I've run into a real brick wall my escort cosworth dash lights dont work. When I bought the car first the lights would come on if I gave the top of the dash a bang or if the interior had really heated up but if I went over a bad bump they might go off now they have completely gone as well as the little turbo,oil and volts gauge on the left side. The electro illuminous effect has gone off but the gauges still work fine. There is power going to it as some of the tiny little bulbs work. I sent it to a cosworth tuning company in England who I thought were good but they charged me 70 sterling and its still not working help!!!!

 

sounds exactly like the indicator/wiper stalks - they are one complete unit and are very comon to fail - these switch the dash lights and sidelights on.

 

Thanks for the reply, unfortunately I dont think its this as they switch the lights indicators on etc. and also they switch on tiny light bulbs on inside the dash but its thw whole electro luminous display thats gone. Unless the stalks have to give a certain amount of power to the display????????

 

first thing to check is see if you can get the lights to come by flicking the dimmer switch backwards and forwards - if it does it needs a good clean with a cutip (cotton bud) along the tracks if you know what i mean. If that doesn't work, completely bypass it!! Next is the switchgear as dave was saying, after that it's the transformer thingy which is quite expensive I believe!!

 

without a doubt it will be the voltage convertor in the back of the clocks, mine failed last year and the symptoms were exactly the same, the part is about £65 from ford, fitting is fairly easy but you do need to strip the clocks out completely..
steve

 

Would this apply to my problem as only the speedo does not light up on mine.
All the other dials are fine.

 

Convert them to leds. It's pretty easy and looks really good if you do it right.

 

Ya, I heard about that would a local auto sparky be able to put the converter into the back of the clocks for me and what exactly is the part description if Im going into ford.

 

Its very interesting aswell.... I was told that if I found a scraped Mk 6 escort with the white dials which also illuminate green that I could put converter from that into my cossie clocks to get them to illuminate again. anybody heard of this????

 

with the 170mph face.... u sure..? would be v interested i nseeing a pic of one.

 

I think that clock goes to 140 or 150mph but I was wonderin do they have the same converter inside the clocks themselves that does the same job as the escossie clocks. Interesting!!!!!!!!!!!

 

No they don't... the green lights in SI models are green bulbs only the escort cos has electro luiminesiant dash lights.
steve

 

the dimmer switch is £335.21 i needed 1 for mine and thats is wat ford quoted me i then went to donnington today (Sunday) and picked the same thing up for a fiver. With mine the handbrake and other warnin light worked it was just the clocks that didnt light up and with them not havin bulbs there is only so many things that could be wrong with it fuses and switch

 

£335.21 !!!! never - the whole instrument cluster with power pack maybe - but JUST the dimmer switch is the same as a sierra one and is only about a tenner.

 

put normal bulbs in diy job...

 

Hi

When I got my Escort Cos no dash lights worked.

I removed the clocks & stripped them down to find five cm of printed circuit board had burnt out. I tested the resistance of the circuit board and soldered a piece of wire in and re-checked the resistance across the wire. It worked and they all light up fine.

Hope this helps.

Daz

 

mine are doing the same i am so pissed with the car i am now selling it

 

HI Guys
The problem is that the face of the dials is electrically charged
over time they loose the illuminious properties
I have treated all the above you mentioned and in my case the only solution was to buy new faces eg spedo in your case
They are expensive I know - around 500 pounds for all of the gauges.
To determine if this is the problem
The fuel face is the cheapest at 45 quid
Take it out and put the new one in and put it in if it lights up correctly then you know i was right. The other thing is you dont realise how much the dash really lights up until you put the new ones in
I have an after market one in my other escort but yet unable to source where it came from
I will pull it out and check for you
so dont go selling your cars just yet give me a week or so
As far as the inverter in the back of the escort is concerned
If you feel the need to try that there are two types so take it to the ford dealer and/or get the part no off it . There is an early and a late one
CheeRS Jeff

 

Hi lads,

Thanks for all the help from what Im reading and hearing it looks like its the transformer inside the dash clocks that controls the power to give the elecro illuminous effect which have gone in my escossie. Does anyone know of a company that replaces the transformer or has anyone a spare for me.

 

North yorkshire spares has an esc cos in for breaking.Hes on here give him a ring.