Mk.II dash lights

[Dave2000]

An annoying little problem - the dash lights on my 2000 are playing up. The 3-way temp, fuel and volts gauge is only showing about half the light intensity it should (and let's face it, they're weak enough as it is)
It's been doing this for a few months. The other gauges are OK and all of them react to turning the rheostat.

I changed the rheostat a couple of weeks ago, and leaving work tonight was the first time it's been dark enough to see the dash lights anyway - when I started they were fine, full 'brightness' but 10 minutes later back down to about half strength. If I tap the glass, the intensity varies slightly, but only just enough to tell.
The bulb's firmly in the back of the gauge, so I'm a bit stumped  :-/

Any thoughts?

[mikeyb]

check and clean all the earths on the back of the instrument panel - usually ring connectors under the knurled nuts holding the gauges on!

[Deleted User]

Problem with those dials is that they are very dim to start with. Is there any way to improve them?

[Lord Sorbington]

They're not the brightest but should be OK if all the wiring connections are clean and in good condition.  Maybe new bulbs would help, they often blacken over time giving reduced light intensity.

[Barry Acclaim Guru]

Er, proberbly not much help

We replaced our dimly lit guages with a rev counter, also dimly lit.  ;)
A new loom finally fixed the problem, so chech all the earths.

good luck
b