Dash lights went out.

My dash lights went out suddenly and I tried to see if any fuses are out but they all looked good. My dash lights never were very bright and the dimmer didnt even work until it was turned all the way over just before the dome lights turned on. I suspect its the light switch itself. should I replace this first or is there something I missed? Thanks!

could be it...

and your switch sounds like it needs to replaced anyway (my current and last 69 both do/did this exact thing with the dimmer) but if that fails.. check your ground..

you can manually test this by pulling a light from the dash.. turning the light on.. and connecting a wire from the battery to the socket to ground it. this will let you know if it is a ground or a hot problem.

no light... id look switch..
light ... look ground

Sounds like the dimmer control to me. Try rotating it cw and ccw a bunch of times. Those type old controls frequently ended up with bad contacts.

Make sure your tail lights work because they are on the same fuse most of the time.

hi, happened in my '71 3 weeks back. in this case it was the fuse (and the rheostat is dodgy too). I believe the tail llights still worked because the monitor lamps were ok

have you tested the fuse for continuity? optical assessment can be difficult.

good luck

There is a 5 amp fuse in the fuse box that is for the dash lights. It is only one when the switch is on, and will vary voltage as the lights are dimmed. If the fuse has power, go to the dash. If there is no power to the fuse, look at the dimmer.

I'll do some more investigation tonight. Thanks guys for the help. I think I might need to buy that switch.

My money's on the switch, I had the same problem, on guess what? Another 69!

Tumarr said: I'll do some more investigation tonight. Thanks guys for the help. I think I might need to buy that switch.

might as well... you know its broke from the fader not working anyway.

Did a bunch of playing around with the fuses and checking for continuity. This leads me to think that the switch is the culprit. I'll buy one this weekend at the bloomington gold show which will be right by my house. Thanks again for the suggestions and advise.