boosd

Pulled defroster, fasten seat belt, choke and heater face flip light, any thing else im missing? Tried to disconnect the speedometer and the tach tonight, but I am unable to reach behind either anywhere near a connector or bulb, is there a trick to this or does the dash have to come out?

I dont have an ohm meter, but hopefully this works... So far I unplugged Temp/Oil. Gas/Amp. and Clock one at a time, I still have the problem, tonight I will pull the tach plug and then speedometer

I will look at the dash lights tonight when i get home from work to see if one isnt lighting. I dont know if it is different on other models but my hazard switch doesnt have a light on it, just the defogger, choke, and fasten seat belts. I tried to get to the dash lights and dont see a simple plug, although I am going through the heater face/vents, is there a plug buried further back there or somewhere else, or do i have to pull each gauge out? Oh its a 74 260z and nothing was modified before the initial burn up of the combo plug

**I should also add... I dont recall there ever being a dash light problem before this, If I recall correctly the head lights went out. There is a possibility though that this could have been the real problem the whole time, and that the overheating of the combo switch 9 pin connector could have been what affected my headlights as well and the parking/tails may have initially gone unnoticed. The rheostat was replaced because the mechanic working on the car thought it was bad for this reason: Initially when turning the rheostat instead of controlling the dash lights, it would turn up and down the parking lights. When pushing on the rheostat we were able to get the dash lights to flicker on and stay on while pushing against it. Now when i turn the rheostat it has no effect on the parking lights or the dash lights until it is turned all the way to max, then the parking lights dim a bit and the dash lights come on and that is when the fuse starts to overheat. While under the dash I also noticed when i turn on the dash lights that this comes on(seen in picture) I have no idea what it is or why there is a light in it since i can't seem to see it unless i am under the dash, Also i did try unplugging this and the fuse still heats up.

So I disconnected the dash lamp and fasten safety belt light, problem continued, there is no bulb in the hazard switch, just in the choke and defogger and those seem to be fine. Is there a way to disconnect the dash lights individually, i pulled the heater face out and cant see how to really get to them at all

Also, I believe the combo switch that is on my Z now came from a 240z, would there be any problem with this? When I was looking at the green/white wire to the combo switch it seems thinner than the green/white wire going away from the combo switch(on the other side of the 9 pin connector) Here are some pictures (I dont know if the dimple came from the over heating or if it was already there, how would I replace this one wire?)

I have been sitting/ignoring an electrical problem for some time now, and as of today figured I would take another run at it. About a year ago my combo switch was overheating and melted a wire or two and the plastic connector, seeing as rewiring was out of my range I took it in and had a new combo switch/wiring put in. Shortly after(if not immediately) I noticed that my parking and interior lights were out. It was a blown fuse. Currently: The parking light fuse, after about 15 seconds gets red hot and burns out once the combo switch is turned on to parking lights. I disconnected all the parking and tail lights(and headlights) and flipped the parking lights on the combo switch, the fuse continues to over heat. What I noticed was the dimmer switch, does not turn on the dash lights unless turned all the way up, and then the fuse begins to glow red preparing to burn out after a few seconds. If i turn the dimmer switch down just a tiny bit, the dash lights don't dim, they just go completely out, and the fuse does not over heat. Also if i unplug the dimmer switch, the parking and tail lights stay on and the fuse does not seem to over heat, I just have no dash lights. I also tried ordering another dimmer switch and replacing it but it is the exact same problem. With the steering wheel housing cover off I am also seeing that the green and white wire leading from the combo switch to the 9 pin plastic connector is very hot and started melting the insulation and has slightly warped the 9 pin connector. Any thoughts?

I have check all the light sockets and never found a problem, previously there was a problem that caused over heating from the headlight and melted the 9 pin connector, so the headlight switch was replaced, and im guessing there might have been some make shift patch work.... Never used one

Ok, so months later.......... I order a new dimmer switch, replaced it and yep... still the same problem Things that i have learned though are... With the dimmer switch unplugged, the parking lights operate as expected no problems, when i plug in the switch everything functions correctly for about 2 seconds, then the dash lights dim, the Green/Blue wire begins to get hot, the parking light fuse gets hot, and just recently the green/blue wire got so hot it broke the solder... Does this help any? Im not a real technical person when it comes to electrical... and would love to have someone fix this for me, however the shops that i took my Z too basically told me they werent too sure about how to tackle this, which i didnt see as a great sign...

Would that be the green / blue wire?

Can someone tell me what wire is suppose to be soldered here, and what exactly does it control... parking lights, dash lights?

So.... Got the car back from the shop today, and what i am being told is that the dimmer switch is failing in some way. I pushed and pulled on the dimmer switch a bit and the dash light came on faintly. Unfortunately the shop did not have a replacement switch so i will have to track one down somewhere and on the ride home i smelled a some burning and then the parking light fused popped and there went my parking lights Does anyone know what models i can choose from for this switch, i have an early 260z....

So im thinking, based on looking at the FSM that the 3 pin connector that is unplugged might be the warning buzzer from the door being ajar. I am not the best at understanding the FSM so I dont know that i will give the most accurate answers based on that, but it appears that all my plugs and wires are correct, so I think either its something to do with a mis-mmatched combo switch, which I dont know if there are compatibility issues across models, i think the one in there now is from a 240z... So the problem is that my dimmer knob is turning up and down my parking lights, and I have no illumination in my dash lights is this a simple plug? From the FSM, i dont see anything that is out out place

So i looked at the 9 pin connector, and the wires going in (from the headlight switch) are different colors than on the other side of the connector plug, were the headlight switches across models different and this could be causing the problem? (see below) The unplugged connector is a 3 pin connector, but one of the 3 wires has been cut, so what remains is a red wire and black wire, (photo 3) 9 PIN CONNECTOR (FROM REPLACED COMBO SWITCH) Gw Bg Bw Bw By B By B Br 9 PIN CONNECTOR (Original to wiring harness) Yg Bg Gw Bw Rb Wg By B Br Uppercase = Main Color Lowercase = Stripe(if there is one) G/g = Green B/b = Blue R/r = Red W/w = White Y/y = Yellow (The Color diagram is meant to show the colors that are connecting i.e. first: Gw is connected to Yg)

So a few months ago I took my car in because my parking lights failed after the wiring at the combo switch melted. I took it in, and had the switch and wiring replaced... Everything seemed fine, I took it out for the first time today and tonight when I got in it to drive home I realized my headlights and my dash lights arent working. I pulled took off the covering around the steering column/combo switch and began to look around and found a few disconnected wires. Got the Headlights working which is a start, but dash lights still arent working, I think something is incorrectly soldered/wired because when i went to adjust the dimmer knob, my parking lights are going dim or bright when turned... maybe something is just plugged in wrong, or not plugged in? I also found a connector that is unplugged and i am unable to reach far enough up to plug the two in. Here are a couple pictures 1974 260z