Dull dash gauge lights - rallye cluster

[tom340]

Im on the tail end of a few small winter projects with the 70 Duster. Pulled the rallye gauge cluster out to replace the circuit boards. Reason was a few issues with dash lights: left turn indicator worked on occasion- E brake light worked on occasion-Hi beam indicator never worked-had a few dead spots with the background gauge lights.

Replaced the headlight switch 2 yrs ago hoping that just maybee it was the cause, and yes all the bulbs in the dash are brand new.

New circuit boards are in, reinstalled the gauge cluster/bezel. (I hate this stuff by the way) We now have a bright left turn indicator, hi beam indicator as well and happy about that. It looks like ALL the background gauge lights are working too. What Im concerned about is the overall brightness of the gauge lights. The last old MoPar I had on the road was my Challenger years ago and the gauge lights were far brighter. My Duster was not a roadworthy car when I purchased it so I dont have a reasonable start point for comparison. Unsure if I should just order another headlight dimmer switch or are the A body rallye gauges really just not all that bright to begin with????

The gauge cluster is back out again , 3 yrs ago had GCAR restore the bezel/speedometer etc. and he updated the fuel gauge voltage limiter to solid state. Need to replace that part. Had a broken connection at the resistor.

 

[tom340]

found it on my own.......they make bright LED replacement bulbs for the A body rallye dash gauges. I have 4 on the way.

 

[matthon]

What I learned here was to use Sylvania #2825 bulbs and ground the gauge pod. I also repainted the gauge pod white.

Here is what I saved from an earlier thread:

The tinted diffusers are there for 2 reasons. They spread the light evenly to prevent bright spots and glares just like the lamp shades in your home.
Then the prevent a loose bulb from falling down inside the panel.
While there are 10 or more bulbs in the average panel , less than half are for illumination. All others are for indicaters.
If I pull a panel for any reason I'll replace every bulb while its out.
I solder a jumper on the headlight switch to bypass the dimmer reostat too which sends maximum power to those few illumination bulbs.

It's likely the bulbs have blackened with age. You can get brighter bulbs (use Sylvania #2825 if you want to keep the white or bluish-white illumination, or #2827 if you want amber or green illumination; you pick white/bluish or amber/green by keeping or deleting the blue plastic balloons surrounding the bulbs in most instrument clusters). Also keep in mind the instrument light rheostat built into the headlamp switch will tend to corrode and build up resistance over the years, which will dim the dash lights.

The "LED bulbs" aren't dangerous to use inside the car like they are outside in the car's safety lights (brake, turn, marker, etc.), but they also don't work very well because filament bulbs send their light out evenly in all directions, while LEDs emit a very one-directional beam so you wind up with bright and dark areas in the dash.

 

[tom340]

Appreciate forwarding the information. Details like this are hard to come by and worse yet when your in the garage on a Sunday afternoon and you want it done "now" you'll never have this stuff at hand.

Anyhow: The dull bulbs were all brand new replacements. And believe me, hardly used the last 2 years. The tinted diffusers will still be in place when the leds lights are in. Went over all that with the guy on the phone, still trying to maintain the factory look and lighting tone but just increasing the brightness by a lot.

Also the headlight switch (instrument light dimmer) rheostat is a brandy new unit. Had a feeling right after we tried brightening/dimming the lights with the new circuit boards in place the new switch was not good. By the time I posted this to the time I contacted the vendor it looks like we have it figured out.