My dash lights seem really dim even when the interior control (on the headlight switch) is turned up all the way. Had the dash out a few weeks ago for some other work and cleaned 15 years worth of dust off them but no appreciable difference. Alternator is probably working good because no alt light comes on and there's no noticable difference in brightness when the engine is idling or turning a couple of thousand rpm. Voltage regulator? Switch to Krypton or Halogen? Live with it?
Try the search and you'll find several threads on that subject. You'll want the higher watt replacements (w5w). http://www.maverick.to/mmb/showthread.php?t=39568&highlight=instrument+lights
I think its the headlight switch The head light switch controls the dimness. A bulb is burned or it is not. Auto Zone has them for about 10 bucks
The switsh is working..... the lights come on. The factory bulbs are very dim - there is a replacement that is brighter.
the switch has a regulator the switch has a regulator that is probably not working properly. i have the same problem and I am getting a new switch today. i will let you know.
gdemopesq, The dash lights in Comets and Mavericks are infamous for being dim. The cure is to use a bulb of the same size that is brighter. Then the regulator (which is a wire wound resistor) can dim them or allow them to be bright. Have you bought your new switch yet? did it make your lights brighter? We can get the part number of the bulbs if you need it.
spork1o1 has or had some sets of w5w's. There are 20 bulbs in the package and he charged $6 shipping inc. you might PM him
Lights I bought a new switch with dimmer and will try tonight to put it in. I will let you guys know. I also put white backing on the gauges and ordered red LED's. All this should help. Super Bright LEDs-LED's Auto Zone had the headlight switches in stock
The dimmer will work fine... Dan Hines did the same thing to the '74 he used to have, except he put blue LED's in with the white face gauge overlays. It looked good. Still wasn't super bright, but it was better then stock.
My understanding is that the LEDs don't get dimmer or brighter, they're just off or on. I've observed this on another cluster with LEDs. the dimmer didn't work, although it looked great! Are these LEDs special in some way?
