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MG Midget and Sprite Technical - LED Dash Bulbs, are they worth it?

Hi Guys

As per the title really,

My dash bulbs all work but the speedometer is pretty dim on the left hand side, the other lights are not too bad but not what I would call brilliant.

Is it worth changing them to the led bulbs that I have seen advertised on places like ebay etc?

Hope you're all ok.

Rylan
R Williams

Because of the way the bulbs fit in the holder, the replacements would need to be the same dimensions. I also supect that the level of illumination is very much restricted by the guts of the instrument and although more lumens will obviously help,you are not going to achieve modern standards I would have thought.

The main problem I am suffering from at the moment is that the car is sitting in a relatively warm garage (compared to "outside") so the instruments contain air with a certain moisture level. When I go for a run (hood down of course), the cold air on the glass causes condensation on the inside face of the glass! I did try putting the lights on the other day in order to get the panel lights on with the hope of warming the dials to clear the misting. I have to say that in daylight I couldn't tell whether they were working they were so dim!
GraemeW (Kent!)

Have used LEDs for several years. Have a look at my rep next time we meet.
Alan
Alan Anstead

Rylan,
the speedo is possibly dim because the interior painted surface of the speedo is probably deteriorated so that will restrict any improvement, as Graeme put

you could try to check bulb holder has good electric connects and that the bulb itself is clean and glowing fully

this is a low cost item but once again I'll caution you against spending money on items unless required until you've regularly used the car all year round for 12 months and it's reliable because you may need that money for unexpected and distress purchases - you've already had a few unexpected high ticket items and found the car was well below performance so bear those experiences in mind
Nigel Atkins

Graeme,
I wish I had a garage let alone a relatively warm one, my car is outside 24/7-365/6

on the driving my wife to drink via country roads to country roof down run yesterday I can't remember condensation inside the dials but two weeks ago there was plenty (last weekend we were out in my wife's modern car, with the roof down on that on the Sunday but not on the miserable wet Saturday)

so garage or not the dials can mist up

I'd guess it's this condensation that rusts the interior paint
Nigel Atkins

Alan,

I shall have a look at the next meeting, that will certainly help.

Nigel,

I certainly agree with you, it's more of a maybe at the moment, as I do like to drive the car at night the dimness has become apparent.

I have certainly spent some money recently:

- New Gearbox
- New Clutch
- Roller Release Bearing
- New Rear Wheel Bearings
- New Rear Seals etc
- New Diff and gaskets
- New master cylinder
- 5 New tires and tubes
- MOT at the end of the month :)

I am certainly still getting to know the car, but at least it is now in a state that I am less paranoid ;)

Rylan
R Williams

The dispersion of light from the leds is not as good as a standard bulb so I found they don't work as well in fuel/temp gauges but conversely (or Perversely typical midget)they work great in the speedo. Also they don't get hot so they will not dry out any moisture in the instrument. HTH Cheers rod
R W Bowers

for the dash lights have you checked and cleaned the connections like on the panel lights switch, perhaps bypass it to see if the switch is degrading the light you get

as with Dom's light problem it can also be the connections away from the switches and lights that make the difference

on other electrics even the fuses or fusebox connections crudded up can reduce the power getting through

with the tYres and tubes I hope you also checked the rim tape (PITA w/w!)

the more you drive the car the more you'll get used to it and the better the car and your driving of it will get

I don't think you're paranoid (well not too much) after all you have had some problems with the car

good luck with the MoT
Nigel Atkins

Some time back, I bought some brighter (higher wattage) instrument bulbs from Mo$$, and the difference was very noticeable.

-:G:-
Gryf Ketcherside

Gryf: better, or as with most repro parts nowadays, worse? :-)
GraemeW (Kent!)

My speedo is dim one side. The internals have slightly shifted about due to the tension of the speedo cable behind the dash (not much tension admittedly, but all the cables have to be stuck some place right) and this pushes the face over to one side of the housing due to the way the face is secured to the mechanism and then the mech to the rear of the case.
One day i'll stop being lazy and fix it, but it might be worth a check of yours to see if the screws at the rear of the housing securing the mech are tight. Might even just get away with a wiggle of the speedo cable/angle drive.
Roadwarrior

This thread was discussed between 12/01/2014 and 14/01/2014

MG Midget and Sprite Technical index

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