Gauge cluster lights out?

[PrInG]

Had some wet weather the last couple of days and when i turn my lights on my instrument cluster lights up and then goes out.. If id flick my lights on and off a couple of times(while driving) they come back... However if im sitting I could flip all day wouldnt' get a thing.. I'm hoping to god that its just something that got wet.. Any other ideas.. All other lights stay on.. My guess is its not a fuse or they wouldn't come back on .. I'm hoping sdomethings just wet and I dont' have to go searching for a loose ground... Any ideas.

[da_bull]

Dunno on this one. My first instinct is a relay going bad. But with the rest of your lights staying on, not for sure.

[PrInG]

possibly a bad switch ?

[german-speed-demon]

..this post looks vaguely familiar

[PrInG]

weird eh.. its almost pointless posting anywhere but the members lounge=/ sadly.. im hoping to get around to getting a switch tommorow sometime .. i really hope that it works.. the thing that I dont' understand is .. The head lights work as normal.. It is just he cluster lights and the climite knob lights that come and go as they please.. Def. have to cycle the switch in order to get anything at all out of them so who knows. = (

[AlpineSixAndSeven]

Dude spin you dimmer switch a bunch Corrosion can build up in it spin it a Bunch of times then try you turn the lights on it is most likly your dimmer as it controls the power to the interior lights (reason why there all out)

[PrInG]

you really think it is the dimmer switch ? when the lights come on I can still dim them and such.. they all come on at once and all go out at once..

[da_bull]

That's entirely possible. Go to your local electronics house and ask them for some contact cleaner. I have used Tuner-Renu on more than one occasion. Pull the dimmer control out, spray a little in there and twist it back and forth, fully, until your hand gets tired, then switch hands Its fixed many volume knobs (same type of design) for me before

[PrInG]

If I get the lights to come on... If goes out whenever I push the clutch in.. I'm thiking bout fishing around down there tommorow.. any suggestions on what that could mean? are there dangling wires down there that might be getting bumped around a little ? this is gonna be a pain in the ass if I dont' get it figured out .

[AlpineSixAndSeven]

Yeah cause ALL of those lights get power though the Dimmer clean the dimmer... But you should have mentioned they go out when you hit the clutch push the clutch and look for any wires near it and check their conntectons BTW u dont awnser AIM(SK2boi)

[PrInG]

Originally Posted by AlpineSixAndSeven

Yeah cause ALL of those lights get power though the Dimmer clean the dimmer... But you should have mentioned they go out when you hit the clutch push the clutch and look for any wires near it and check their conntectons BTW u dont awnser AIM(SK2boi)

My apologies sir.. My aim is always online many times im not around.. I'm gonna look at it tommorow i hope i can get it figured out..

[PrInG]

update... I too the panel unde the steering wheel off and got down in there and fooled with some wires.. ( there are a million) anywho.. to no avail.. lights still were coming on then going off... So on my way home from the library I realized it wasn't the clutch making it cut out it was the movement of the shifter.. so I took the boot out and everything and moved the wires around that it might have touched and no longer have a problem.. any idea what runs through there besides hazard lights ?

[da_bull]

May have a circuit (dimmable with the cluster) that if the bulb was broken/socket hanging, touching anything metal in there would definitely short it out for a moment.

[Numark318i]

Did not read the entire thread..but

when my E30's cluster lights where on their way out they would flicker on and off. I would tap the cluster or turn it on and off and the bulb would come back on. (Not SI board issue IMO) When i looked at the bulb i removd while replacing i noticed it was still contacting the other side but when i jiggled the bulb it came un done.


might be the same issue?

[PrInG]

There was a bulb floating around in there with 2 wires attached.. It didn't seem to have and bare wire showing.. I haven't had any problems since so I'm hoping it is done being weird, however might be a fire hazard and that worries me... what would there be a light bulb doing down there .. Looking similar to a christmas light.but not pointy on the end and small.