Instrument Illumination (the lack of)

[Jason <Jason.r@worldnet.att.net>]

Mark Thomas wrote:

> Got in my car before, tuned on the ignition, and turned on the lights.

> A sort of fizzing, crackling sound came from somewhere and the
instrument
> lights were really dim.
> Turned the lights off then back on again. This time there was no noise
but
> there wasn't any dash lighting either.
> The headlights still work though.
>
> Has anyone got any suggestions.
> Please say it's just a fuse.

I watched something very similar happen to my friends '87 16v, it was
the
potentiometer for the dimmer switch, you can get a headlight switch from
a
wrecking yard cheap and change it without taking apart the dash. If you
want to
be sure that's what's wrong if you take the switch out you will notice a
little
contact that slides on a track. What I did was shove a piece of aluminum
foil
in between the contact and track, and the dash lights worked. I would
NOT
recommend trying to fix it like this as it could be a fired hazard and a
poor
repair if it worked. A potentiometer (like a volume knob on a stereo)
creates
resistance by turning power into heat, whatever happens the heat is a
factor,
when my friend turned on his lights there was a little puff of smoke.
One other
sign is the knob will turn much easier than before. I believe this is
most
likely your problem since if your headlights still work you know there
IS power
to the switch. Hope this helps! Good luck...




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