Bad dsashboard light rheostat?

Hi, I have a'95 Sentra. The radio light has been out for awhile & the black LED characters for time/station are illegible (maybe because the light is out?). Anyway, my question is abt the dashboard dimmer switch. Until recently it was a little squirelly. The dashbaord light would be off and I'd jiggle the dimmer thunbwheel to try to get it to come on & sometimes it worked. But no longer. And the light on the auto-trans is also out. I see a thread abt this that sez it might be the rheostat. I took out the circuit board and the thumbwheel & looked at it. I thought if there was a mechanical problem I might be able to see something loose & tighten it. But nothing stood out as looking wrong. Anything I can do before I order the part (which I think is what has been referred to as the rheostat?)

Thanks, Pete

Hi,

I got it fixed. I checked all the fuses & they were all OK. So I took the dimmer assembly out. (1) Took out the rectangular black plastic next to the thumbwheel by slipping a knife blade under it. (2) Then I could get to the dimmer assembly. (3) I pushed it out and then took the white electrical connector off the back of the assembly and tested it with a voltmeter to see if any voltage between the red and black wires when I turned on the headlights (4) There was. So I turned off the headlights. Then I bypassed the dimmer assembly, which I now knew was bad, by slipping a wire into the backside on the white connecter into the spots corresponding to the where the black and red wires entered on the other side to complete the circuit. (5) Turned on the headlights and the dashboard light, the light on the auto tran 'stick' and the radio lights all came on.

The dimmer is now on max all the time when the headlights on but thats what I always used anyway,

A local garage had estimated the fix would be $150 if 'all they had to do' was to replace the bulb (which is what they) were planning to do.

Got this idea from another thread. Thanks!

Peter_W snipped-for-privacy@uhc.com wrote: