Well, I finally got around to looking under the dash this aternoon. I loosened the lower panel that was covering the fuses and the dimmer switch for the panel lights. To my surprise.... There was NOTHING connected to the switch!! There were some wires, with connectors, in the area that had been taped together and a fuse was connected to two others??? I did not check the fuse. The switch has 4 male connections so, I was looking for a matching female connector.

I am suspecting that the switch was taken out of the circuit... I am now thinking, maybe, that when I turned the panel light switch, I probally put pressure on it and made it contact some wire(s)or something else in the vicinty and created some type of major short... Enough to kill the engine and light up a bunch of lights, momentarily. Gosh... I have no idea what the switch assembly could have touched, if that is what it is???

Please... Any ideas where to go from here. I do not have a wiring diagram but, did order one today.

Thank you and best regards,

Bill Giardina 89XJS

Submitted by daddina@aol.com on Tue, 02/18/2003 - 16:25

Hello Steve,

Thank you for your input on this problem. It appears to be spade connectors, as I could not fine a molded connector. I am waiting for a color coded wiring diagram and will pursue it then, Meanwhile, I am in a holding pattern.

Thank you again for your support and response.

Best regards,

Bill...

Bill Giardina 89XJS

Submitted by NE52-32043 on Tue, 02/18/2003 - 15:45

Bill,

It sounds pretty obvious that the PO had some kind of wiring problem that someone tried to fix, but didn't. Bodge jobs are not uncommon in foreign cars that are worked on by unskilled US-car mechanics.

I'm not sure if that switch takes a female plug or just spade connectors. In any event, the wiring under the dash is fairly well color coded. Once you have the diagram, try to trace the dash light wiring by color code on the diagram and figure out what the rest of the tangle might go to, and then look to see what you've got under the dash. You may have some success following the wires under there and see where they run, and try to isolate the ones that go to the dash lights.

Let us know how things go.

Regards,
Steve Weinstein, JTC-NJ
'72 E-type 2+2
'89 XJS Coupe