TR6 TR6 dash lights not bright enough

[Guest]

Seems like the dash lights on my TR6 don't get bright enough. I reached down through the ashtray and the back of the rheostat switch is very hot to the touch when the lights are on. Is the switch on its way out? I can turn the switch to on-off and rather dim only. It does not brighten the dash lights up and down anymore. When it is turned to the off position it cools down completely. It was working okay last week when I drove the car at night. I can't think of anything else that I have done electrically except put a new bulb in the glovebox socket. I took the bulb out and no difference, so that was not a factor.

 

[DNK]

Get rid of that thing before you burn your car up. Just straight wire it and you'll be golden.

 

[Guest]

Thanks for that advice but I'm looking to fix it properly.

 

[TR3driver]

So if I understand you right, you can still set the lights to full bright, but then the only other choices are "rather dim" and "off". Sounds like standard Lucas to me /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/grin.gif

Seriously, that might be a sign that there is a short in the dash lights. Not enough to pop the fuse apparently (what size fuse do you have in there ?), but enough to drop the voltage way down when the resistor (rheostat) is in the circuit.

Or, it might just be a nearly-dead rheostat. If it hasn't failed already, it will quickly with that short. They are very fragile that way.

One of my many "back burner" projects is to figure out how to use an IC as the pass element for the dash lights, with overcurrent and overtemp protection built in, and a knob/control that looks the same as original. But at the rate I'm going, I'll have to retire before I have time to work on that, which is still several years away.

 

[Guest]

On is dim only. No bright at all. On and off is all I have and on is the dimmest of how the switch used to be. As I turn it up, it just stays dim.

All other lights on the car are working properly.

 

[Brosky]

There was a thread posted here about taking the rheostat apart and cleaning the contacts to eliminate that problem.

https://www.britishcarforum.com/bcforum/u...true#Post272982

https://www.britishcarforum.com/bcforum/u...true#Post253534

Those may help you, but are not exactly what I was looking for. I'll keep searching as I have time.

 

[DNK]

Stirkle, I'm serious about the car becoming a car-b-que. Has happened to many a Triumph. My suggestion,fix it soon.

 

[Guest]

Stirkle, I'm serious about the car becoming a car-b-que. Has happened to many a Triumph. My suggestion,fix it soon.

I'm sure it could easily cook something, it was very hot. I am not going to use it again until it's fixed.

 

[DNK]

You don't have to be using it. It just stays hot and eventually Whoosh!!!

 

[Guest]

Well, I guess I'll have to get at the back of the dash for this. It looks like 5 screws, unhook the speedo, tach cables and wiper switch. Then the wood dash will pull out enough to work on? Did I miss anything else?

 

[swift6]

Yes, you have to remove the speedo and the tach. Not just the cables. They clamp against the metal facia behind the dash while the other instruments simply clamp to the wood. You might also try taking apart the gauges in order to clean the insides and the lighting fixtures.

Just so you know, if you haven't figured it out from the previous posts yet, they were never very bright to begin with. Especially when compared to more modern lighting schemes.

 

[Guest]

Thanks for the guages tip Shawn. Yes I know how dim these dash guages are to begin with. More so as we all get older and the eyes aren't what they once were.

 

[Guest]

Stirkle, the wooden dash is just a cover for the real dash, a metal plate with holes in it. It would be a lot easier for you to just pull a seat, say the passenger side, lay a nice thick blanket down and with a strong flashlight and you laying on your back, stick your head up under there and poke around. I just bypassed my dash lights rheostat and keep the dash lights on their brightest, which is still not very bright at all.

 

[Brosky]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:]Just so you know, if you haven't figured it out from the previous posts yet, they were never very bright to begin with. [/QUOTE]

Excuse me Shawn, but are you referring to the lights or the posters to this thread?

 

[Brosky]

Oh, I do have the 8 watt bulbs which are supposed to light it up pretty well, but those are being saved for after the suspension and under body paint project.

 

[Tinster]

The "Refurbisher Guy" says the lights were dim to
begin with as that was the romantic concept back
in the day.

If you take apart the gauges you will find the lighting is
indirect and bounces around the inside. Clean the insides
and the lights will be brighter. Replace the wires, the
lights will be brighter. Install new grounds, the lights
will be brighter. But they will never be a bright as
TRBill's Miata dash lights.

There are some plastic end cap baffles in the speedo and
tach that diffuse the light. (4 total if I remember
correctly.) You can remove them and brighten things up a
bunch.

DPO Pedro replaced the rheo with a cigarette lighter. I
replaced his cigarette lighter with a rocker switch for
on/off all dash lights.

tinster

 

[swift6]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:]Just so you know, if you haven't figured it out from the previous posts yet, they were never very bright to begin with.

Excuse me Shawn, but are you referring to the lights or the posters to this thread? [/QUOTE]

Do I have to answer that or can I assert my fifth amendment rights? /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/jester.gif

 

[Adrio]

Clean the insides
and the lights will be brighter.

I too have a back burner project I hope to get to one winter that takes this cleaning idea one step further. The hobby shops sell this chrome leaf like stuff. It is self adhesive, thin almost like gold leaf and just like chrome. I figure if I line the inside of the gauge (or at least all the parts the light travels through) it will brighten the gauge a fair bit.

 

[2wrench]

I think you might be able to drop your wood facia forward
enough to access the rheostat by removing the speedo and
tach cables; screws in wood fascia. This should let
the wood drop forward. Problem for me was that at the
angle the wood set forward, the little screws holding the
rehostat in place were a little testy to get at. You'd
need a small and short-handled screwdriver.

Also, I ordered a new rehostat from The Roadster
Factory. It took a number of weeks, and then I received
the wrong thing. I was so disappointed that I bypassed
the rheo. Basically, the wire in on one side of the
switch connected to the wire on the outside end of the
switch and the lights stay on full bright, such as they
are.

 

[Guest]

I'm going to replace the rheostat not bypass it but I'm trying to make sense of this whole thing to myself. Everyone agrees that the TR dash guages are rather dim to begin with and the big 3 want over a hundred dollars for the switch that makes them even dimmer.

It's almost cheaper to legally change my name to Pedro!