Instrument Cluster Light Very Dim

[Ching-Ho Cheng]

2 days ago, the light of the instrument cluster of my 2000 ES300 became very dim (close to none). I did not touch the dimmer at all. What is the problem, dimmer or bulbs ? Also, the light behind/under the shifter was very dim too. The backlight of the Radio/AC are fine though.

Any suggestion is appreciated.

Ching-Ho Cheng

[GrayES300]

You can rule out the bulbs. They will either work or not work. Dimming usually is a voltage drop. You could have a short somewhere in the wiring of the dash.

[Ching-Ho Cheng]

You can rule out the bulbs. They will either work or not work. Dimming usually is a voltage drop. You could have a short somewhere in the wiring of the dash.

Thanks for the response. What about the dimmer itself ?

Ching-Ho Cheng

[George_Jetson]

I looked it up in the schematic, unfortunately it was not too informative. It is very possible that the dimmer itself is bad. Pull the connector off, according to my diagram there is two wires B-R, and B. The control is a rheostat, so if you short the two wires together you should get full brightness in the dash. If not you have just verified the dimmer is OK. At that point you will need to remove the instrument cluster. Give all connections a close inspection.