Hi all,
Is there a resistor for the panel lights? They work fine on the bright position but when you put them on the dim (click one) position, one of the red wires going to the main light switch starts to smoke. The interior light switch doesn't do anything either,( they work fine on the door switches) I don't know if this is related. You have all been very helpful in the past, Thanks in advance
Ray

 

Hi Ray,
The resistors for the dash lights are soldered directly to the switch. There are two resistors that (I assume) are wired in parallel to create the resistance to dim the dash lights.
I think you have some sort of wiring problem if the red wire is smoking. If the switch was bad or the resistors were open, the current would be zero or very limited and you would not have enough current to heat a wire. It may be that a couple of wires are not correctly connected or you have a short elsewhere. It is strange that the lights work fine on the high setting. The red wire does not get hot when the dash lights are on the high setting?
Craig

 

Cheers Craig, Its absolutely fine on the high setting

 

Hi Ray,
I'm looking at the schematic and I have to say that this is a little puzzling. The red wire comes from the main light switch and runs to the panel light switch. The resistor switching is all handled within the switch/resistor assembly and runs to all of the gauge lights via the red/white wire. There is another wire from the switch that goes to the lights that illuminate the switch indicator label panel. I see no reason why you would have different results between high and low brightness unless 1) the switch indicator label lights are always getting the "dim" current regardless of the switch position AND the indicator label lights are shorted to ground or 2) something is shorting the resistors to ground around the switch or 3) there is some sort of internal fault in the switch that is shorting the current to ground within the switch itself (seems unlikely) or 4) one of the unused connectors on the switch is connected to the resistors/dim path and has something connected to it that is connected to ground.
I believe that the switch terminals are labeled. Check for correct connection: 8 goes to the red/white wire to the gauge lights, 4 is the red wire that goes to the main light switch and 7 is also a red wire that goes to the switch indicator panel. There are no other connections shown on my schematic. Pull down the center panel and have a look. Good luck!

 

Thanks Craig,
This is really useful I will let you know how I get on
Ray

 

Hi Craig,
Thanks for your input, It turned out that one of the wires from the interior light switch was on the wrong connection. All good now, just got to get the Ammeter working now!