Hi all, after many years as a jagman have finally come on board with a 1990 300 SE auto

I bought it yesterday and although in good nick have noted that NO panel instrmentation or switch lights are working. checked the main fuse box and evrything looks ok- cant beleive EVERY bulb has blown- anyone got any ideas where to look? is this a common problem?many thanks

kay all the lights including gearshift window siwthc lights dash etc not o=working read posts pulled out dash, the rheostat IS operating teh centre temparture display so obviously the rheostat works- cant find this famous red fuse though

ok unit out (very easy) the rheostat IS dimming the bulbs but they just dont illuminate the dash so i'll get them all replaced- so does that mena i have to replace all the other buylbs in the gearshift window switches and any others i cant think of??

Verify bulbs are actually burned out before you replace them all. Hard to believe thay are all bad. I suppose overvoltage could do this but seems unlikely they are ALL bad. Where in the UK are you from?

Mike

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1998 C230 330,000 miles (currently dead of second failed EIS, yours will fail too, turning you into the dealer's personal human cash machine)
1988 F150 144,000 miles (leaks all the colors of the rainbow)
Previous stars: 1981 Brava 210,000 miles, 1978 128 150,000 miles, 1977 B200 Van 175,000 miles, 1972 Vega (great, if rusty, car), 1972 Celica, 1986.5 Supra

hi from sheerness kent, the bulbs in the panel are ok but obviously dim- so can't understand why all the others are naff

Try replacing the rheostat brightness control. Had same problem and though the dimmer was working, it didn't allow enough voltage through to light bulbs.Make sure that you're getting a full 12V out of the dimmer when it is wide open. Be careful not to short out anything when doing it! I had the same problem and this solved it. The other obvious culprit could be the ground connection which is usually supplied to the whole instrument cluster via a wire through the multi-pin connector, or separately. In American cars they usually are a brown wire to ground...can't say if yours is the same though. Also,check continuity from your ground wire to the surface ground of the cluster...if no continuity you know its the ground. Then try tightening all the outer nuts holding the cluster together. Good luck, Jeff

a brit to say "in fine nick". guessing.

tom w

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[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.