08 2.5i Dash very dim

Ok, I own a GT so I have not complaints... BUT my wifes Grandmother owns an 08 Legacy 2.5i, now her biggest complaint is she can not see the dash during the day. She has her headlights off and the Odometer is so bright it makes it hard to simply read the letters on the speed and such.

Now my dash is WICKED bright during the day but its the fancy GT one I'm assuming.

Now for the 2.5i when you turn your lights on and then you dim the dash on the first click of the dimmer, what dims? JUST the odometer, gear light and Sport indicator? If so then her car is working 100% as it should. I ask this because on mine the first click of the dimmer from max brightness drops the entire dash down one level from the daytime brightness, not just three areas of the dash, to make it simple... the odometer and gauges are all synced with brightness... never does one dim indpendent from the other, which is how the 2.5i dash seems to operate, the first level only affects part of it, then after that the rest of the dash dims.

If this is how the dash works then damn Subaru messed up on that one and made the dash way too dim.

Ok, I own a GT so I have not complaints... BUT my wifes Grandmother owns an 08 Legacy 2.5i, now her biggest complaint is she can not see the dash during the day. She has her headlights off and the Odometer is so bright it makes it hard to simply read the letters on the speed and such.

 

Now my dash is WICKED bright during the day but its the fancy GT one I'm assuming.

 

Now for the 2.5i when you turn your lights on and then you dim the dash on the first click of the dimmer, what dims? JUST the odometer, gear light and Sport indicator? If so then her car is working 100% as it should. I ask this because on mine the first click of the dimmer from max brightness drops the entire dash down one level from the daytime brightness, not just three areas of the dash, to make it simple... the odometer and gauges are all synced with brightness... never does one dim indpendent from the other, which is how the 2.5i dash seems to operate, the first level only affects part of it, then after that the rest of the dash dims.

 

If this is how the dash works then damn Subaru messed up on that one and made the dash way too dim.

I have an 06 2.5i and just went and tested this.

To clarify:

During the day, with only the DRLs on, I can easily see all the gauges and the odometer/trip meter are fairly bright. Brighter than everything else but certainly not overwhelming.

When I turn my headlights on, then dim the dash lights - everything dims. The speedo, tachometer, radio display, radio buttons, climate controls, etc...

And the difference between full brightness and the first notch down isn't so great. In fact I don't like bright dashes at night (tends to give me eye fatigue) so I have my dimmer set in the middle (3 clicks down).

Hope that helps

I'm sure your eyes are much better than the 85yr old Grandmother in question here She is having trouble reading the dash during the day only.

But yes, if you take the dimmer with the lights on and go to the highest level and then click down once the odometer and shift select light and sport light should be the first three things to dim, then the next click will dim everything. If you turn your lights on and automatically the odometer dims then your dimmer is not set to full brightness.

I don't know man. I just went out again (you got me intrigued ) and everything of mine (gauges, radio, climate control, etc) dims upon the first click down.

You sure its the first click?

Quick test, when you turn your lights on from DRL does your odometer dim immediately? If so then your one click off of full After that first one then yes everything else dims the same level together.

Before I even started the car, I set the dim dial all the way to "full brightness"

Started the car, turned the headlights on, dimmed it one click.

Everything dimmed.

Strange?

If I can somehow capture it on video I'll do so and post the youtube vid. Because this is obviously serious stuff here

thats weird man.

Im sure mine only dims the odo, sport, and shift indicator on first click.

Edit: madjik, Is your legacy a limited? Manual?

I'll have to dig up the photos I have somewhere on my hard drive but it is very similar to the LGT version here:

http://www.edmunds.com/pictures/VEHICLE/2005/Subaru/100396965/2005.subaru.legacy.30043-E.jpg

If it's just like the LGT then that's the difference. My dash operates that way but the 2.5i auto dashes are aparently not the brightly lit electoluminecent (spelling?) type advertised for the GT.

Now here's another test... does your dash have and opening ceremony of full sweep and back with only needles and outline illuminated? I know the 2.5i auto's or at least her's did not do this at key on.

Preface I have a 05, so some things may be different.

Yea, on my 2.5i the gauges do do the sweep, it is something you can turn off by doing a button combo~ of some kind, and mine is automatic as well.

As far as 2.5i, the dash doesnt have the red rings like the GT does, its one of the "added" features of the gt. I'm not sure offhand if the gauges are brighter in the GT, I haven't been in one recently to know.

http://imgur.com/usnXL.jpg

In this picture

A dims the radio, clock, gear selection and mileage

B dims the gauges, and misc lights in the car

The only thing I can think of is that her B gauge isnt turned to the max brightness.

Also, as a side note, I have my DRL disabled, so when I start the car and have headlights on in the daytime, instruments are barely lit, so I have to press A to get it brighter so I can see during the daytime. I'm pretty sure the gauges themselves dont change in brightness with this button as well. But it seems like thats not her problem.

I want to say that the 08 does not have the A and B dimmers... since the clock radio and mileage all dimmed by the B dial on her car, but the only difference was the illumination type of the dash, it seems to always be 1 level dimmer than say the Hvac illumination during the day. Her son aka father in law, went around to dealers and tested an 08 09 an 10 I think, and he said they all work the same as his mothers and said my car was an oddball, but He didn't test a GT or one with the GT style gauges so I think thats why he think's mine is weird.

I'm starting to think its just a GT gauge type deal, but at the same time I'm wondering what dash came in a pre 07 2.5i with the 5-speed since Madjik_Man says his dash looks like the one above, which is obviously a pre 07 LGT setup... I say pre 07 because in my year they moved the mileage and outside temp and stuff from the clock area down to the odometer display, and added the MPG gauge as well.

The 2.5i non-limited does not have the A dimmer that sult listed in his picture, only the Limited version with the dual climate control has it.

The non-limited 2.5i only has the dimmer on the left side of the steering wheel "A"

Madjik_man has the same gauges as me (pictured below) except he does not have the gear shift indicator, or the sport indicator. Which might be why his dimmer operates differently. his does not have the red rings around his gauges, unless he swapped out for a GT cluster.

http://i734.photobucket.com/albums/ww346/Lowcivic619/CIMG0090.jpg

sorry for the crappy cell pic

madjik man mentioned that that was not his dash, but a LGT one thats similar to his. (also that picture is of a manual car, so it wouldnt have the indicators.

Looking at cars101, it looks like they removed A button in 06+, so I guess its only 05s that have it.

Also my gauges look like yours flat4.

Okay... on last night's drive I had to check this again.

Don't know why I saw different results previously but this is what happened after one click dimmer with headlights on:

The odometer, clock, radio display and red "legacy" lettering in the tachometer only dimmed.

Any clicks dimmer after that, everything clicked.

Whew. Serious stuff guys

Pic of my dash (can't find the lit-up-at-night photo on my HD)

http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h218/madjik_man/Subaru/P1070950.jpg