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No dashboard/internal lights.

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No dashboard/internal lights.

After buying an 83 GTI that has been in storage for the past 8 years my biggest problem so far has been not getting any internal dashboard lights.
I have changed all the bulbs.
i have checked all the fuses.
i have checked all the  earth points(above the fuses)
I have "borrowed" a rocker/dimmer switch off another MK1.
And still no candles inside the car.
MY interior light works and the bulb inside the rocker switch is working.

Can anyone shed any " light" on the problem.
Thanks folks.
skid.

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Have you checked the feed voltage to the lighting circuit?

I'd check this and trace back until you find the supply voltage.

Have you made sure all the connections are made on the back of the headlight switch (seem to remember the main connector as well as a single spade)

From Haynes the feed to the dash lights comes from contact 58b on the headlamp switch from the dimmer control.  I'd start there and see if you have power.

Crazyquiff's Mk1 Golf Parts Emporium

www.golfmk1.co.uk - you know you want to….



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For your info skid, the feed for the dash lights on the 14 pin connector to the instrument pod is at terminal number 1

I had same problem - got 12v at term 1 so ended up having to buy new clocks :cry:

Andy

LINCOLNSHIRE REGION - https://www.facebook.com/groups/467122313360002/

1983 MK1 Golf GTI Campaign Model - Under (looooong) resto!
1962 Rover P4 80
2002 BMW 745i
2008 BMW Z4 2.5Si

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Thanks guys.
I check the 58b connection Crazyquiff and no power coming out of that 8O .
As i said i tried a friends, rocker switch and it made no differance.
Any more advice or places to check before that connection.?
hopefully this will mean that the problem is before the switch and i wont have to take the clocks out again and source a replacement set. :D

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Just got a Caddy pickup to keep the GTI company over winter, only had it a week and the dash lights have gone out. Just the clocks, the heater controls, ciggy lighter etc all light up.

Had it all in bits and the bulbs look OK and checkout fine for continuity. Getting 12v at terminal one on the loom connector. The back of the clocks look fine with no apparent damage, this must be the most simple circuit in cluster, what is there to go wrong?

Can anyone think of any problem with patching in a fly lead from another lighting supply direct to the bulbs???

Don?t fancy trying to source a late diesel instrument cluster.

MK1 electrics eh, and just like the GTI the reverse lights don?t work!!!!!

1983 Mars Red 1.8 Golf GTI
1987 Alpine White 1.8 Clipper Cabriolet

The trouble with doing nothing is that you never know when you are finished.

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Skid,

you'll need to trace back te power feed to find the fault - could be a bad connection/cut wire etc etc

Crazyquiff's Mk1 Golf Parts Emporium

www.golfmk1.co.uk - you know you want to….



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Re: No dashboard/internal lights.

one of the main problems with no dash lights is that the grey/blue wire that comes off the rear of the headlight switch burns out, and guess were right behind the dash.

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Update, discovered that the problem with my Caddy is the 14 pin connection between the loom and the clocks, waggling it around gets the lights to come on and also can make the indictor telltale work or not. Should have guessed this was the problem because someone else had wrapped insulation tape around the connection at some point :( . Just need to swap the bulb in headlight switch now to have a full complement of lights  :D

1983 Mars Red 1.8 Golf GTI
1987 Alpine White 1.8 Clipper Cabriolet

The trouble with doing nothing is that you never know when you are finished.

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Hey folks found the problem.
Guess what it was the rocker/dimmer switch :oops:  8O
Even though i tried my mates one(which must be knackered too…….he hasnt used the car for a few years either and is for a surpise) i got one out of a late 80s polo and had to cut a pin off but it worked.
lights are a bit dim but somebody mentioned fitting bigger dash bulbs.
Main thing is i can see what speed i am doing now :D

Many thanks for the ideas folks.

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I have exactly the same problem no dash lights at all!
Think my first point of call is too check my dash dimmer.

Thanks Skid you done alot of research for me here.
At least the stones rolling.

I'll keep you posted on how I get on :)

I used to own a mk1 - well I've had 2 actually - YDU 720X & SMU 420Y. Currently I drive an 98 Scotia White Mitsubishi Evolution V RS…. fancy getting another mk1 someday :D

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I changed my rocker cover gasket yesterday and when I had finished the dash lights were playing up, the MFA was going wrong and all kinds of things were happening to the temperature guage. After about 2.5hrs I found the problem to be an earth lead that I'd missed when I took the cover off originally. The wire had dropped down into the bay and was all covered in muck so I'd missed it. Once connected again everything worked. When it was off the heater and ciggy display work as it was supposed to.

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I've traced it down to the rheostat/ dimmer. Definitely a dodgy switch, need a new one. I now have dash lights!! Wahoo! Big thanks to every one especially skid. :mrgreen:

I used to own a mk1 - well I've had 2 actually - YDU 720X & SMU 420Y. Currently I drive an 98 Scotia White Mitsubishi Evolution V RS…. fancy getting another mk1 someday :D

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I got a new switch for my cabby with the dimmer switch on. VW have the switch at ?17.05 +vat….but it obsolete!!
GSF have it for ?6.50 +vat….and had one in stock…so I bought it!! Now I have a nice bright switch but no illumination on the other side. GSF don't stock the hazard, fog or rear demist they say.
Back to VW and an expensive pruchase!

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Why don?t you pull the switch apart and replace the bulb? Is the bulb not part of the loom or socket rather than the switch anyway?

I?d test with a multimeter to make sure 12v is getting where it should be before buying new switches, esp if they are from VW.

1983 Mars Red 1.8 Golf GTI
1987 Alpine White 1.8 Clipper Cabriolet

The trouble with doing nothing is that you never know when you are finished.

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My problem is now solved…it was MY fault all along…while installing the stereo I'd cut through a wire and not knowing what it did simply taped it up! (dope!!). When I traced the BLUE & WHITE (grey) wires from the switches & through the dashboard, I found my error. The dash and switches all light up now…well pleased as it would have been a costly exercise to buy a whole new set if switches. The loop of the wires run from the head light switch, behind the binnacle to a plastic connecting block. From there a split is formed that runs to the hazard and down to the cigarette lighter and blower display. The switches are all linked together. From the cigarette lighter, a wire runs off in the loom towards the fuse box area behind the glove box. (Hope that helps anyone who has a similar problem to me).

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I just ran across this where a bulb change went bad (touched cigarette ground with bulb hot connector).  I cooked the grey/blue wire from the headlight switch dimmer to the ashtray.

Here is the part that I cannot figure out:  even though I have clipped the grey/blue wire at the switch and at the connector to the ashtray/blower panel, I still have some type of connection from the isolated wire to the binnacle backlights.  

According to the wiring diagram, the grey/blue ties to a grey/red and another segment of grey/blue.   Where is this connector?  It looks like the wire bundle  is just that - wire bundle with no connectors across wires.

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Now I understand

So after tearing my dash apart, I ran across several things:
1. Radio is dead - got shorted somehow and blew a trace that took out some type of power delivery component internally.  This would explain the parasitic current drain whenever the radio was plugged in.
2. Heater control mounts are broken
3. Speedometer drive gear appears to be in working order


4. Found the rest of the fried BLU/GRY wire behind the instrument cluster.  Much to my surprise is the multi-wire junction taped in the wiring loom behind the instrument cluster.  Guess that answers my previous question.   I reconnected everything and now have functional dash light (minus dimmer - who cares anyway?)


The cluster lights had burnt out from the initial short circuit.  So I replaced them with white LEDs.  I also took out the green filter film on the top side and replaced it with a clear film lightly sanded to disperse the light.  Looks crisp without too much bling.  
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