dash lights flickering - but only some of them Options

[davewuyts]

I have a flicker on the rev counter and left side of the speedo. It's only the lights not the needles. The right side of speedo and the guages are not doing it. I've fiddled with the plugs behind the speedo/rev counter and done all I can think of to make sure connections are ok. It doesn't have a converter so no problem there. It seems faulty.

After checking all the connections, the bulbs, the bulb holders, each wire into the connecting plugs, the plugs themselves etc. still no joy. All are fine but still flickery dials. I tested the alternator and it was fine, I didn't think it could be that as it does it when the engine is not running and only on a couple of bulbs. And it did it on another set of clocks too so it's not the clocks.

Do you think it's the loom or does anyone have any ideas of anything else I can check? I do have the loom still in my donor car. Any help would be appreciated!

[VavAlephVav]

The bulb itself may not be very tight, you might try replacing them even if they're not burnt out.
And on the little brass tabs on the sockets can kind of loose their springiness. You can try to bend the tabs out just a bit to be sure they are making good contact when they are plugged in.
Or grab some nice looking replacements from a scrapyard.
If you are only having problems with certain bulbs and not all of the lights then I would suspect the bulb and socket connection rather than the wiring leading into the cluster.

[davewuyts]

The bulb itself may not be very tight, you might try replacing them even if they're not burnt out.
And on the little brass tabs on the sockets can kind of loose their springiness. You can try to bend the tabs out just a bit to be sure they are making good contact when they are plugged in.
Or grab some nice looking replacements from a scrapyard.
If you are only having problems with certain bulbs and not all of the lights then I would suspect the bulb and socket connection rather than the wiring leading into the cluster.

Yes, I did exactly that last night. Have changed the bulbs, bent connectors, changed sockets, bent tabs, still stuck! Thanks for replying.

[Bushmatic]

The bulb itself may not be very tight, you might try replacing them even if they're not burnt out.
And on the little brass tabs on the sockets can kind of loose their springiness. You can try to bend the tabs out just a bit to be sure they are making good contact when they are plugged in.
Or grab some nice looking replacements from a scrapyard.
If you are only having problems with certain bulbs and not all of the lights then I would suspect the bulb and socket connection rather than the wiring leading into the cluster.

Yes, I did exactly that last night. Have changed the bulbs, bent connectors, changed sockets, bent tabs, still stuck! Thanks for replying.

How old are your alternator and battery?

[Bitter]

I've seen issues with the copper contact pads that the bulb sockets twist onto, they become browned and corroded under the little pads on the socket, lightly scuffing both with a pencil eraser seems to resolve the issues most times.

[davewuyts]

Will try the pencil eraser thing, that might work.
The battery is quite new and the alternator was reconditioned less than 5000 miles ago. I think if it was that it would affect all of the guages not just the left hand ones.

[VavAlephVav]

That or a green 3M scrub pad.
A clean one.

[Bitter]

Nah, don't even need anything that abrasive. The copper is thin and the amount you need to clean off is very small, a couple dozen atoms thick.