 Jan 2006, 07:58

Good question, but way too obvious.

I finally got my hands on the electrical diagram of the car and last evening I dove into the dashboard with my DVM. At first I suspected a ground fault, but since a few of the bulbs are grounded at a separate point on the chassis, that could not be it. In the end it turned out that the rheostat was malfunctioning. Since I keep it at full tilt anyway, I just bypassed that circuit and now the lights work again sans dimming. It was just a matter of figuring out which wires do what and bridging the correct ones.