Instrument lights on 328

Mark,
The answers to all you queries is in the archives.....just try the search function out at the top left of your screen.

Here is the answer though: http://www.ferrariclub.com/faq/dashlights.html

Bypassing the reostat is the fastest and easiest thing to try first (and helps ALL the gauges. If that is not enough, then do the bulb swap (more involved).

Dave

 

Dave who do you bypass the reostat?? I have the same problem with my very dim lights. Is that the same as the dimmer switch they talk about?

 

RTFM my friend! http://www.ferrariclub.com/faq/dashlights.html
yes it is the dimmer switch......

 

OK---That link says to pull out the dimmer switch connector and plug a bypass in the yellow and white wires. It says the connector should have 2 yellow wires and 1 white. Mine has 1 yellow, 1 white and 1 black wire. Anyway I plugged the bypass into the terminal for the white and yellow wire---Nothing not any brighter at all. I guess I will be changing out the bulbs. Luckily I went ahead and bought the bulbs the other day at Pep Boys.

 

Robbie,

I have bypassed the switch in my car...and it didn't get much better. I have thought about doing the bulbs...let me know how you like it

Ciao'

Steve

 

Just replaced my bulbs --per the link in a post above. First off the speedo is a LITTLE brighter, the tach --NO BRIGHTER. The link says to replace the TWO bulbs in the tach--well my car has 3 bulbs in the tach. Replaced all 3 and no brighter. Also the link does not describe exactly where the bulbs are. It was not very obvious--I pulled 4 wires out before I found the bulbs. If anyone is going to attempt this I can explain which ones are the actual bulbs--just let me know. I guess I will have to live with dim lighting in the tach. Also had tryed the dimmer switch bypass a couple of days ago--didn't work for me. Another thing have a expanable magnet tool handy to reach the screws/bolts after you loosen them or they will fall behind the instrument panel--Trust me.

 

not to mention that you may have to spend about a hundred bucks to get replacement lights cause the ones you pulled out had brittle snap ins that wouldn't hold the bulbs in place anymore after you engaged in this useless endeavour. I did discover that one of my tach bulbs was burnt out. So I guess not a entirely pointless project.

 

I think you replaced the wrong lights on the tach. If I recall, you want the two bulbs towards the TOP of the tach--these are the main tach lights. There are three lights at the bottom of the tach, but these light up the headlights or highbeams indicator (not sure which), the brake failure warning light, and the parking brake light.

Between bypassing the dimmer switch (not sure you have done this correctly--you should see a difference), and the bulb change, you should see a difference. There's like a 1V voltage drop at the dimmer switch, and the updated bulbs I think are a watt or so brighter than stock... I find mine to be adequate with these changes.

Hope this helps... I have a spare tach here if you need me to inspect anything.

--Mike

 

So there are 5 different bulbs on the tach??? 2 at the top and 3 at the bottom?? If this is the case then you may be right because I replaced the 3 at the bottom.

 

Just tore it apart again--yes there are 5 bulbs in the tach. And yes I did the wrong bulbs--Thanks for catching that. Not a huge difference but now I can read the tach---Thanks for all the help guys

And Jim yes I did snap that little clip on the battery light and the slow down light---They stay right in there though so I aint sweatin it. Worse case if they start to come out a little or rotate I help put a small dab of clear silicone on them to hold em in place.

 

Great. Can you tell me about the clip you used to hold those lights in place?

 

I didn't use a clip--I broke the little clips on the slow down and battery lights. Took them out and wrapped a piece of black elec. tape on the inside--slid it back in and it is nice and tight--easy fix.

 

Since I had to replace my tach, I decided to replace the bulbs as well. I found the tach bulbs quite quickly, but I have yet to determine how to remove and replace the speedometer bulbs. Any help out there?

 

I just did mine a few weeks ago. (Huge improvement..) I can't remember the speedo bulbs exactly, but there are two, roughly at 3 and 9 o'clock. (There are at least three at the bottom- Turn signals, lights etc..) If you are in doubt just turn the speedo around and look at the front. You are looking for the two that do not have a corresponding display when viewed from the front. Use a small screwdriver and you can pry the housing for the bulb out of the back of the speedo. It is a press fit- mine were pretty tight. Don't pull on the wire to get them out. Once they are out it is simply a matter of pulling the old bulb and reinserting same back where it came from.

Good luck- it was worth the effort in my case.
dce

 

Now, about those turn signal indicator bulbs.......

The turn signal indicators are virtually impossible to see in daylight, so I wonder if a similar bulb upgrade is a possibility.

Has anyone done a bulb swap for the turn signals? Is the same bulb #2723 that is the upgrade for the speedometer lighting an option here?

 

This is a very helpful thread - Thanks, Guys!

 

I thought dim guage lights was the sure fire way to tell a real Ferrari from a fake! : )

 

I have been messing around with the instrument panel lights on my 328 for a couple months now, so it's interesting to read about something I was just working on (again) the other day. I have become a real expert at taking out the instrument panel and putting it back in, so allow me to share this arcane bit of wisdom.

Although it is practically impossible to remove the four lamp doohickeys in the corners of the panel ithout breaking the old, brittle plastic tabs, 285Ferrari came up with the same solution I had--just go ahead and break those stupid tabs, then wrap the indicator thingies with black electrical tape for a near-perfect friction fit.

To take the indicator thingies off, I made a tool out of a street-sweeper bristle. (For those who don't know, street-sweeper bristles, commonly found along city streets, are thin, stiff steel strips about 1/8" wide and at most maybe 6" long. They are incredibly useful for fashioning ad hoc tools.) I bent the strip in the middle and a little bit at each end to make a sort of tweezers. You slip the ends under the rim of the indicator thingy (and push in the tabs, if they haven't broken off yet), then just pinch and pull. Voila.

As 285Ferrari also pointed out, having a magnet around for this job is critical, or you're going to be fishing for screws that drop out behind the instrument cluster. Trust me, do not try to remove the cluster without a magnet or you are in for a lot of frustration.

For my tried-and-true method, which I can now do in less than 10 minutes, including removing the steering wheel, you need a small, bright flashlight (those new compact LED flashlights are ideal); a long, thin Phillips-head screwdriver; and an auto-store magnet about the size and shape of a pen. Before you poke around behind the panel, use the flashlight to get a good look at what you're aiming for. Then engage the screwdriver in the screw slot. Before you start turning, place the magnet in there alongside the screwdriver blade--touching the blade and the screw head--so that when the screw comes out, the magnet catches it right away. Remove the screwdriver, magnet, and screw together in one careful motion.

For reassembly, use the flashlight and the screwdriver to make sure the retaining "ears" on the panel line up with the screw holes. When putting the screw back in, use the magnet to place the screw in the hole, THEN introduce the screwdriver and finesse it into the screw slot while keeping the screw stuck to the magnet. Start twisting, keeping the magnet in place. Don't pull the magnet off that screw until you're sure the threads are catching.

BTW, whenever you take the steering wheel off, wrap a piece of electrical tape around the spade connector that connects to the horn button. This will prevent you from accidentaly grounding the connector, which will honk the horn REAL LOUD and scare the bejeezus out of you.

Regarding the dim gauges, I'm learning to live with the fact that neither the bulb replacement nor the rheostat bypass made the gauges bright enough. It's just one of those things that make Ferraris "special," I guess. I even tried replacing the gauge lamps with super-bright white LED's, but that was no good--the LED's were even worse than the bulbs.

If anyone ever comes up with a good solution to the dim-gauge problem, I'd love to hear it, but I think the problem is intrinsic to the (awful) design of the gauges--the way the parts fit together, there just isn't any way for the light behind the speedo and tach faces to illuminate the front of the gauge.

 

I came up with a different approach to taking out the panel screws: before sticking the screwdriver in the screw head, I pressed it into a "glue stick", which put enough glue on the screwdriver tip to hold the screw long enough to unscrew and withdraw it.

 

as a recent owner of a 328 and a very recent member of this forum, i just wanted you all to know that this thread was amazing...no nonsense or dribble, just good solid advice...i am glad i found you...

 

Hit the local Kragen Auto Parts today ...

Was able to find Sylvania #3893, but Kragen does not carry the Sylvania #2723. The clerk said that Sylvania #2721 fits like #2723 and will substitute for it.

Any thoughts about that here?

 

Going back to the original post, the question was raised about the plausibility of swapping the incandescent bulbs for brighter LED's. I'm VERY interested in this concept, as I don't want to endanger the safety of the various plastic bits by using a higher wattage incandescent bulb, with the potential for overheating and plastic melting.

But I can't find any "Been There Done That" folks who have used LED's for this, as well as for other bulb applications on the car (side marker lights, for one example).

Anyone?

Cheers - DM

 

I've tried using super-bright LED's, and they do an even poorer job of illuminating the gauges than the original bulbs. The upgraded bulbs plus the rheostat bypass is the way to go.

BTW, the rheostat bypass article is written for the 308. When doing the bypass on a 328, the two wires you want to patch together are the yellow one and the white one. Leave the black one disconnected.

 

I find them all day long at local Pep Boys---I would use the part it calls for and not substitute it. PM me if you cant find them and I will go by , pick some up for you and ship them out to you...