AC Panel lights suddenly stopped working

[JohnZ]

Hi there! Now tonight I was replacing my AC panel bulbs with brand new LEDs from DeloreanGo, as well as the two bulbs from the headlight and hazard switches. Everything was going fine, but suddenly everything started to go downhill! :(

I tested all the new LEDs after installation (before putting on the panel) and everything lit up perfectly! 4 leds from the center and the three lights down below, all bright and steady. I was so happy, than I begun to put on the panel, screwed everything back in and pressed the headlight switch to see the end result... and the Hazard switch light was gone :( flashers worked, but the switch's light was no more (the LED worked fine just 1 minute earlier). So I disassembled the panel once again, tried to twist the bulb and to jiggle it, but to no avail. So I decided "screw it, I'm going to come back another time", I put all the stuff back on, tested the light and... ALL THE LIGHTS FROM THE AC PANEL WERE GONE! :( I then checked the fuse, checked the connection to the rheostat... but nothing.

Little fact: when I double press the headlight switch nothing happens there (of course headlights come on), but when I press it a third time to ideally turn everything off all the new LEDs flash for a brief moment... so there is current there someway... and also it was there a minute earlier!

So I left in rage, ready to come back when I have the time...... any suggestions? Maybe the switch went bad? But I didn't do nothing special to that... also I've got the switch saver kit, so I guess nothing melted

Aaaah, Deloreans..... :gunfire:

[JohnZ]

I should add that the binnacle light stopped working as well.... The various red lights do work, but the general illumination of the cluster is gone (the one you dim with the rheostat)...

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[JohnZ]

Wait... I noticed that one side of the car was missing every exterior light, so I double checked fuse 8 and tadah!

Problem solved... :)

Still no light on the hazard switch though... But I see plenty of threads about this and I will look into it :)

Thank you for the potential help! This discussion may fade into oblivion!

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[mike123]

Did you clip the wires on the switch LED? If not, I think you will immediately blow your next fuse. Here are some images from Bill Robertson on Facebook that seem to explain the situation:

71578
71579
71580

[JohnZ]

Hi there Mike and thanks for your reply!

Actually the switch's LEDs from DeloreanGo are made like this:

71581

So I guess it's basically a plug and play solution, and the instructions only say "Please note that LEDs only work one way around, if it doesn't work first time, then reverse the way round you install the bulb."

Besides, if the fuse was about to blow, wouldn't it blow immediately after I press the switch? I did a short 10 minutes trip in the night to see how the new lights would do while driving, and nothing blew, and the lights were great! (besides the hazard switch of course)

The fuse popping in the first place I guess was my fault: I mistakenly touched the internals of the cigar lighter with a pair of nail pliers, that was a clumsy move, as it made a little spark and then fuse #8 was gone... so my fault there!

:)

[mike123]

I missed that part of your post about the LEDs being from DeLoreanGo but that's great - I think I have the same bulbs.

Sounds like bad luck with the nail pliers but glad you got it figured out and it won't happen again!

[82DMC12]

The wiring for the cigar lighter is ridiculous. I used to blow that fuse and the bulb most of the time when I removed the center console. Hard to see what you're doing in there when reinstalling the wiring so it's easy to short it out. I finally got sick of it (and smarter) and installed insulated 90 degree terminals on the wires. No more sparks.

[JohnZ]

Glad I'm not the only one that messed up with that thing! Which, by the way, is pretty useless.... I don't smoke and I don't care about the circle light around the lighter!

Moreover my car didn't even had the thing, I just retrofitted the actual lighter from my mother's old Lancia Ypsilon! :D

Now I'm bugged by the sudden disappearing of the hazard light on the switch... I'll deal with that someway!

[JohnZ]

I have a couple more questions on the subject... What would you suggest to eliminate the pesky light spillage on the sides and on the top of the face plate? With this newfound brightness the light goes over the AC panel, resulting in an ugly frame of light around the decal! Do you know of any way to insulate the thing?

And another curious thing: after I did this job my radio resets every time. It just loses the memories and the settings if I simply turn off the radio! So now if I want the FM setting I have to press the button every time I turn on the radio, as if I was disconnecting the battery every single time I simply turn the radio off... that's odd! Do you know if the Craig radio has an internal memory that after 40 years may be dead?

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[DMC-Ron]

I have a couple more questions on the subject... What would you suggest to eliminate the pesky light spillage on the sides and on the top of the face plate? With this newfound brightness the light goes over the AC panel, resulting in an ugly frame of light around the decal! Do you know of any way to insulate the thing?

And another curious thing: after I did this job my radio resets every time. It just loses the memories and the settings if I simply turn off the radio! So now if I want the FM setting I have to press the button every time I turn on the radio, as if I was disconnecting the battery every single time I simply turn the radio off... that's odd! Do you know if the Craig radio has an internal memory that after 40 years may be dead?

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No, the radio does not have a battery to retain the memory settings. Rather, it depends on a separate power circuit that remains powered even with the car and ignition key off. It is a purple wire and is fed from fuse 17. This circuit provides continuous power to the clock circuitry, radio memory, and cigarette lighter. Check your fuse 17.

Ron

[JohnZ]

That was it! Fuse 17 was blown, I was thinking more about the internal radio fuses, and at the same time I couldn't figure out the fuse for the radio on the fuse box... 17 was the number :)

Thank you Ron!

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[JohnZ]

Hello there! I managed to solve a couple of problems regarding the AC faceplate.

First of all the hazard switch light now works: I reversed the bulb and rocked it a bit and now it lights up brilliantly! I'm never ever touching the thing again :)

Then I tried to solve the heavy light bleed problem on the sides and the top portion of the faceplate. The light would spill no matter what I did, I used foam and tape and everything, but the thing would still have that pesky and inelegant light frame. It was ugly.

So I actually tried to do a frame with electrical tape around the faceplate which would go over the border and inside, laying on a piece of foam that I put... It's visible, but perhaps it's not that bad visually... The important thing is that it works! Maybe I will come up with other solutions in the future, but for now that's that and I'm happy :)

The flash from the cellphone highlights the difference in reflections of the two materials, but with more diffuse light the result is much better :)

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20250508/c7eee0ac9c8d76fd29bfa5ddca625f0a.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20250508/4d324c10d684cb4fa24021acd41d70b7.jpg

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[Timeless]

For light bleed on my HVAC panel I used 1/8" foam tape with great results. Just made sure to apply it all the way to the forward facing edge.

[JohnZ]

Ok Timeless! But do you apply the foam to the faceplate itself or do you create like a frame in the part where the bulbs are, so the faceplate can actually rest on the foam?

I have to say that the screw that holds the panel down is too short and can't actually catch up with the thread... So there's no real pressure there... I might want to try a slightly longer screw :)

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[Timeless]

Attached to the frame itself.

[JohnZ]

To be fair I tried everything: foam on the inside, foam on the faceplate, foam sideways, foam everywhere... Nothing works, there's always that slight line of light peering through! The light would pass between the plastic and the foam itself, finding its way through the glue! I think I invested about four to five hours here and there trying to solve this matter!

Anyway now I'm satisfied with the result, a nice, thin and elegant black electrical tape frame that overlaps the border of the faceplate.... It's not too bad under natural light, and more importantly: IT WORKS perfectly!

And also... it fits the car: a machine filled with creative and naive solutions to silly problems!

:)

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20250509/55ceee92539a93a5c4b2ff2fe534d3a5.jpg

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[Bitsyncmaster]

Your not the only one that the light bleed bothered. Looks like I need to do something with the push button decals now.

[JohnZ]

Well Dave, your homemade panel is on another level! I'm particularly envious about the lack of light around the two switches...look at that! :)

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[Bitsyncmaster]

Well Dave, your homemade panel is on another level! I'm particularly envious about the lack of light around the two switches...look at that! :)

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You could try black paint around the walls of the push buttons.

[Henrik]

The sockets for my HVAC Panel Bulbs are in need of replacement. I am not referring to the light bulb itself, but the spring-loaded holder that the bulb clips into. Does anyone know the part number for those, and who sells them?

Thanks!

[Timeless]

The sockets for my HVAC Panel Bulbs are in need of replacement. I am not referring to the light bulb itself, but the spring-loaded holder that the bulb clips into. Does anyone know the part number for those, and who sells them?

Thanks!

https://www.deloreango.com/us/light-tube.html