65 Barracuda dash lights

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rick1062

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I am working on a 1965 Barracuda. Only one dash light is working and it is not consistant. It is pretty hard to get behind the cluster and see what is going on. How many bulbs should there be for the gauge cluster?

What is the best way to get to them for replacement.

Secondly, the dashilght dimmer in the headlight switch seems to be erratic. When I turn it, the one dash light that is working either doesn't change or sometimes when I turn it toward brighter, the light gets dimmer. The dimmer seems to not be working right. Is there anyway to cleanup that part of the switch to get it working properly?

Thanks as always,
Rick
 
It is either 5 or six bulbs. I would venture to guess you may need to replace your circuit board. I replaced my circuit board on my 64 Valiant because one of the tracers was coming off.
 
lilnoah said:
It is either 5 or six bulbs. I would venture to guess you may need to replace your circuit board. I replaced my circuit board on my 64 Valiant because one of the tracers was coming off.
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Ok, thanks Lilnoah. I will check that out.

Rick
 
You will want to take instrument panel out mine was four screws. Disconnect battery before starting this.
 
lilnoah said:
You will want to take instrument panel out mine was four screws. Disconnect battery before starting this.
Click to expand...
Yep take it out. you will need to unscrew the spedo cable as well as a few screws and electrical plugs. Also might be a good idea to drop the steering column a little. Two nuts to drop column. :burnout:MT
 
6 bulbs, one speedo cable, two 3/8" nuts and a plug, that's all it takes to get the cluster out!!
 

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I just went through some wiring issues on my dash as well. Pain in the A$$ for sure. Remember I did not know the entire back of that dash bezzel is "hot" hence good advice given to disconnect the battery for a minute while you are gettting it all set up to mess with.

Here is what I noticed with my car. Any type of bad ground will send that whole system catywompus! So I was having problems with my headlight switch (long story,but I took a test light out and tested every source of power in and out. I finally had to run new
"constant hot" (protected by a fuse) to one side of the light switch, and then ran new wires through the firewall to the actual headlights and tail lights. Now everything works including the dash lights. YOur just going to have to spend some time tracing everything out until you figure out what the problems are or decide to "wire around the problem" which is what I had to do. Feel free to send me a PM so you can call me and I will be happy to elaborate.
 
Someone I read mentioned bypassing the dimmer rheostat in the headlight switch. Do any of you know which terminals to connect to to that?

Thanks,
Rick
 
bypassing the rheostat is fairly easy to see with switch in hand. A copper conductor/limb comes of the top of the switch , has a hole there then turns 90 degrees down to become a scrubber. The other conductor of the rheostat is directly below. Its as simple as soldering a conductor from one to the other ( even a piece of hard drawn copper wire dropped though the hole ). All that versus approx' 13 dollars for a new switch.
 
RedFish said:
bypassing the rheostat is fairly easy to see with switch in hand. A copper conductor/limb comes of the top of the switch , has a hole there then turns 90 degrees down to become a scrubber. The other conductor of the rheostat is directly below. Its as simple as soldering a conductor from one to the other ( even a piece of hard drawn copper wire dropped though the hole ). All that versus approx' 13 dollars for a new switch.
Click to expand...


RedFish,

I am a bit dense this morning. I get the one with the snubber that rubs on the coil, but I don't understand where the other terminal is.

Rick
 
Unless there is some difference in your switch, return to switch body is just above the center shaft.
 
Also before you remove the cluster put a few strips of tape on the column so you don't scratch the paint.
 
Sounds like too many issues to try to fix it in place. You will be glad you removed it. Do some refurb while it is out. The round pins for the dash connector can get broken (cold) solder joints, so re-melt them if any are wobbly. The ammeter stud connectors can get corroded and cause massive heat, so sand and coat silicone grease. Many people disable the "voltage limiter" (or dash Vreg) inside the fuel gage (not the rectangular can in post #6 of a later dash) and install an adjustable electronic Vreg ($30 ebay). I installed LED bulbs so I hopefully won't have to deal with them again.
 
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