Dash Lights part 2+

[Jonny B]

I have followed the archives to try and figure out what is happening with the dash lights on my 250SL. I replaced the bulbs, checked the fuses, reconnected the brown wire to the keeper on the back of the tach, and still nothing. The lights do illuminate the center gauges (fuel, oil and temperature) but none of the others. Any ideas on where to try next will be appreciated.

Jonny B
1967 250SL Auto

[Cees Klumper]

Could it be bad ground? Have you checked (jumpered) the rheostat (intensity control)? I assume you have checked the bulbs themselves. You can check them in-place by hooking up a live wire. If all this fails, if it were my car, I would probably run auxiliary wires from the functional center instrument cluster lights to (at least one of) the other lights/leads - maybe this restores power to the other ones as well.

Cees Klumper in Amsterdam
'69 white 280 SL automatic

[ja17]

Hello Jonny,
You must also have a brown ground wire attached under the thumb screw behind the tach and the speedometer.

Joe Alexander
Blacklick, Ohio

[Jonny B]

I may be missing the ground at the speedo. I did not pull the center cluster and speedo out. I do have the brown ground wire attached at the tach. When I pulled the tach, I found that I was missing the seal pad. I am going to order one of those, and when I get it, go back into the dash and check the ground. If these are all okay, I will probably go for a rewire as Cees suggested.

Jonny B
1967 250SL Auto

[J. Huber]

This is a longshot but when you tested Tach light, did you have bulb housing all the way into Tach? I recall that if you test lights before this point, they don't function. They need to be "seated" all the way in to get power. Also be sure the wires on back of bulb housing are attached... mine came loose my first time around.

Good Luck

James
63 230SL

[Jonny B]

Yes, I had the bulb holders all the way into the tach sockets. I broke the wire when I removed the holder, so I had to re-attach it, so I knew those were alright too.

Perserverance.


Jonny B
1967 250SL Auto

[Mike]

quote:Originally posted by Jonny B

I have followed the archives to try and figure out what is happening with the dash lights on my 250SL. I replaced the bulbs, checked the fuses, reconnected the brown wire to the keeper on the back of the tach, and still nothing. The lights do illuminate the center gauges (fuel, oil and temperature) but none of the others. Any ideas on where to try next will be appreciated.

Jonny B
1967 250SL Auto

Michael L. Hund

[Mike]

quote:Originally posted by Mike

quote:Originally posted by Jonny B

I have followed the archives to try and figure out what is happening with the dash lights on my 250SL. I replaced the bulbs, checked the fuses, reconnected the brown wire to the keeper on the back of the tach, and still nothing. The lights do illuminate the center gauges (fuel, oil and temperature) but none of the others. Any ideas on where to try next will be appreciated.

Jonny B
1967 250SL Auto

Michael L. Hund

I hate to distract this discussion but I have a similar, related problem.  All of my dash lights work but they are very dim.  If I adjust the rheostat they turn off completely.   The rheostat is set at the highest setting but any adjustment causes the lights to go off completely.  Any ideas about the cause of the problem?

Michael L. Hund

[Jonny B]

Use the search feature with 'dash lights' and you will run across a several strings that speak to this problem, which appears to be fairly common. There are a number of fixes documented.

Jonny B
1967 250SL Auto