[Chadman]

ok i'll fire these off one at a time.


1.) Just finished putting all new Autometer Phantom gauges in my 81 Trans Am. My question is, do the autometer light bulbs that come with the gauges only turn on and off, with no dimming capabilities from the light dimmer switch? Mine will only turn on and off. If someone could verify this I'd really appreciate it.

2.) When a heating and ac guy came over to help my dad trouble shoot some heating problem with our house, he mentioned that the reason my original gauges might have went out (one day they just went crazy, couldn't find a grounding problem or anything), he said it could have been a voltage regulator problem. I've never heard of one of these. What does this voltage regulator do besides "regulating voltage" and where could it be found in a 2nd Gen Trans Am.


Any help with either of these would be great, thanks in advance.

[johnnymopar]

as long as there are incandescent lamps inside your gauges you can dim them. how did you hook them up? are they on switched power or did you tie into the dash lighting circuit from your original gauges? you have to tie into the circuit that has the dimmer on it.

not sure on that year of car if the volt reg. is separate from the alternator. it will either be built into the alternator or it could be on the firewall somewhere or on an inside fender. usually only a 3 or 4 inches in size, it shouldn't be too hard to locate.

JB

[Chadman]

thanks johnny. Yes the gauges are wired into the existing dash lighting and they are incandescent, which is why i found it odd. I'll figure something out. As far as the voltage regulator, I'll look around and see if i can find it anywhere, ill check the haynes manual like should have done earlier. Thanks for the reply!

[302 Z28]

Your AutoMeter lights will dim, if the are supplied power from the proper wire from the headlamp switch.

I do not think that GM uses a gage voltage regulator. I have heard of the problem you described in Fords though.

Vince