Instrument panel goes dark

You have a problem and need to take it back to the dealer to resolve.

 

No problem, was it dark out? Was it just dimming and you couldn't see the display in the ambient light? This is normal when the lights are on. All you needed to do was turn the brightness up, turn the headlights off, or wait until it got dark.

Live n learn.

 

You might want to check the state of charge of your 12V battery. If it sat for a long time before you bought it, the 12V could be bad.

 

That is why I say it sounds like you have a problem. On my car, when I switch my headlights on, the instrument panel goes from bright (daylight) to dim (night) . Adjusting the instrument panel wheel all of the way up and the instrument panel goes back to bright or daylight. Below the top notch and the wheel has no affect.

Also, like you say, with headlights off the wheel adjustment has no affect.

 

Caveat / probable error on my part:

Read too quick - didn't realize you had been moving the dimmer switch. After reading your posts better, appears that yours is acting completely normal. with the headlights on, the panel goes from -dimmer at top lock, super bright, to completely off at its full down position. There may be instances when you want the panel to be completely off (An example - car's on but spying on your cheatin' girlfriend from the street at night...)

Too-quick trigger earlier rsp:

You have a faulty panel. I've seen several postings here re same. And my neighbor bought a III in August. His panel went out - they were driving home from South Carolina to Florida. Of course it failed in S.C. Back home (tough drive with no speedo or fuel gauge) Was in dealer 4 days - replaced the entire panel. Just fine now, but sure appears to be a faulty component with early life failure.

 

Did you check your dimmer switch? I recently found that there is a fine line between dimming the display and turning it off. On mine, the display does not go very dim, but if you turn it too far down, everything goes blank. I don't know why that is even possible.

 

Hmmm. User error, or the second or third faulty meter cluster
reported in a genIII? If the latter, we're possibly onto the
equivalent of the '04 MFD thing, but even sooner in the car's
lifecycle. I wonder if the DIY fix will be similar...
.
_H*

 

Since you're able to control the light, it's not a problem. Many other cars also dim to off with the rheostat. I knew one driver who liked to drive at night that way, aided his night vision. Any red or yellow dash warnings will still light. I'd rather have light, but there are occasions when turning it off can be good.

 

Yikks they are already having problems like this with the III;s

 

It is handy when you want the inside of the car dark but want the parking lights on.

 

It would be okay if it only went dark when turned all the way down. My switch still has a lot of play after it goes dark, so it's not nearly "turned down all the way."

 

I just checked my dimmer switch and it does begin to dim but only after about 1/2 the distance. Then it dims down to off at the very bottom. Since it did not seem to dim during the first 1/2 of travel, I just "assumed" that it did not dim at all.

According to the Owner's Manaul, there are two custom features that can be programmed at the dealer that have to do with how this dimmer switch responds to either brighten or dim the instrument panel and nav panel based on outside light. Has anyone had either of these features programmed by their dealer?