Dash lights not working........not the switch under the dash

[markcoopers]

And last nights right of passage was finding that the dash lights do not work. Yes i tried the switch under the left side of the dash, that did nothing. Yes i had the car running and the sidelights and main lights on....they worked, but alas the dash was dark.

Fuse, relay, wires, common earth.......where are the common problems to start with.

Interior light is also another mystery, but reading around this might be relay or disconnected behind the seats to save battery drain.

[ianwayne]

Is the clock working? On my car, fuse 10 controls the dash lighting and the clock supply.

May not be the same on your car of course.

[markcoopers]

Clock is working and some wiggling if fuses and relays did nothing. Too hot in the footwell to have a proper look now, something for tomorrow when cold and I have time.

I did find the issue with the interior light though, it appears to not be connected .😄😄😄

[Steve_D]

markcoopers said:

And last nights right of passage was finding that the dash lights do not work. Yes i tried the switch under the left side of the dash, that did nothing. Yes i had the car running and the sidelights and main lights on....they worked, but alas the dash was dark.

Fuse, relay, wires, common earth.......where are the common problems to start with.

Interior light is also another mystery, but reading around this might be relay or disconnected behind the seats to save battery drain.

You don't say what year car. Does it have the ali rotary lights switch to the right of the radio?
If so then this is from my 1997.
Fuse 10 does supply the lights module but must be working if the lights come on and the headlights work.
The dash lights are supplied from a dedicated wire (White/Red) from the module pin B3 which then goes to the push switch under the dash. From there it goes back to all the dash lights. The earths are daisy chained all the way along the dash so I doubt that is the issue.
I would get behind the under dash push button and either test for +12v or just short out across the back of the switch with the sidelights on.

As you say interior light delay timer relay has given people issues but it is a bog standard timer relay used in may other production cars and has not been wired in a @special' way by TVR so may just be worth replacing it. If you want to test at the relay socket I can list what each pin should be reading.

Steve

Just spotted your reply re interior light. Let me know if you need to know where those connect but also consider they may have been cut to cure a battery drain issue.

Edited by Steve_D on Saturday 14th July 12:56

[markcoopers]

Hi Steve,

I have the car on a Ctek charger/conditioner and there is a master isolator switch hidden for longer spells if needed. I did find the other end of the wires in a 3 pin bullet style connector, I assume I just match up the colours but will need to add wire as it is now too short.

I’ll take a good poke about under the dash tomorrow when I have time, but it is going to be an easy fix, just not easy to find......typical TVR hey?

Car is a 96 5L, simple rotary fan blower switch with silver rimmed gauges. I suspect it might be one of those “cross over cars”. I have a handbook with a fuse box layout, i’ll Contort myself into various footwells tomorrow.
My plan was to force them to light up first with direct feed, then work back from the bulbs (assumed to be fitted at this point) checking each aspect as I go. Odds on the feed wire is broken.

[TVRJAS]

When I lost all instrument lights on mine it was the actual light switch,behind the switch the ribbon cable plug was partially off.
I didn't fix it myself so I can't tell you how to go about it,David Gerald (Redditch) fixed it.

[markcoopers]

Fixed. Turns out the switch under the dash has 4 posts, and only 2 wires......see where this is going? Yep just on the wrong posts.

So all my niggles will be previous owners activity and not TVR character traits at all.

[Steve_D]

markcoopers said:

Fixed. Turns out the switch under the dash has 4 posts, and only 2 wires......see where this is going? Yep just on the wrong posts.

So all my niggles will be previous owners activity and not TVR character traits at all.

Just had similar on a customers car. Couple of warning lights not working.
Pulled the radio out, pulled the radio frame out, looked in with a dentist mirror and a torch to find the wires hanging off.

Don't go expecting all fixes to be that simple.

Steve

[markcoopers]

Where do you work Steve if you can say?

[Steve_D]

markcoopers said:

Where do you work Steve if you can say?

Southways Automotive on the South coast

Steve