# 1998 Ford clock light **URL:** \ **Category:** Maintenance/Repairs\ **Tags:** lights\ **Created:** [January 12, 2008, 5:50pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/1998-ford-clock-light/9318 "2008-01-12T17:50:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![battery7](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b38774/32.png) [@battery7](https://community.cartalk.com/u/battery7)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2008, 5:50pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/1998-ford-clock-light/9318/1 "2008-01-12T17:50:17Z")
1998 Ford Taurus. Just replace altenater & battery. I now have notice that when I turn car parking lights on, clock lamp decreases 50% and stays that way until I turn lights off, then back to full brightnest. FYI, I have to turn parking lights on b4 headlights so I cant just turn headlights on w/o parking lights. Turning other items on doesn’t seem to affect the display, and all lights are working fine. Any reason to be concerned? ---
**Author:** ![BustedKnuckles](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/bustedknuckles/32/25_2.png) [@BustedKnuckles](https://community.cartalk.com/u/BustedKnuckles)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2008, 5:56pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/1998-ford-clock-light/9318/2 "2008-01-12T17:56:31Z")
The clock lamp is suppose to dim when the parking lights and headlights are on. The parking lights are suppose to be on when the headlights are on. If you can turn on the headlights, and turn off the parking lights, the light switch is broken. ---
**Author:** ![mr\_josh](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/mr_josh/32/3008_2.png) [@mr\_josh](https://community.cartalk.com/u/mr_josh)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2008, 5:57pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/1998-ford-clock-light/9318/3 "2008-01-12T17:57:24Z")
Have you tried turning up the instrument panel brightness? I think the brightness of that display is determined by the panel dimmer. ---
**Author:** ![battery7](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b38774/32.png) [@battery7](https://community.cartalk.com/u/battery7)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2008, 6:05pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/1998-ford-clock-light/9318/4 "2008-01-12T18:05:39Z")
No not broken. I can turn on either the parking lights or both together (parking & headlights). So the question is WHY are they suppose to dim, whats the reason for that? and for the other suggestion below…Yes the dimmer does work. ---
**Author:** ![BustedKnuckles](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/bustedknuckles/32/25_2.png) [@BustedKnuckles](https://community.cartalk.com/u/BustedKnuckles)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2008, 6:20pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/1998-ford-clock-light/9318/5 "2008-01-12T18:20:36Z")
Sorry, your post stated you could run with headlights on and parking lights off. This is not supposed to happen. The clock is supposed to dim when the parking lights or headlights are on. With the lights off, the clock burns full bright to be easily seen on a sunny day. With the lights on, they dim so they are not overly bright when it is dark out. Also, the dimmed brightness can be adjusted with the dimmer switch. ---
**Author:** ![battery7](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b38774/32.png) [@battery7](https://community.cartalk.com/u/battery7)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2008, 6:28pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/1998-ford-clock-light/9318/6 "2008-01-12T18:28:41Z")
Thank you so much for that “brilliant explanation” (pun intended)! I’m blown away with the simplicity of it all. I don’t think I would have ever thought about that! I feel so stupid!! It makes perfect sense! Thanks again for the “no brainer” Apparently I don’t have one! lol ---
**Author:** ![mr\_josh](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/mr_josh/32/3008_2.png) [@mr\_josh](https://community.cartalk.com/u/mr_josh)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2008, 6:35pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/1998-ford-clock-light/9318/7 "2008-01-12T18:35:28Z")
You’ll notice that a lot of VCR/DVD player displays, stereo displays, etc. (things with clocks in them) dim at midnight and go back to bright at 6 or 7 AM.