1974 260Z Dash Lights Not Working

[cebu]

Well every thing in my speedo still works, I have a sclamatic but its so small you cant see where anything is going i really dont know what to do. this all happened when i changed my speedo

On a sclamatic what would they call Dash lights?

[TomoHawk]

You won't see anything labeled 'dash lights' or anything like that. On a wiring diagram, you would only see the lines representing the wires going to the gauges, connected to a little lightbulb symbol inside the gauge. One of the wires/lines (grn-wht on a 280Z) goes back to the light switch connector, and then the switch itself, and the other wire/line (red-blu) goes through the dimmer control to ground.Get a wiring diagram for your year & model to see how yours goes.

Here is an example of the diagram for the dimmer control on a 280Z. The B wire from the dimmer control goes to ground. The other (RL) comes from the lights.

[cebu]

well do you think mabe my dimmer has gone bad or something?

[TomoHawk]

It's about impossible to tell, since I'm not a psychic! You'll need to go looking around yourself, or get some help from a service shop. You may want to invest a few dollars in a test lamp, multimeter, and buzzer thing.

thxZ

[cebu]

I just spent an hour doing everything i can think of and i cant get it to do anything

[Zs-ondabrain]

Like Tom said, look for a 2 wire plug that has a black wire and a red with a blue stripe wire. That's the plug ya want. Get another dimmer switch and try that. If it works with the new one, the old one was bad.

Your best bet is to retrac your steps, when you unplugged everything, ya had to unplug something.

Keep going. And besides, the more ya dig the more ya know and you'll be a big help to the next guy who has the same problem. Cause ya been there.

Dave.

[TomoHawk]

The problem could also be in the switch itself. Not knowing how similar a 260Z is to a 280Z, I couldn't tell you where to start. I think your next step would be to follow the flow of electricity from the fusebox. You really need a wiring diagram for your car from now on.

[beezee]

The light resister is in the ground circuit. Jumper the red with blue tracer to black in two wire plug. If lights work your dimmer is bad, jumper blue with red tracer to chassis ground and lights work you have no ground.

[beezee]

The, FSM shows green with blue tracer from the fuse block to the combination switch ,your light switch on the steering column. When the lights are turned on power feeds to the dash lights on a green with white tracer to the bulbs.Hope this helps Rick

[TomoHawk]

That's the same as my 280Z. After the g/w goes to the gauges, the r/l wire goes to the dimmer control, then a black wire to ground.

So for cebu, connecting the r/l wire for the dimmer direct to the chassis should get him some lights. If not, then he's got a broken circuit somewhere.

Cebu-

Do you have the steering column cover off? Grab your test lamp, buzzer, or multimeter...