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When I switch my headlights on all the dash lights come on fine apart from the lights behind the heater controls. Does anyone have any suggestions as to where I should look first to rectify it? Is this a common fault on the Jimny's?
Interesting you should say that ... My Wife's old Jimny (1999 soft top) didnt have heater illumination, neither does our 2001 hard top ... but my fathers 2001 "51" Plated Jimny does ...
Not sure if its a common problem, but I too have wondered if they should come on or not.
Former owner of Little "Ooky", who has now started a new life in Shetland
ooky_123 wrote: Interesting you should say that ... My Wife's old Jimny (1999 soft top) didnt have heater illumination, neither does our 2001 hard top ... but my fathers 2001 "51" Plated Jimny does ...
Not sure if its a common problem, but I too have wondered if they should come on or not.
I'm sure it mush have lights behind the controls, my mothers 2005 Soft top has lights and it is surprising how hard it is to see the controls at night without the lights, as im sure you know. I've yet to do the basics like fuses etc but just wondered if anyone would have a quick answer which would save me having to track the cause of the fault down. Hopefully it will solve both our problems
On my 2001 Hardtop the long strip between the two levers lights up to show the little symbols. (pity you can't tell where the lever is without feeling it though)
Looks to be a bulb behind the panel in the middle, probably accessed from above the radio.
Does make the dash look nice, but as I said, not overly useful.
If it suddenly breaks, go back to the last thing that you did before it broke and start looking there
I've had it where all the dash lights have come on except those then next time i switched them on they worked! Not repeated the problem since though.
I do have half my speedo out though, i can read it clear enough at night as it is so i'm waiting for a few more to go before i go to the bother of dismantling the dash to get to the binnacle....unless someone knows of a quick way?
Must be something more special about the "special" models - mine does the exact same thing Adamski - the heater controls light up sometimes and then other times not. I've solved the problem in true bloke style though - when it fails to illuminate - at short, sharp thump on the top of the dash, usually results in there being light :whistle: . It usually gets a few funny looks of passengers when i bash the top of the dash, but for how long it takes me to give it a "tap" its a lot quicker than stripping the dash apart.
Just another thought, your special model doesn't have a little quirky feature that the hand brake light stays on even when the hand brake is totally off does it? I've had this since i bought mine just over 3 years ago and my light sometimes stays on for a short while, others for a whole 3 hour journey and the rest of the time its off. Its fairly random as to when it decides to stay on, but sometimes the hot weather (what we get) affects it. I just live with it as being part and parcel of my truck, but am wondering if mines extra special, or if all jimnys have the same problem.
WOW! I'm not alone. At least i know whats so "special" about them now.
Mine does the handbrake light thing too. The first few times it did it i had to double check the fluid level! Its identical to how you describe it too, usually when its really hot, its even done it when i've left it with the handbrake off and when i'm going along too. I've found that if you just ease the key back by just the slightest degree(barely even moves) it puts it out.
Theres definately something about them that gives them the special status. My handbrake light stayed on the moment i picked it up from the dealer i got it off, when i pointed it out, the salesman went back to fetch the tech geek, and it went off. He poked around for about ten minutes and decided it must have been one of them things. 3 years later and it still happens. Only really annoying part is having to explain and show everyone that the handbrake is fully off when they notice its only. I did think about dismantling the dash and the clocks, and taking the bulb out - i did this on my 306 when the engine light started flashing randomly, but decided it was too much effort. So its now one of the "special" features of my special. So specials have the problem, but what about other specs
When the wife picked her first jimny up from the dealers, we had only done 40 miles in it, and we lost all the dashboard electrics ... Clock, Radio, Rev counter, warning lights ... the lot.
The dealer had it back for over 8 hours before identifying the cause of the problem was the "Big" connector that connects the dash to the rest of the loom was loose >.. (im not 100% certain on their diagnosis, but the unplugged and re-plugged all the connecting plugs under the dash in and the problem went away)...
still didnt give us heater illumination though.
Will have a look at the heater bulbs when im back in the UK. I have cut out the passenger airbad and removed the actuator, so now I can get right behind the dash with ease.
Former owner of Little "Ooky", who has now started a new life in Shetland
