Date:         Sat, 8 Oct 2005 13:06:08 -0400
Reply-To:     Wesley Pegden <wes@CS.UCHICAGO.EDU>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Wesley Pegden <wes@CS.UCHICAGO.EDU>
Subject:      Strange dash light failure?
In-Reply-To:  <BAY22-F36A52F95A7C3B60BFD9421CD460@phx.gbl>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed

Hi guys.
My dash lights aren't working.  For a while, they would flicker on for a
fraction of a second when I turned the switch on, but now, not even
that.  I would suspect the switch, but the other things that light up at
night (like the heater controls) light up fine, and the variable
resister thing correctly adjusts their brightness.

The problem first occurred when I had to swap out the little voltage
regulator behind the dash.  Actually, the first one I got was kind of a
dud, so I had to do it twice.  After the first time, the dash lights
weren't working, but after fiddling with the plugs for a little bit,
they came on.  After the second time, same problem, but after spending
hours messing around with the plugs, I can't coax the lights on.
Anybody have any ideas?

One thing I did notice was that on the longest connector that goes into
the back of the dash, one wire is "missing".   This plug installs
vertically, and the top place on the plug doesn't have a wire in it.  Is
there supposed to be a wire in this position?  What does it do if it is
supposed to be there?  Everything else in the dash works fine.  The
LED's, gauges, fasten seat belt light, etc, all function correctly.
What should I be looking for that would only affect the functioning of
the dash lights?

Thanks for any help,
Wes