On a recently purchased S40 I have no dash illumination. The radio lights are working, no other lights are. All indicator lamps work, but the instrument cluster backlight does not. Oddly, the switch to control the headlights doesn't work either, and I can't turn on my high beams.

Things I've tried: check fuses, replace dimmer assembly, disassemble dimmer assembly to check for problems. No luck.

I'm on the verge of giving up and selling the car since I drive at night a lot and cannot see my speedometer.

Any help is appreciated.

 

​​​​​all of the lights you mention are replaceable. They do tend to burn out at about 150k miles. To replace the ones in the instrument cluster you need to take the DIM out. The bulbs are accessed from the rear. I think you may need to get the bulbs from dealer/fcp euro/ipd though as they have a special base (turn and lock type).

 

Could they all be burned out? The car only has 94000 miles. I suppose it's possible.

I don't think that's the problem because only the lights on the rheostat circuit aren't working.

 

Not sure I thought of that too but the power for the DIM lights comes from a different circuit than this for the ccm, no?

 

I'm not sure but I think they're on the dimmer.