You can pull the wires off the dimmer switch and simply connect them together- this would give the brown wires (the dash lighting circuits) full voltage, and then everything should work.

If they lights still do not work, try rotating the holders as you observe the instrument panel, in case there is any corrosion or bad connection to the dash circuit board.

If they still don't work, you could have a bunch of bad bulbs. I've seen it happen. Try to observe the bulb filaments to see if they're visibly broken- use a magnifier if you can't be sure.

Good luck!
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::: Rob Bareiss, New London CT ::: 92 244 ::: 90 745GL ::: 90 745T ::: 84 242DL ::: 90 745T Parts ::: Used to have : 86 244DL, 87 244DL, 91 244, 88 244GL, 88 744GLE, 82 245T, 86 244DL, 87 244DL, 88 245DL, 89 244DL!

Have you considered perhaps either the dimmer switch is broken or the light bulbs are simply burned out?

First, the red/white wire is for the accessory large tachometer which can replaced the large clock in the left hand opening on the main gauge panel. It is ONLY for the tachometer - others have reported that plugging the red/white wire onto another location does unholy things to the electronics/PCB for the main gauges. I will take their word for it.

So what symptoms do you have? Are all the lights out on the main panel, or just the overhead lights? I.e. do the gauge panel flashers light up? Do the warning lights along the bottom light up? Also, do the other night lights light up? There are two under the little dash on the center forward console, and one each behind the two controls - heater and fan. Do these light up?

The easy way to figure it out is to use a multimeter and start testing for continuity. I suspect, though do not know for sure, that you may have a continuity issue with the PCB... a broken connection somewhere, cracked plastic, etc. Could be the bulbs though. I would buy a set of new bulbs, that way you know whether it's the bulbs or not. Getting bulbs at the junkyard seems like a crapshoot to me; sometimes they work, other times they don't. I pull a fair number of the small gauges, and find the bulbs are about 50/50 working vs. non.

Best o luck,

Lanval