i just went out on my 1996 M900, when I first switched on the ignition the dash lights were dim, after 2 seconds they suddenly went to full brightness, decided to risk a ride, ran perfectly, got home, tried to replicate the fault, tried the ignition 6 times, 4 of those times the idiot lights started off dim then went to full brightness, 5th time they stayed dim, I tried the start button at this point, nothing, 6th time they started dim then went bright again, tried a further 3 times and each time the lights went straight to full brightness and the start button worked normally, electrics aren’t my thing, does anyone have any ideas?, thanks Mark (PS battery is fully charged).
To me that suggests a high resistance, or a power drain. I’d start by checking out the wiring loom where it passes the headstock to see if movement of the loom changes the brightness.
as above, I would start with main plug into instrument panel first if no other ancilliaries affected/no other lights out, it could be the earth connector within that plug that's affected.
Thanks all, I’m also thinking of the small white plug on the back of the solenoid, that had some odd effects when I accidentally dislodged it some time ago, no starter of course but also no horn?, i didn’t notice if the dash lights were affected at the time but it’s easy to give it a prod with a long screwdriver driver so I’ll try to get the constant dim light scenario and give that a prod first, after that as the above I’ll go through the various connections, cheers.
Found the problem, it’s the relay under the seat, just turned the ignition on and dash lights were dim, tapped the relay and they went bright, repeated a couple of times to be sure, just sprayed electrical cleaner inside and it’s working fine now, I’ll get a new one though just to be safe, nice easy fix.
