The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The Electrical Bay dash lights went out

I was driving my 58 Suburban this afternoon and the dash lights wouldn't come on. The dome light works and all the other lights work. They were working fine the other day.

Does that tiny fuse on the back of the light switch control the dash lights? I'm trying to figure out why they suddenly won't work.

everything works fine until it quits I believe that [3amp] fuse is for both the instrument lights and the tail lights - I'd suspect more likely you have a bad connection at the switch to the rheostat or the rheostat has gone bad

Bill

Similar thing happened to me a while ago. Check the ground of the dash lights (that was my first problem). The next issue was my rheostat - it only works in a certain position, so slowly turn the knob and see if there is a point the light comes back on.

I'm not convinced it did anything with the rheostat, but I also tried this electronics spray

Spray electronics cleaner

Bob;

Where is the grounding point for the dash lights? Is it the switch itself grounding to the dash? The signal indicators blink in the gauge cluster and the high beam indicator light works also. I do have some lights, just not anything controlled by the rheostat.

Any ideas on how to trouble shoot the rheostat? I'm assuming it has variable resistance that I should be able to check with the multi-meter. Would it be variable resistance or variable voltage?

Take the wires that go to the rheostat and touch them together. If the lights come on, it's the rheostat.

A spray with WD-40 and spin the knob back and forth will clean dirty/oxidized contacts. If it still doesn't work, replace it.

Sounds like the rheostat. My 49 did the same thing. Like Ritchie54 I gave mine a shower in contact cleaner (similar to the linked electronics spray) then gave it a rigourous workout off/on, off/on etc. This fixed it right up.
This is a common problem w/many old rheostat controlled devices, especially old radio/TV volume and tuner controls.
A quick shower and workout generally makes them happy again.
Contact cleaner is best as it leaves no residue. Residue can short out all that hard work

Good luck
Dave

Gents;

Hooah. I'll try that. The switch in it was a replacement I got from Jim Carter's about a year ago.

I swapped it when the front parking lights kept going out when I turned the headlights on. I was convinced it was the switch. Turns out the switch is designed that way. Who knew?? :-)

Anyway, I'll try the testing/cleaning route. If that doesn't work, I'll pick up another one.

Thanks!