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MGB Dash lighting question

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Boggsy64

Boggsy64

Jedi Hopeful
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I am wrapping up the first wave of mechanicals and need to get a few electrical issues out of the way. The headlights are extremely dim. I found one of the lamp wire sets that had been cut and poorly spliced together, I hope fixing that will resolve that issue. The other minor issue (I hope) are the dash lights. When I drove it across country it was always daytime. When in the rain I did use the headlights and all other running lights work. I did not notice any illumination from the dash. I know there are bulbs up there somewhere. Is it reasonable to assume the bulbs are just burnt out or sockets corroded? I know this is a loaded question with many possible causes. Are the bulbs or sockets prone to this? How hard is it to find the bulbs and replace them? Are they behind the dash or do you have to pull the front panel?
 
Common issue with several possible fixes. First, as usual with these cars, is to clean all electrical connections. And don't forget the common ground(s) up under there. After that, you'll no doubt find the lights are still dim. If you still have the rheostat dimmer, you might try eliminating that, as it's pretty much useless!

Bulbs are in receptacles in the backs of the gauges, and not the easiest to access. Some have replaced them with LED bulbs with good results. That's on my list for my '73, but not a priority, as the ones I have, though dim, do work.

Good luck!
Mickey
 
Bulbs are fairly easy to get (can't remember offhand the size but someone will come along) I suspect it is more likely the bulb is burnt out than corroded due to the location of the sockets. I also bypassed the rheostat dimmer as I couldn't think of a single situation where I wanted the lights dimmer and the rheostat itself takes current.
 
My usual recommendation for cleaning electrical contacts: use a pencil eraser, not sandpaper or anything strongly abrasive. Most electrical contacts have some kind of surface treatment or finish, and you don't want to remove any more of that than necessary. The eraser works really well to remove crud and corrosion while doing minimal additional damage.
 
There seems to be a consensus out there that the gauge lights in MGBs were lackluster from the get go. As previously mentioned, replacing them with LED bulbs appears to help significantly. Also as mentioned, they are apparently challenging to access.
 
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