I have my dash ready to go back in the car, but I would really like to know if I solved my problem of having very dim dash lights before I reinstall it. The light switch was pulled out and turned to the left just before it clicked to "on" for the courtesy lights. I used continuity to test a pin on my fuse box to the gray wires in my cluster and it shows I was using the right pin.




Then I hooked up a 12v battery from a cordless drill and tested to see if I now had 12v at the end of the gray wires and I did. Problem is I have no lights. All the bulbs tested good before they were installed, and again after I had no lights. What am I missing? Could it have anything to do with the size of the battery?

 

Ive just finished installing my restored dash...the artist that did it was Bill Harrison in Jupiter Fl.....he did my buddies 66 dash and recomended he change the bulbs in the dash....but only the ones in the cluster that illuminate to gages...he installed them on my buddies and wow...what a difference...nice soft but brighter ...slightly higher candel watt power
so he did my dash and sent me a package of 10 bulbs ...I put them in and Im very satisfied with the result....seemjs like the original bulbs were all dim .....so the cheepest way with out going led blah blah are these bulbs
I got em direct from mfg/....as I broke one bulb during installition

EIKO certified Green... part number 1895....send me some email @ bluzrocker@att.net
and I will send you some pixs at night of the dash with these improved performance bulbs

 

Is your harness and dash grounded...?

 

I didn't mention that the bulbs I got are 6 watt as apposed to the original 3 watt bulbs. I know the dash calls for 1816 bulbs (3W) but I found 1414 (6W) from "Bulb Town".

What is confusing me is I was able to get 12V at the end of the gray wire with the neg pole of the battery hooked to the grounding tab on the dash, and the pos wire going from the positive side of the battery, through a fuse to the metal pin in the fuse box.

If I was able to get 12V, why can't I get the bulbs to light? Doesn't everything need to be correct to get 12V at the end of the wire? Is there any chance that all the 6W bulbs together along with the length of the wires and everything going through the switch is too much for that little battery?

 

All it should take is 12v on the gray and ground on the cluster. I'm afraid when you get it all back together you'll find you'll blow the fuse because it was just barely rated high enough to carry the current to the dash lights and you just doubled the wattage multiplied by the number of bulbs. If you're connecting the 12v to the gray wire that goes to the bulbs, it doesn't matter where the dash light switch is turned or rotated. If you're going through the fuse box, it takes two fuses to light the dash lights, instr and tail lamps. If both aren't good, you won't get voltage to the the bulbs. I'm speaking generically since you didn't say what year you're working on.

If it's the 63 in your profile, then check those two fuses. You can measure to see if you have a good ground on the bulbs. Put an ohmeter on the gray wire at the bulbs and connect the negative lead to a chassis ground, not the cluster. It should read very low, just a few ohms. I don't know how much current that battery can provide, but I would think you would see at least a glow if all was connected. If you get an open or very high reading, your cluster isn't grounded to the chassis ground. Again, if you're connecting the battery to the gray wire and the negative of that battery to the cluster ground, it won't matter because you're bypassing the ground directly to the cluster.

 

I would go rite to the headlight switch, check voltage before and after the little coil in the switch, also try override switch with wire, then see, ground issue makes sense. mike.

 

I was hoping to install this thing today, but I won't do it until I can confirm I have dash lights. I don't have any fuses in the fuse box, the cluster is out of the car sitting on my bench. I figured if I was connected to the gray wire and could see 12V, why would the tail light circuit be necessary to light the bulbs? I'm sure it's something simple, but I'm stumped.

 

That's right, all it should take is 12v on the gray and ground on the inst cluster. I'm not sure that little battery you were using would have enough amperage to light them, but a jumper to a regular charger, or booster, or car battery should.