[papabear18]

I would like to know if anyone has found a way to adjust/vary the brightness of the instrument cluster display in the 500 Sport. I've not seen anything in the owners manuals, or referred to here or on other FIAT sites. The sales and service personnel haven't been able to figure it out either. An Abarth owner said that he can adjust his using the +/- keys above the menu button. That doesn't work on the 500 Sport... well, at least not on my 500 Sport. Any ideas? Thanks in advance.

 

[deja vous]

if you find a solution please post up and good luck

 

[Faust]

With the headlights On, press the + and - buttons at the same time. On the instrument panel "Dimmer" shoud appear. Now you can use either + or - buttons to adjust accordingly. Try this late evening or night, as during daylight hours the difference in lighting is almost impossible to see.

Another Fiat driver has reported the above working when the outside temperature is greater than 90 degrees. During yesterdays mid-day 90 plus degrees, I was unable to get "Dimmer" to appear. Not sure yet if I have a problem.

 

[alittle1]

The center info-center dial will always remain the same intensity, but the outside part where the speedometer numbers are will change in light intensity as you press the + or - buttons.

 

[papabear18]

With the headlights On, press the + and - buttons at the same time. On the instrument panel "Dimmer" shoud appear. Now you can use either + or - buttons to adjust accordingly. Try this late evening or night, as during daylight hours the difference in lighting is almost impossible to see.

Another Fiat driver has reported the above working when the outside temperature is greater than 90 degrees. During yesterdays mid-day 90 plus degrees, I was unable to get "Dimmer" to appear. Not sure yet if I have a problem.

Thanks X10, Faust! IT WORKED! Just tried it and it worked just like you said. Leave it to this group to find the solution to something that has stumped service techs and studio staff here. Flippin' awesome! Have to wait to next 90+ degree day to see about the heat sensitivity. Will post up the results when I try it.

To O-S-T, here is the post up you requested. ;-{>}

To alittle!, you get a thanks for assisting, but actually my info-center dial brightness did adjust up and down with the speedo and tach numbers. I did notice that info-center dial seems brighter than the outer rings no matter what brightness level I selected.

So this seems to be the solution! My thanks again.

 

[Thunderbolt]

I miss the olden days when cars had a knob one could turn to dim the dash. lol

 

[papabear18]

I miss the olden days when cars had a knob one could turn to dim the dash. lol

AMEN!! Likewise the olden days when you could actually do everything on your car without the necessity of having PhD's in electrical, mechanical and computer engineering... or is it theoretical physics? And yes I am old enough to remember when "tuning" your car meant changing the points, plugs and adjusting the carb. And later in life (1975), seeing the look of unbridled joy on my wife's face as I sat at the kitchen table rebuilding the twin SU carbs on my Spitfire. Lived in apartment, no garage. Sorry for the off topic, just reminiscing.

 

[amacento]

With the headlights On, press the + and - buttons at the same time. On the instrument panel "Dimmer" shoud appear. Now you can use either + or - buttons to adjust accordingly. Try this late evening or night, as during daylight hours the difference in lighting is almost impossible to see.

Another Fiat driver has reported the above working when the outside temperature is greater than 90 degrees. During yesterdays mid-day 90 plus degrees, I was unable to get "Dimmer" to appear. Not sure yet if I have a problem.

I tried it last night ~ after the temp dropped far below 90, it worked. Many thanks for posting this info.

 

[deja vous]

thanks PapaBear

 

[alittle1]

AMEN!! Likewise the olden days when you could actually do everything on your car without the necessity of having PhD's in electrical, mechanical and computer engineering... or is it theoretical physics? And yes I am old enough to remember when "tuning" your car meant changing the points, plugs and adjusting the carb. And later in life (1975), seeing the look of unbridled joy on my wife's face as I sat at the kitchen table rebuilding the twin SU carbs on my Spitfire. Lived in apartment, no garage. Sorry for the off topic, just reminiscing.

...and don't forget the condenser, cost many a lad a new set of points and only cost 60 cents. My first car was a 1914 Willys-Overland roadster pickup. Didn't you just love trying to synch the two SU carbs so they wouldn't load up a cylinder and lean another.

 

[Pinecone]

Two SUs?? Bah, try a pair of 40DCOE Webers. Two carbs, 4 throats. 4 sets of jets. And on a Weber, that means Main Jet, Emulifier tube, Air Correction jet, and then there was the Idle jet.

And have replaced points on the side of the road at night when the rubbing block that rode the cam broke off.

 

[papabear18]

Two SUs?? Bah, try a pair of 40DCOE Webers. Two carbs, 4 throats. 4 sets of jets. And on a Weber, that means Main Jet, Emulifier tube, Air Correction jet, and then there was the Idle jet. And have replaced points on the side of the road at night when the rubbing block that rode the cam broke off.

You gotta be kidding me!! I actually replaced the SUs with 2 x 40DCOE Webers that I bought off a guy who gave up trying to get them to work on his Spitfire. Took a bit of doing and some professional help and tuning but they worked really well. Repairs by the side of the road certainly made life interesting but such is life with British sports cars! Even replaced most of the engine wiring with Chrysler wiring. Didn't help speed or acceleration but it certainly improved wet weather performance. Those were the days!!

 

[Pinecone]

How about changing a blown head gasket in a truck stop parking lot while it was snowing?

 

[MikeThinks]

FYI there is a hidden way to set the headlights to remain on for a few minutes after you shut the car off too

• Make sure the lights are off

• Put the key in the ignition

• Turn the ignition on without starting the car

• Turn the ignition off (I think you must leave the key in)

• Pull back on the headlight stalk (like flashing your high beams). You will see FOLLOW ME: XXXsec it goes up to 2 minutes as you pull the stalk back multiple times.

To reset to a shorter duration, just start the whole process over again.

 

[AbarthCDN]

Seriously!? I got to try that out tonight.

 

[AbarthCDN]

MikeThinks,

try your method and it only works one time after your finish the setting and not anymore when you are doing regular shut-off? Did i miss a step or something? So just pull out the key after duration is set?

 

[Thunderbolt]

How about changing a blown head gasket in a truck stop parking lot while it was snowing?

One of my 4-wheeling buddies replaced a timing chain on a Toyota 4Runner 22RE at the side of the trail. Had everything laid out on a blanket. Wasn't snowing though. lol

 

[hsattert]

For me the question is how can you illuminate the speedo and tach on an abarth when the lights are not on. With any sun shining in the car you absolutely can not see the speedo tach and boost gauge. Id like to have the illumination of those gauges when the lights are turned off.

 

[espresso500]

I have a sport and the +- buttons work on mine to adjust it. Might be something not right with your sport.

 

[3rd Fiat]

Knew I'd find the answer here! Could only stumble across it til now. Knew it was there because I set it once but couldn't find it again. Manual seems to say it's a selection on the menu. Nope. Thank you.

Now when it starts bugging you to change the oil, turn on but don't start and press the accelerator pedal fully down three times. Got that from a service tech who looked it up for me.