Instrument panel lights

[C Sickness]

...... are dim, on my 1970 300. It's really hard to see the speedometer. I see a couple small lights under the brow that shine on the speedometer. Are there any bulbs inside, or behind the needle?

Could be that the bulbs just have a crust of 50 years of dirt. Battery voltage is good, at least 13.3 or more. Rheostat is turned all the way up. Was thinking of a possible LED upgrade, but it probably wouldn't work with the variable voltage rheostat.

Maybe a slightly more powerful bulb?

 

[CBODY67]

When new, there was plenty of light to see things with. New, normal, bulbs should do the trick. Also, be sure the connections of the metal strap, which is held to the lamp area with a common Phillips head screw, all have clean connections.

The reason I found out about that little strap was that on our then-newer '72 Newport Royal, every so often the bank of lights would go out at night, then come back on. I then discovered that the screw holding the strap was loose. Tightened it back up and all was well again.

There might be some sort of reflector behind the bulbs, too, which might have degraded with time? No doubt, a good cleaning can probably help there just as it can with tail lights' reflectors and inner lens cleanings.

Keep us posted, please.
CBODY67

 

[C Sickness]

Time to break out the Simple Green and Spray Nine....

 

[Slap Stick]

The insides of the bulbs get a coating from the filament as it burns off. Makes the bulb dim.
Go to superbrightleds.com.
They have what ya want. And they have a 10% off promo right now.

 

[SPF Required]

The old incandescent bulbs also reside in the small plastic blue housings. I had to pull my dash apart a couple of months back. If the incandescent bulbs get too hot, they’ll melt the plastic housing causing creating even more dimming of the light. I did the led conversion, the led’s are dimmable, and it turned out great. Below is an after pic:

Here’s the thread I did for that project:

Instrument cluster rehab....

 

[CBODY67]

The dimmable LEDs are a good replacement alternative, but are there similar lights for the hvac control and radio? Even if you can dim the instrument cluster lights to be of lesser intensity (similar to that of the prior bulbs, when working "as new"), might that degree of dimming make the other things the dimmer controls a bit too faint?

Just a possible side issue,
CBODY67

 

[C Sickness]

My HVAC and radio are in total darkness. Maybe that bulb, if there is one, is dead. Anyone know how many bulbs should be there?

 

[rapidtrans]

Check the dash wiring schematic in your factory service manual for an idea of number and locations of dash bulbs.
Superbriteleds has an excellent website for cross reference for replacement bulbs.
Get the bulbs with full diode coverage. Most of their leds are dimmable.
I went with green bulbs in my car and they’re visible in broad daylight on brightest dimmer setting.

 

[SPF Required]

Now that you mention it @CBODY67 , I did purchase the bulbs for the other dash lights but haven’t gotten around to installing those yet. Your mention of the other lights is going to get that up on my ‘winter’ to do list (it’s never really winter here in California ). I will report back when I get that done. Thanks for the reminder!

 

[david hill]

I have a 69 300 and this is what I did. Remove your upper dash fascia. Your dash fascia is illuminated w/ 2 bulbs. To get maximum performance drill out the rivets that hold the dash lite housing. Next remove the lenses. Spray paint the reflective inside w/ bright silver paint. Next replace the lenses w/ thin clear plastic. Buy a pair of Super Bright led bulbs Jtech 6x T10 400 lumens 20 SMD 2835 LED Bulbs. Install the bulbs and carefully reassemble.

 

[david hill]

Here is a pic of the results of the above post 10.

 

[C Sickness]

Here is a pic of the results of the above post 10.

View attachment 420998

Is all that light supplied by just the two bulbs under the brow, or are there additional bulbs inside the gauge cluster?

How do you get those brow light fixtures out, to change the plastic lenses and bulbs, and paint the reflectors?

Mine looks like a haunted house.

 

[david hill]

It's just the 2 bulbs.

 

[C Sickness]

You have to pull the cluster to get at them?

 

[david hill]

No. You look up under the dash pad you should see light bezel. Drop the steering column down for ease of removal. Remove all the screws and position, the vent and map light assemblies out of the way. Carefully and gently pull down the upper bezel and disconnect the instrument light connection. DO NOT twist the bezel as you will break off mounting tabs. Slow and easy is the way to go.