Nissan Repair: Illumination of instrumentation - Ciruit problem, gas gauge, master switch

Question
Hi Von,

My problem is this: the lights behind all the gauges no longer work. However the idiot lights for the brake, door, engine, battery, etc. all come on when starting the car. I took out the panel and tried to find anything obviously wrong to the untrained eye, but no dice.

Secondly, the clock, which never worked when I bought the car, for a few days, worked upon starting for 20 minutes or so. Not anymore. Then the other day the gas gauge went dead, dropping past empty to nowheresville. After a few minutes, it came back to life. And lastly, one night, I was told by someone at a stoplight that my back lights weren't working. It was late and I didn't want to attract attention by checking out what which ones. So I can't confirm it.

So, do I have to replace the whole green circuit strip behind the panel? Is this common or affordable? Can a specific connection be found by checking for continuity? Someone just today suggested going over the strip with an eraser, getting rid of possible corrosion.

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Thank you.

Answer
YY,

If the tail lights do not work and the instrument lights are going crazy I would say the master switch otherwise known as the combination switch that controls the headlights and such is going out.  If it was only the instrument lights I would say that it was the dimmer on the instrument panel that controls the lights.