My high beam indicator has always seemed really dim. Today I changed the Tach (original one was jumpy) and the indicator in the new one is also very dim. I took the old one apart. The blue plastic that covers the hole is very dark. Is there supposed to be a different lamp for the high beam indicator? Has the plastic gotten darker over the years?

They are dim by nature, especially in daylight but even so at night. Clean the blue lense, add a new bulb or even led ect.. I would not trouble over it so much..

I was thinking maybe it was supposed to have a higher wattage bulb or maybe putting in an LED. It is way too dark, I don't think it is normal.

If all the rest of you gauges are bright? Drop an led in, but led's are either on or off not dimmable by the dimmer switch. also check/clean your gound up to the left of the fuse
box, I have had 2 914's and compared to say a 90's FORD FOCUS they are dim. Also the jumpy tach can be fixed cheaply at Hollywood VDO, they put a supressor inside.. completely resotored all my gauges, even had an nos tach at one point.. still dim.. 1970's tech. Also can switch bulbs with say your tun signal lamp if you think the bulb is the issue ect..

New bulbs, clean grounds, and clean sockets can do wonders.

I'm in the same boat. Took me a while to realize that my high beam indicator even worked; I used to try to remember when I had them one and check the reflection when there was a car in front of me (fogs on = brights off).

I've been thinking that next time I have my Tach out, I might try to clean the inside of the blue lens with a q-tip, but haven't bothered with it yet.

Just out of curiosity, is the dim brights indicator associated with the early silver button gauges? (that's what I've got)

Mine blackened over time as well. I bought a piece of blue plexiglas, cut out a small square, roughened it up with sandpaper, and mounted it inside the tach housing. It is like night and day.

I took the tack apart. The blue plastic was so dark it looked black. It was not dirty. I replaced it with some blue plastic thickness gauge material. This wasn't dark enough so I used 3 pieces of it. This worked very well. While I was in there I replaced 2 caps in the tach circuit. I replaced a .22 / 100volt one and a 22 mic 10 volt electrolytic one. This stopped most of the jumpy but not completely. Now when I shut off the motor the tach needle surges to 3K before settling down. Yhere are 2 other caps I did not change. If I am unhappy with what I have, I will jump back in and replace them also. Sorry the pictures are a little dark.

About 12 years ago my 74 914 had no light. I replaced the bulb and witnessed the shining bulb as I flipped the high beam indicator. But NO blue light.

Off with the steering wheel and the instrument panel and out came the Tach.

I pried it open and found the issue. The blue plastic lens is held in with clear packing tape. It had turned dark brown from heat and age. Some alcohol and patience cleaned it up. I used some clear packing tape to put it back in and reassembled the Tach, plugged it in and ....

JOY!

Seems to be a good recipe for all 914 problems.