I’ve got a problem with the light that is supposed to cause my instrument panel to light up.
The lights behind my speedometer (and the other two panels, the RPM one and whatever the other one is) come on just fine. But sometimes, they fail to actually light up the panels. I can see that the light is on because a little light leaks out through the odometer. But the light does not cause the speedometer and other panels to glow blue as they are supposed to.
This problem is intermittantm but happens almost every night. I will be driving along at night, and everything will be fine, then suddenly my speedometer will go dark. I can see there’s a light on behind it–at least, whatever light is shining through my odometer in the middle of my speedometer is coming on–but the panel itself is not lit up. This causes me to be unable to read it.
Then, usually, a few minutes later, the panel lights up again. Then, a few minutes later, it switches off again. And so on.
I’ve taken this car in for service on this issue four times already, and each time they say they can’t replicate the problem. I’m not sure if this is some giant coincidence, or if perhaps they’re misunderstanding the problem. Maybe they see the bulb lighting up the odometer and assume everything’s okay. I don’t know.
My question is, does anyone know if there is some separate light bulb that is supposed to light up the speedometer (and other) panel(s) or is it the same light bulb that lights up the odometer? If the latter, then why is it sometimes failing to light up the panel though succeeding in lighting up the odometer?
in my car, a 99 impreza, theres about 15 individual light bulbs back there. One for reach individual warning light, the tach, the speedo, gas gauge… etc.
For what its’ worth, it’s incredibly easy to pull out the cluster in my car.
It’s a safe bet that any instrument cluster has at least two illumination lamps, three or four is probably the norm.
It sounds like one lamp is failing intermittently. Whatever light you see when it fails is bleed-through from a working lamp.
The cause could be a faulty bulb, a faulty bulb holder, or a faulty printed circuit.
It’s hard to clearly see which lamps are working in the daylight. I usually have to make a hood out of fender covers or some such to cover my head and the dash in order to gauge these things. My suggestion would be to carry a small dark blanket with you for this purpose, and turn the lights on while headed to the shop. When it acts up (you may have to pull over every so often to tell), take it in and satisfy yourself that they observe the symptom in your presence. Presumably at that point they would pursue the problem.
If your vehicle has a dimmer for the dash lights I’d start there. From your description it dosen’t seem like a single light that is the problem. If I’m wrong perhaps you could clarify.
The switch to turn the headlights on and off sometimes has a dimmer for the dashlights as well as a way to turn on the interior lights. This might be a replaceable module. If you fiddle with the dimmer maybe you can get the problem to reproduce itself.
In your price range it’s been hard for the domestics to compete, but I’d still encourage you to check out out other options.
I should note that in the four years since I bought my present car, this speedometer light is the only problem I’ve had.
I don’t understand that second link you give. It goes against everything I’ve heard about Hyundais from 2002 on. It seems, also, to lump together all Hyundais from 2000 to 2005, but I think its fairly well known that starting with 2002, Hyundais became reliable and attained decent if not downright good value.
In any case, what I’m looking at is a 2006 and even the site you link to says the 2006 models are good.
It looks like some of the domestics might be more reliable, but I simply don’t think I can afford their purchase price as things presently stand.
My first thought is that one lamp was coming unplugged from the back of the circuit board (not illuminated, light bleeding through). but on reading Gary T’s post I have to agree with him.
This would be very hard for a technician to verify since most test drives occur in the middle of the day.
Upon rereading the OP, I see I misinterpreted it. I thought it was saying the speedo illumination went out, but some other gauges were still lit. Now I see it says all the gauge illumination goes out, but some light is seen at the odometer.
There are four instrument illumination bulbs on that car, and none is right next to the odometer. It sounds like all of them are going out simultaneously, which eliminates a faulty bulb. If only the intrument illumination goes out - i.e., lighting for the clock and other switches stays on - then the possibilities are a faulty connection or faulty printed circuit. If all dash illumination is lost, the possibilities include a faulty rheostat (dimmer) and a faulty taillight relay. In the latter case the taillights would go out as well, which you could check if you can pull over the next time it happens. And of course with any electrical problem, wiring and connections between components are always possible.
What I don’t have an explanation for is the light seen leaking past the odometer. I could figure it out if I had the car and pulled the instrument cluster out, but my repair information doesn’t yield any clues to this.
Look for a bad connect at the bus that connects the wires to the dash. It may be loose and then the whole panel would go on and off. It could also be the ground only going bad. I don’t know the dash configuration.