Alfa Pages

[tone]

hi
someone at my work who also has a series 1 33 , had his instrument light dimmer unit , burnout.
i gave him my spare but whilst driving that too erupted into smoke.
any one had this , know how to fix ?
thanks

[Ben_nz]

That must be why there isn't a dimmer switch in the series 2 cars!

"Mama mia! Heya Luigi, the dimmer switch, I can'ta make her stoppa burning out!"
"Don'ta worry, Guiseppi, justa remove it and we can go fora pizza!"
"That'sa good idea, Luigi! Anda tomorrow, I will redesign the whole dashboard so nobody will realise thata the switch isa missing!"

[Pimp_Dudu]

if them luigis and giovannis only had a pizza when they were doing the light switch........then we might have had a much much smaller Maintenance and Repair forum....but nooooooooooooooooo all them vowel ending boys decided to do the whole 33 between lunch brakes.

"heyaa luigiii whada dat red thing on them electric wire...donna worry eh, i just dropped soma of mama's pasta on them, i just cut them outta there and nobody see the difference"

That could actually explain why the hell my right seat warmer cable is missing...and the previous owner said that he hadn't touched the car ever since it left the factory

[Ravi - not logged in]

Ben,

There should be a dimmer switch in the series II. There's one in my series I anyway! It's over close to the passenger's side, near the hand-brake light and power window buttons etc.

A little scrolling thing...

Cheers

Ravi

[Ben_nz]

The series 2 power window buttons are by the gear lever. It's a stupid place for them if the driver wants to operate both windows at once.
The handbrake warning light is on the instrument cluster between the rev counter and the speedo.
I suppose I could have overlooked a dimmer - after all, I test-drove several 33s before I discovered there was a manual choke!

As it is now, my dashboard illumination is nicely feeble and it suits the character of the car just fine.
I recently discovered that the buttons for hazard lights, rear window wash etc are supposed to be illuminated, so I replaced all the bulbs only to find the bulb holder plastic is so opaque that no light gets through! Bravissimo.

Tone, if your workmate's car keeps blowing dimmer units, there is probably a failure such as an intermittent or partial short circuit which is drawing too much current through the dimmer, making it heat up and burn out. If you replace the dimmer again you'll probably be wasting time (cos it'll blow again), so you might have to pull the relevant bits of the dash apart to check for faults and corrosion.
How much of the dash does the dimmer dim? (How much wood would a Woodchuck chuck if a Woodchuck could chuck wood? )
If you've got Alfa Control and the trip computer and the voltage gauges etc and they all dim then things could get complicated.

You could just try putting a short (a wire link) in place of the dimmer (which would just make the dash bulbs be stuck at maximum brightness - confirm by checking whether the resistance of a working dimmer is close to zero when you turn it to full brightness). That way enough current will flow from the battery to the failure point that something else will probably heat up and smoke. If you're lucky, this will lead you to the failure point, but if you're not lucky...........
(probably a fuse will blow, but you may burn out something different.. no responsibility taken)

[Graham]

Ben,

I have several series 2 33's and they all have dimmer switches they are mounted to the right of the steering wheel there is 3 buttons on the top row : Front Fog Lamps, Rear Fog Lamps and I forget what the 3rd one is but below them is a box with a white arrow that grows to one end and a variable resistor in the form of a turndial this adjusts dash light brightness and when I replaced all my bulbs with Blue LEDS I had to replace this with a fixed value resistor.[/code]
_________________
5 Alfa 33's, 2 Suds God there is no help for me

Also own 2 Complete 16V Engines(Spare) And Have a Sud Rally Car in Production

[Ben_nz]

I know where you mean..
http://www.axys.co.nz/ben/alfa33/BUTTONS.JPG
Just where the burglar alarm LED has been installed in my car!
In that case, I wonder what happened to my dimmer.. Maybe it's buried behind the dash somewhere.

[Maze123]

Ben, I'm sure that there's no dimmer switch in mine! And there has never been one..
Well, I realized the thing about the illumination in the buttons for the hazard lights, rear window wash etc the other day too, when I disambled the switch for the rear window wash to how it works. The way the light is comming out in the series II buttons are different from the ones in the series III. Read: the series III buttons are better! Though I haven't been able to find any bulbs which fitted. I found some which looked like the right ones, but they were 2 mm too long, unfortunately. Where did you find yours?? I dont want to pay a lot of money for an entire new switch, but I think that's the only option I have...
Antoher thing, the buttons in the series II have a bulb for the button-light and a LED for the indication-light (on/off). In the series III the bulb is both for the button-light, and the indication-light, so if the bulb doesn't work, neither does the indication-light...Maybe a bad thing I guess!
_________________
Alfa 33 1.7 16v '88 QV
http://www.bilgalleri.dk/html/gal_visbil.asp?ID=2498

[Ben_nz]

I must have one series 3 button then. I bought it from an Alfa garage, to use for the driving lights I fitted. Instead of the opaque plastic bulb holder there's one that's either clear plastic or glass, and when you push the button it lets light from the bulb through to where the LED is on the series 2 switches.
That series 3 switch is the only one of mine that's visibly illuminated at night.
I'm thinking of drilling some holes in the opaque plastic of the series 2 switches, so it still holds the bulb in place but also lets light through.

I bought the bulbs I needed from Repco (a chain of car products stores). SuperCheap Auto, Repco's competitors, don't sell the right bulbs.

[tone]

thanks for the replys , i will pass them all on to him , my lights go off now and again now , i got to give it a whack on the side and they come on again , did it ever since i got rid of my spare dimmer unit

[John Hansen]

Ben,
My dimmer switch - Series 2 - is in the same place as your burglar alarm light. I would think that a dimmer switch would be standard.
As for the switch lights, I think that the plastic holder is mainly there to allow you to withdraw the globes from the switch. Reason I think this is that for the rear wiper, i got rid of the plastic, (because it was singed) inserted the bulb in the correct position and the switch lights up. The third switch above the dimmer is for the rear window heater.
_________________
John H
'87 Alfa 33 QV

[Toad]

My 75 has both Bulb illuminated and led illuminated switches.
But out ofall the switches in 2 Sprint's 3 75's, and a 33 Haven't managed to get a complete illuminated set for the 75.I have to get some new bulbs and try that.
_________________
Shift for Brains

[Maze123]

I have found the solution to the problem with the swtich-bulbs! I haven't been able to find any in the right size, but I've realized, that the bulbs which illuminate the dials are the same size as the ones for the switches! I'm sure that a wrecker has plenty of those bulbs which you can get for free...

Regards, Mads
_________________
Alfa 33 1.7 16v '88 QV
http://www.bilgalleri.dk/html/gal_visbil.asp?ID=2498

[Chris Notsis]

The dimmer on the Series 1 or 2 was not standard in Australia except on the Quads , although its use on other versions was somewhat random.

For the control to fry on two consecutive occasions suggests a short in the circuit. Pull out the control and probe the wires for voltages and earths. SOmething is drawing too much current. There should be no supply if the lights are off. A short may be present in supply line of the box, but not in the small globe that tells you the lights are on.

The small bayonet globes for these instrument switches should be very common wherever you are. Narva make excellent versions of these. Buy a box of 10.
_________________
Chris Notsis

[Admin]

Hi

My series 2 sportwagon didn't have a dimmer switch either.

All the best

Keith