Hey Everyone -

The headlight switch on my 1970 Cutlass Supreme convertible doesn't do a great job at illuminating the dash lights. Even when turned to the maximum brightness the dash is dim. Is it worth removing and cleaning the rheostat, which likely has corrosion, or better to buy a fresh one from Fusick ? Also is the Fusick switch identical to the factory switch ?

Ron

 

Generally the rheostat works or it doesn't, the in between is a lot of heat and leads to something melting. Your problem is probably with the bulbs.

 

Aren't the bulbs an all-or-nothing thing ? Either a light bulb lights, or it's burned out. Am I missing something here ?

Ron

 

There can be silvering on the inside of the glass that will reduce the amount of light emitted from the bulbs, but I'd suspect that the inside of the gauge housings might need to be freshened up with a good cleaning and possibly a repaint.
They aren't all that difficult to disassemble and reassemble.

 

You can buy one of these from your local auto parts store.
STANDARD MOTOR PRODUCTS DS177

The aftermarket switches are copied from the manufacturer's original and are a drop in replacement.

 

What you can try is a high quality ($$) electronic contact board cleaner (did I mention 'high quality?). Use the supplied straight nozzle, pull the light switch all the way to the ON position - literally completely soak the entire inside of the switch and at the same time push in, pull out and rotate NUMEROUS times the switch (which will be the rheostat). Perform this operation 4-5 times. Rheostats become filthy w/ dust, add humidity, grime, any residues, etc. and they become faulty over time - increasing the resistance of the rheostat and diminishing the metal contacts of the rheostat.

 

I replaced all of my bulbs with LEDs and it was a tremendous improvement.

 

Can you dim LED bulbs? The OP may go from not being able to see the gauges, to being blinded by the gauges and not able to see the road.

 

Yes, mine dim but I rarely do that. While the LEDs are much brighter, they are not over powering enough to cause glare

 

X2, I concur