fuse box??

[shabz]

hi all, i have a 316 compact. yestoday my instrument panel lights went out. i found the fuse box under the bonnet, but just wounded if there is 2nd fuse box inside the car. i got the car without a owners manual thanks for the help

[thesk8nmidget]

there is a fuse box under the hood as well it is on the drivers side against the firewall

[cooljess76]

I'm assuming your car is RHD and yes, there's a few fuses under the dash, but I'm not sure which side they would be on in your car. I don't think any of the under dash fuses are related to the instrument illumination anyway.

Does the warning buzzer come on when you take the key out of the ignition and open the door with the lights still on? Do any of the lights on the dimmed circuit illuminate, ie; window/doorlock/A/C, cigarette lighter? If not, and assuming you've already checked the fuses under the bonnet, your headlight switch is bad. I just went through this on my car. I actually replaced my switch with two different switches that were both bad. I found that all three of the headlight switches I tried had blown resistors on the dimming portion of the switches. A little solder and it fixed the problem. Now I have 2 extra switches that have both been repaired. It's pretty simple to do. I you'ld like, I could send you pictures of the resistor that's probably blown on your switch.

[ATF]

Originally Posted by cooljess76

I found that all three of the headlight switches I tried had blown resistors on the dimming portion of the switches. A little solder and it fixed the problem. Now I have 2 extra switches that have both been repaired. It's pretty simple to do. I you'ld like, I could send you pictures of the resistor that's probably blown on your switch.

Does that mean I can remove the resistor and have max brightness with my lights on? I drive with my lights on during the day, but I can't read the OBC cause it's dims too much :/ (Unless it's dark out)

[Marv17]

Originally Posted by ATF

Does that mean I can remove the resistor and have max brightness with my lights on? I drive with my lights on during the day, but I can't read the OBC cause it's dims too much :/ (Unless it's dark out)

uh. i dont think that would be possible. removing the resistors for maximum brightness. if you do, i think the bulbs will all blow out. = no interior lighting. i found this out when doing an LED mod and it blew out since it didnt have a resistor. unless if im wrong, but thats what i discovered.

[cooljess76]

This is a different kind of resistor. It's a variable voltage resistor. It looks like a coiled spring that's ben't into a horseshoe shape. It's located inside of the headlight switch. The knob itself has a pin connected to it that makes contact with this resistor. I checked the wires going to my HVAC bulb with a multi meter as I turned the dimmer knob. It started out at 7.5v and went up to 13.7v

I suppose you could pull the resistor out and replace it with a solid wire, but then you would lose the dimming feature and probably blow bulbs regularly.