no dash lights?

[gilb]

fitted my air con the other day and now i have no dash lights as in the clocks the heater controls and the ashtrays iv checked fuses and bulbs there all fine also if my lights are on and i turn on the rear window heater it wont light up but if i turn the lights off it lights up HELP PLEASE!!!

[smithy318i]

It sounds as though you may have fried your dimmer switch.

[orangecurry]

I was going to say make sure the dimmer isn't turned all the way down.....

[Brianmoooore]

First check you need to do is pull out the lampholder in the rear ashtray, switch on the sidelights, and earth the brown/white wire on the lampholder.
Should make all the dash lights illuminate at full brightness.

[gilb]

hum dont fink that last plan will work? iv checked the dimmer is up lol but if the dimmer is broke the light around the light switch should be off aswell shouldnt they?

[Brianmoooore]

Do the test as above and report back!

[noney82]

mine dont work either but the wires are cut in mine so i wired a led in and it didnt iliminate but i then left one end connected to the brown/white wire and earthed on the seat bolt and it the led lite up whats that mean

[Brianmoooore]

Another keyboard with half the bottom row keys missing?

[noney82]

what that mean brian mate

[orangecurry]

Mr Moooore in his inimitable way is suggesting that perhaps you are unable to add punctuation to your sentences, as the comma and full-stop keys have fallen off your keyboard; rather than being unwilling or lazy.

punctuation is not a dirty word Blackadder... crevice is a dirty word.

[E30Mark]

A few capital letters would mix in well too!

[noney82]

ah sorry mr moooore i was in a rush to get to bed

[noney82]

So what could it be then please anyone

[smithy318i]

most likely, while messing about, the coil on the variable resistor (dimmer switch) has been fried.
you can try and fix it, or replace the combi switch for the side/headlights.

[smithy318i]

So what could it be then please anyone

Did you try what Brian suggested? If not, why not?

[noney82]

yeah i tried the earth the wire and nothing happened

[Brianmoooore]

yeah i tried the earth the wire and nothing happened

In that case it's not the dimmer. The lights aren't getting a 12V+ supply.
The supply comes from pin 1 of the headlamp switch on a grey/red wire.
The supply into the switch is from fuse 23 which also supplies the RH side and tail light, so if these are working, then the supply is reaching the switch.
The grey/red wire from pin 1 goes to a soldered joint where it splits several ways to the dash lights and rear window switch.
Can't help you any more with this, as the short answer is that the problem is whatever you damaged associated with this wire when you installed the aircon, but, since all lights are affected, the break must be between the soldered joint and the switch.

[noney82]

it was gilb that fitted air con but your info is a big help i will have a look into it tommorrow wen i got some day light, thank you brian,

i'll report back any finds in hope to help people in the future

[gilb]

cheers people il have a look tomorow