Instrument Cluster lighting DEAD

[missxo]

Greetings all

New to the forum & totally new to CAR ISSUES generally but did a quick search & didn't yield any result so hoping someone might be able to give me some advice before I throw my money at an auto electrician. I'm not sure if I've been using poor search terms but I can't seem to find anywhere on the net that discusses this?

I drive an NA ('93 Eunos) & the lighting in my entire instrument cluster spontaneously died the other day (while I was driving home from uni late at night in the pouring rain - convenient).

I found the fuse box under the steering column, all in Japanese, tested all the fuses anyway & they were all ok. Is there a circuit board for this I should be looking for? All the other lights seem to work just fine.

I thought I'd throw this out there if anyone happens to know where I should start & if it's something I can fix myself (just forked out for a battery & tyres so if it isn't I'll likely be mounting an LED torch keyring for a while!)

Thanks for reading (:

[JBT]

Check the instrument lights dimmer switch. You may have bumped it.

[missxo]

I should have chosen a less ditzy user name, no such luck unfortunately!

I should have also mentioned that the lights illuminating the aircon settings are also out..

My neighbour just mentioned something about parallel circuits - if one bulb goes they all go?

I was hoping this could be solved in my garage with some torches & beer!

[Garry]

Do the tail lights still work? The instrument and tail lights use the same fuse. Also, did you check the fuses with a meter or just by looking at them? Sometimes it's hard to see a small break in the fuse.

There is another fuse box located in the engine bay on the driver's side mudguard just in front of the brake booster. Though I'm not sure there are any relevant fuses in there for your problem but it could be worth a look.

[missxo]

Tail lights working just fine. I did go & double-check! (:

I saw the one in the engine bay before but worked out that the one under the steering column is the right one. This is going to sound crazy but I actually grabbed the fuse box covers, broke out my Japanese phrase book, found some katakana script tables & made sure I was looking at the right fuse box. "fu-o-gu-ra-n-pu" (foglamps), me-ta, hi-ta (heater) - I'm in the right place!

I didn't test them with a meter but I did check them for cracks. I will get my brother to have another look for me when he gets home. I called my mechanic too & he seems to be alluding to circuit boards so I'm WORRIED. Please be a tiny crack in the fuse!

Thanks for the tips so far!

[emilmh]

sorry i can't actually be of any help missxo, but if you happen to pull apart or scrap your instrument cluster I would be ever greatful for a scan of the gauges! See my thread if so http://mx5cartalk.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=55&t=39049
Best of luck finding the fault.

[JBT]

I think it's more likely to be a bad plug/connection than a cracked circuit board. Check the earth point in the engine bay on the pax side too.

[bensale]

Try one silly thing, take the dimmer switch back a bit from being 100% on. Mine (1990 model) has a funny habbit of cutting out exactly like you describe, but only when the switch is completly on. It started doing it for no reason one night (likewise on the way back from uni- freaked me out a bit, flickered then cut out) If it's 80% on then mine is fine.

[Okibi]

Yeah sounds like a dead dimmer, if the plug had come loose from your gauges then i'm sure the heater lights etc would still stay on.

Try fiddling with the dimmer and giving it a few taps. Failing that get some local MX-5 gurus to trade their skills with a multimeter for some of those beers.

[missxo]

I don't have a dash light dimmer in my Eunos!I've got the immoboliser light, my foglight switch & my mirror adjusters.

THAT SAID, I've just tried my foglights & these don't seem to be working either so this could very well be some wiring issue... Will check when I'm not rushing to an exam!

Thanks for the tips, stay tuned d:

[s2ky_mx]

found this on another forum, this guy blew the fuse while installing his head unit but look sl ike he had similar problems
to what you were having:

I went through every fuse in the car. It was the 15A low profile fuse for Overhead Light down in the driver side kick panel. As a result of this one fuse being out:

-Center LED display for A/C and Stereo inoperative
-Keyless entry and alarm inoperative
-Front/rear dome lights inoperative
-stereo inoperative
-Trip odometer resets to 0 upon every car start
-and maybe one or two other things.

I replaced the one fuse and everything was back to normal. THanks.

[93_Clubman]

I don't have a dash light dimmer in my Eunos!I've got the immoboliser light, my foglight switch & my mirror adjusters.

THAT SAID, I've just tried my foglights & these don't seem to be working either so this could very well be some wiring issue...

Got a spare dimmer switch if you need one.