When I first turn the car on (the car is cold) all the dash lights
go out and stay off sometimes for a few seconds sometimes longer. Sometimes
they just flicker on and off. If I press on any part of the dash
like the wood grain on the dash the lights come back on. This includes the
lighting for the entire cluster panel. After I do this off and on for
about 5 minutes, the problem goes away. Of course the problem is more
noticeable at night, but I know it is still there during the day since I see the
LCD on the radio display go bright and then dim. The problem appears to be
related to the mechanism that tells the system the head lights are on or off.
Of course I have day time running lights but if the head lights switch is in
the off position the cluster panel should be off and the radio display should be
dim and vice versa if the head light switch is in the on position. It appears
that what ever mechanism tells the system the position of the head light switch
is flaky and the system turns the cluster panel off and on accordingly.

I've searched the archives but there doesn't seem to be a solution
documented for this. Hopefully someone has fixed this and can post the
solution because it is driving me nutsssss.

Any help is greatly appreciated....