I was really hoping the replacement of the light control relay as xraybob found would make my dash and console lights work. Unfortunately the one from the junkyard acts the same as my old one. The dash and console lights come on when you first start the car, then after a few seconds, they go out and do not return until the car has been turned off awhile. Sure sounds like the relay is resetting itself during this time, but something behind the dash must be causing it to ground out or something like that. Any suggestions. Remember everything was fine until I removed instrument cluster to replace the odometer gear. Then the lights issue began. Initially they worked, but some would go out intermittingly, now they all go out after a few seconds.

Xraybob here.....
Did you try replacing the light dimmer rheostat switch too? It's the slider switch just above the rear fog light switch. Try it as that is all I ended up doing altogether that finally corrected my problems....Good luck.

Did you get that part from the junkyard too or get a new one?

I got that part from the junk yard too...I figured what's the chance of those particular parts being bad like mine, so I got lucky. I don't know if these particular parts go bad on a regular and wide scale basis, but it was worth the chance....and I got a couple of good ones. I grabbed all the relays and fuses that car had so I'm ready for anything....
Let me know if it works for you.... Good luck