Dash Lights

[Guest 240 Al]

Mmagnus there are 12 illumination lamps 2 for each guage 3 for

tach and 3 for the speedo chances are most of them are out.

they are approximately 1.3 watts and you don't want to go any bigger you will melt the lens they set in.you can get to the ones in the tach and speedo with out removing any thing,but you,ll have to pull the heater controls to get to the ones in the guages.

it's not as bad as it sounds.The turn indicators and high beam

are the same. when I got done the lights were plenty bright on the dimmer set 1/2 way.What I used were Wagner #BP53 They

were physically the same size but .2 watt more. You may be able to get to some of them by removing the defogger metal strip on

dash but I don't know for sure as I pulled the dash for other reasons 240 Al

[Daniel]

Hi Mark,I would think by now this dash thing was resolved.Anyway,Removing the defroster panel on the dash will get you nothing but grief,no access to anything you can reach around too.You can gain access by removing the heater panel,you can also remove your engine to change the oil filter.Trust me!Unless youLOVE to work on your car,gain access thru the glove box.Keep it simple. Daniel

[EScanlon]

Working on the 240 dash lights can be like hitting yourself on the head with a hammer. While it's happening you hate it, it hurts and you wish it were over and done with, but once you're finished you feel so good.

The dash bulbs are 3w and are notorious for being dim, you CAN order 4w bulbs which will not melt your green lenses inside the gauges. However, there are a few other things that you can do that will make the lights work better and actually provide brighter illumination.

Changing the dash bulbs while IN the dash can be like putting your hand inside a tight fitting cookie jar and trying to pull it out full of cookies, i.e. extremely tight and extremely frustrating. If you have a "large" hand, i.e. more than 8" around at the base of your fingers, trust me you WILL have a hard time. Not saying it is impossible just that it will be difficult. I found it easier to force my hand up there, remove the speedo and tach and then replace the bulbs from the front when I did it on a friend's car the fun came when you try to put the washers and wing nuts back on the instruments. You CAN do it, but you have to be very very patient. The center gauges are best accessed from the glove box compartment, or from the heater control panel area, but that's a bear to remove also.

The dimmer is held to the back of the dash with two phillips screws which attach the rheostat to the sheet metal inside the dash. To remove this, you have to get your screwdriver up and point it down towards the floor and then remove the screws. It's kinda tricky, with a plain screw driver, get one of those bent at 90° and it should make it easier.

If you remove this rheostat, you can then clean the top of the spring and the wiper contact so that it makes proper contact. This way you can restore it's function. If you aren't interested, then just connect the two wires connected to the rheostat together and you will have bypassed it altogether.

Another thing that you can do, is a little more time and work intensive, but the results are EXCELLENT! Remove and OPEN the instrument gauge containers. Gently, and very methodically, remove the black shroud, lenses, pointer needles and face plates. THEN, paint the inside of the cases WHITE. Just be careful NOT to paint the green lens for the light, nor any of the actual instrument. Let it dry and reassemble.

By the way, you can try to remove the heater control box from the face plate with it in the car. But you are really looking at a bear of a job as well as a potential problem if you break the face plate. Those face plates are going for over $50 each USED. Your best bet is to remove the cables that connect the heater controls to the appropriate points on the heater box, valve and vent flap, then pull the control panel cables and all. This is quite common and in fact is the way that the Factory Shop manual recommends it.

I personally removed my dash, replaced the wiring harness, removed all the gauges, disassembled each one and updated paint, lubrication, etc in order to make them work better, so if you have any questions on this part, feel free to e-mail me.

Hope this helps.

[Guest 240 Al]

Yep that's pretty much what I did while the dash was out I lubed the heater cables,control levers,replaced the seals on the air intake of the heater housing and A/C duct [they were rotten].Blew

out the heater core [leaves and crap].Wired for courtesy lights

under dash and driving lights that can be turned on and off with the high beams or separately.All wires follow factory harness.The hastle and down time was worth it.

[jmark]

Where & what type bulbs are the 4W replacements? I picked up a nice uncracked dash and steering wheel and plan to swap them out next week. I think I'll swap the bulbs while the dash is out and need to pick up the lamps first.

[EScanlon]

Mark

Edit your post, you don't need to quote to reply. You can post a stand-alone post (as this is).

The bulbs you want are Sylvania 53. I found them at True Value Hardware.

Good luck

Enrique

[jmark]

I meant to quote your post just so someone would know the bulbs I was asking about. Thanks for your info. I'll check around here for those bulbs. Are these the 4W upgraded bulbs or 3.4W stock ones?

[TomoHawk]

Enrique-

I looked up the Sylvania bulbs, and those are supposed to be 14.4 volts? At 4W, they must have a higher current draw than the standard bulbs, but not much. I was expecting them to be 12V, 4W bulbs.

thx

[jmark]

I found the Sylvania #53 bulbs today. I am also trying to see if I can get a set of bulbs from John@h4lights. I know his bulbs are 4W. Could not tell if the Sylvania bulbs were.

[EScanlon]

I'll see if I can post a picture of the package and bulbs that I have in my hand. Not only are they visually and dimensionally the same, they actually DO work, as that is the bulb I used when I replaced all of my burnt out or "fogged" bulbs.

One point to be made here. If you check Voltages for automotive equipment, you'll not find a SET standard except in the most general of termms. I.e. Automobile Battery Voltage is 12V when in reality it is actually higher than that. A 12v DC Power Supply actually provides 13.5v DC. The charging circuit is 12v when it actually provides closer to 14-15.

The variations are due to known expected losses through the circuitry, as well as inefficiencies of design that when compounded "average" out to approximately 12v. This is the "standard" that automobile electrical systems are designed around.

The 14.4v voltage for the light bulbs you checked would be correct at 12v and would function correctly. The 14.4v rating is the Maximum working voltage the bulb can work with before it's service life is seriously shortened. How long depends on many other factors, variations in the voltage, spikes in the current flow, duration of use, etc. How short the life is, can be as sudden as a blow-out or just the darkening of the glass over time. This is caused by the element literally "burning up" and coating the inside of the glass with vaporized element.

A light bulb basically operates because a small length of wire gets so hot that it gives off light due to the heat of the element. The reason for the wire getting hot is the internal resistance of the element. This is the "fight" if you will, that electrons must make as they travel through the element. The more they have to fight, and the more of the electrons there is, the brighter the bulb lights. More fight is more resistance, more electrons are higher voltage. If you reduce either one the bulb's brightness changes, brighter for less resistance and dimmer for less voltage. That balance is what the dimmer control effects. It either increases the resistance in the line feeding the instrument bulbs or it reduces it to almost zero (it can't, but that's another discussion), since it cannot increase the voltage in the line. Shunting it's wires eliminates whatever residual resistance is present through the switch at it's zero setting. Remember, the power to the bulbs all goes THROUGH the switch. If the wires are disconnected from the switch and not re-connected to each other, whether through the switch again, or directly, none of the dash lights will receive ANY power.

Increasing the voltage is what those "capacitors" mentioned earlier are about. Their closest relative to something everyone is familiar with are your surge protectors. The surge protector ABSORBS energy over a given value, whereas those sound system capacitors make sure the voltage supplied never falls below a given voltage.

Now the voltage of the bulb you mention was rated 4 Watts at 14.4 Volts. At 12v, supposing that your car's system functions at a perfect nominal 12v (it probably functions closer to 13 +) it won't burn as bright, but it will burn bright enough. The original specs for the dash bulbs were 12V 3.5W, so you're well within the margin of acceptable variance.

Ok, hope this wasn't too longwinded nor too heavy an explanation.

Enrique

[jmark]

Thanks Enrique.

[jmark]

Guess I'll go with the Sylvania #53 bulbs.