Strange lighting problem.

My '88 240 wagon is having a weird problem with the dash lights, the
blinker arrows stay iluminated as does the high beam signal (not on)
and the rest is completley dark, my turn signals and high beams seem
to work fine but I can't see how fast I'm going and its kind of erie
having only darkness in front of me while I'm driving. I'm thinking it
might be the rheostat. Also the headlights tend to flicker a lot while
I'm driving at night.Just wondering if anyone else has had a similar
problem or has any advice.
Oh,, My third (high) brake light only functions intermittently,worried
this is going to confuse someone that sees it go off while I'm still
braking, does anyone know about this problem? thought I'd go ahead and
throw that in there while I'm on the topic.
Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

2 Things check the grounds in the engine compartment for the headlight
problem sounds like a bad ground for the 3rd brake light check the tailgate
harnesses where they go through the tailgate for breakage
--
"*-344-*Never Forgotten"
Is for the New York City Firemen who lost their lives on September 11,2001.
The official count is 343, but there was also a volunteer who lost his life
aiding in the initial rescue efforts. And I will never forget them as long
as I live,
nor should any American.
"Mow Green"

 

I had a similar problem on my girlfriend's '85 244. Very strange behavior of
the dash lights (can't recall the exact symptoms). The culprit turned out to
be a cold solder joint on the dash cluster PC board. There was a jumper wire
that connected the ground planes on two separate areas of the board, and one
of the ends of the wire was making an intermittent connection.

You'll need to pull the dash out of the car and remove the PC board from the
back of the dash cluster to find and fix this, if it turns out to be your
problem. On the '85, the jumper was to the lower left of the speedometer
(looking from the front). Suggest you exhaust other avenues of investigation
first.

Cheers,
Lyle

 

re third brake light - i had same problem and thought it was a bad bulb. But
new bulb did the same thing. What I did was use a sanding sponge [very fine
grit] to massage the terminals connecting the light socket to the base of
the rear deck - result, no more trouble. The contacts had oxidized over
time. Works fine now!

cheers!
steve