Instrument panel lights inop

[JHylton]

Went to drive the ol' brown bomb the other evening, and discovered no instrument panel lights. I checked fuse (#14) it is good and the other lights that operate on that circuit work fine. Just the instrument lights are not working. I know there are several bulbs in the panel but would all of them go out at once? Would a bad headlight switch affect this?

 

[dodgenstein]

Assuming the panel dimmer switch isn't turned down too far, it is possible for the dimmer portion to fail without affecting any other lighting function.

 

[JHylton]

That's a possibility, because I get no results anywhere that I turn the dimmer....left, right or middle. If I turn it to extreme left, the interior (dome, map) lights do come on as they are supposed to.

 

[Philip]

Assuming the panel dimmer switch isn't turned down too far, it is possible for the dimmer portion to fail without affecting any other lighting function.

Yes it is possible. The dimmer function is the coil spring you see on the front of the switch. I have seen the spring break when low light level is set and running on a rough road. Low light level is heating the complete coil up to drop voltage that low.