Chrysler Repair: Thanks for the response regarding..., side kick panel, water leaks

Question
Thanks for the response regarding my 92 Lebaron instrument panel being dark. When I move the dimmer switch nothing happens on the panel but push it all the way right and the interior/reading lights do come on. Panel remains dark. It is not a digital readout but the kind with the dials. The individual lights within the panel that say Brake...Seatbelt etc. each work as do the directionals/high beam indicator which also appear on the dash/instrument panel. Its the back lighting that won't work so I can't see the speedometer and other manual gauges. A friend tells me it could be the fuse afterall even if the individual lights work? If it's not the fuse I assume the proper place to have it checked is my local auto electric specialist? I didn't realize there was more than one bulb!

Answer
Hi Susan,
It is helpful to know that it is a conventional cluster. But you still didn't tell me about all the other dimmable lights on the dash: the radio display, the right pod switch, the A.C./heater control panel switch, the rear window defogger switch; all those too are dimmable just like the dash lamps and are in fact controlled from the same switch. If all those lights are not working, then the problem is from the body computer which provides the variable voltage to all the lamps. If it is just the dash lamps, then it has to be the ground wire from the dash lamps that is disconnected because that would only affect those lamps and not all the others.
If it were the body computer, then I would suggest that you look for the body computer on above the passenger side kick panel (that is the area to the right of the passengers shin. Above that panel you will see a module clamped to the panel with 2 25-pin plugs on its top. When water leaks in around the windshield it can fall on those plugs and cause short circuits that "kills" the voltage. In this case it would be pin #22 of the natural colored 25 pin plug that might be shorted out because the orange wire is the one that goes to all those different bulbs including the ones in the dash. You could buy a can of spray contact cleaner at a parts store, remove the body computer strap so you can then remove the natural colored plug and spray the sockets and the pins of that plug to dry it out or remove some corrosion.
On the otherhand, if it is just the dash lamps, then you would need to remove the instrument cluster and  check the ground wire (pin 14 of its red plug) to see if it is at ground via an ohmmeter between it and any shine metal surface nearby. I can tell you how to get to the cluster plugs (and the bulbs) if that is necessary. The circuit for the bulbs to work has to allow current to return to the battery via the ground or they won't work either.
So consider these possibilities and let me know if you have questions or success.
Roland