Triumphant Types,
>> coming. At least I know it really needed to be replaced.:) Meanwhile, I
>> received a new dashboard and am in the process of installing it. The
>>dashboard
>> light rheostat is shot -- does anybody know of a cheap fix?
>
> If you don't care about being able to dim the lights, just bypass the
>reheostat. The one in my Spit hasn't worked since I bought the car. I
>don't feel like shelling out the $50 or so for a replacement so I can turn
>the dash lights down when they're not even really that bright at full. I've
>been idly keeping an eye out for a used one I could pick up cheap (like
><$10), but haven't found any yet.
These rheostats are often salvageable. The 2 most likely failure modes
are: resistance wire broken / burned out (burned out due to dash circuit
shorting at some time), or corrosion of the "wiper" / resistance wire.
This would be caused by moisture entering the device.....on a Triumph?
nah, what am I thinking ? :-)
Either way, if you are pretty good at dismantling things with small fiddly
bits,
you can open it up and take a look to see if it's fixable. What have you
got to lose? As Jeremy pointed out, you can just bypass it.
I'm not sure of the exact values, but I would guess that any "garden variety"
rheostat from a junk car would work if a mechanical fit can bodged. Power
dissipation should not be a problem. A Spit has very few dash lamps.
Bob
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