Seemingly Ridiculous Instrument Cluster Question

[Erin]

Hi there, I just purchased my 1980 240D last week and am in the process of fixing the few minor repairs that I need to get it on the road. I live in Canada, and in order to get the vehicle plated it needs to pass a safety inspection.
Now for my ridiculous question, are the guages on the instrument cluster (ie speedometer, clock, etc) supposed to be illuminated? I have replaced fuses and no such luck. I DO have illumination for parking brake and other items along the bottom of the cluster.

Thanks for the help

erin :wink:

 

[guydewdney]

yes - but check that the brightness knob (prob on cluster itself) isnt turned all the way down.. one of the knobs will reset odometer, the other does brightness...

 

[Erin]

Thanks for the info,

It seems that I do in fact have to replace the bulbs...I'll add that to my list of things to do today

thanks again,
erin

 

[nasher]

If all the bulbs are gone, it could be the dimmer switch. One tip is to twiddle it on and off lots of times to clean up the contact. You may even find that it only works in one particular position.

On one car, I just soldered a piece of wire to bypass the dimmer switch all together.

 

[Erin]

FIXED !

It was in fact that rheostat, and the "soldered wire" fix has done the trick.

Thanks for the tip.

erin