My old lady has strange fault. When selecting lights side, head and main beam all the panel lights are extinguished, switching off all lights panel lights come back on. Tried all usual checks(as far as I can twist my 86 year old body!) I have not had success, I suspect fault may lie with steering column wiring, such as a shorting out Any clues would be helpful

 

Stupid question, is your dimmer switch turned off………

 

Dimmer does not respond to lights off or on

 

Sounds like a short in the multifunction switch: easiest fix is to buy a new one or a used one on eBay. Finding the bad connection and resoldering it takes five hands (none with arthritis). Any good independent specialist should be able to pull the steering wheel and install a replacement (or find the fault and fix the old one).

Assuming all fuses are good.

 

Curious, is it all interior illumination or just the gauge cluster? My car has an intermittent issue with the gauges only going full dim at night, independent of the dimmer switch and then they'll come back to full brightness at a time of their choosing and will dim smoothly with the dimmer switch adjustment. The center stack and door controls are not affected at all, they stay full bright and remain dimmer controllable. I'm guessing its the cluster itself, which I need to replace anyway due to a bad LCD screen.

 

I have not done one but is the stalk switch the same as on the X300 as have wire ends soldered ( wires come loose and float around ) to the stalk contacts or small terminal screws ?

I recall pics of disconnected wires on a X300

Good point of having fingers to get in there for reconnecting

See page 55

X300 98/E COVER

 

Thankyou ALL for your helpful replies and an especial one to cafcpete for his prompt reply for which I am grateful and opologise for not thanking him earlier(THE BOSS called!)
I will try all of your sugestions in due course and report that all cabin lights work as normal so on to the next check and I will let you know when weather allows old bones to function
I had in mind to get into the guts of the steering wheel electicals as this seems to be the next area to clear Will advise in due course and thanks to all thanks again

 

Bunches off threads on the multifunction switch; also on removing the steering wheel to get at the switch. Be especially accurate on reinstalling the wheel so it is aliigned correctly. You will also need an electrical diagram for matching wires to solder points.

 

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