ijasond

I took the dash out of my 66 Delta 88 to get it all polished and painted up nice. Everything is back in and working except for the gauge lights. The courtesy lights, turn signal indicator, hot/cold light, etc. are all working. The gauges just won't light up at night. I changed the bulbs while I had the dash out and have checked to make sure they are good and installed properly. I know it's probably just a bad ground, but I can't seem to track it down. Any ideas as to where I should look?

ijasond

And I did check the fuse. Power is good there.

MDchanic

Dark green wire from the headlight switch.

Put 12v to it (from the big red wire on the headlight switch) and see if they come on.

If they do, think switch.

If they don't, go forward from there.

- Eric

ijasond

I did it and I got lights on the fuel gauge, but not speedo or clock. I'll get a new switch and give it another go. Thanks.

MDchanic

You CAN take the headlight switches apart (I believe that the '66 switch is the same, or essentially the same, as the '68 and later ones I'm familiar with) - just gently separate the two metal clips that hold the top (bakelite terminal block) on, and gently remove it. The wiper portion of the panel lamps rheostat (the triangular **** shaft passes through it, and then into the switch) will need to snap out as you remove the top.
Once inside, there's a slider with two brass contacts that comes out easily.

Problems with the panel lights are usually caused by bad contact between the rheostat wiper and the rheostat coil, or by breaks in the coil. You can see all of this quite clearly when you open it all up, and clean anything that looks like it could be corroded. You can also test all connections with a multi meter to try to isolate problem areas.

Good luck!

- Eric