FortunateFool.

I've recently been trying to fix my dash problems . When I got the car (1997 Civic ) the harness has been totally removed .. I have everything hooked up to the cd player properly but, they red/black dimmer switch wire is just dangling and the dash lights are not working either .
I've replaced the fuses and everything i can think of . Any idea where this bastard goes ?
Thanks

edit : The cluster will work when I hook the dimmer wire to the constant 12v power ..but, when i switch my headlights on it does the reverse and turns the cluster off ... Any ideas here would be great ? I dont care if they stay on 24/7 as long as the key is in the ignition . I hate guessing my speed at night right now .

edit #2: The only wires I have coming from my head unit that aren't speakers is a blue/white line wire (which still didnt turn my cluster on) and a tele mute wire along with a blue atenna wire .

fcm

If your HU does not have an illumination lead, orange or orange/white, you do not need the red/black, cap it off.
What is the make and model of your HU?
When you say "the harness has been totally removed " are you talking about the radio harnesses, there are 2 of them, or just the plugs?

If the dash lights do not work and the fuse is good, fuse 30 - 7.5A, [hot when park/head lights are on] in under dash fuse box, then it's a good bet the "Dash Light Brightness Controller" is bad or unplugged.
First make sure it is turned up all the way.
If still no dash lights pull the DLBC unplug it and use a piece of wire to jump from the black lead, [ground] to the red lead, [bulb ground], if the lights work replace the DLBC, or leave the jumper in place and live with dash lights that are bright all the time. 94

FortunateFool.

Thanks .. When I say the harness has been removed I mean they cut the radio harness on the car side ..it's just wires and no plug : ( .... If I leave the black/red wire capped the dashboard lights will not work . I know they will come on so its not the switch ... I will check that 7.5 fuse .. The only fuses I have been checking is the 10 amp intrsument fuse .. but my parking lights come on so who the hells knows ?? I might just have that damn thing on 24/7 .

baller status

You're making a false assumption. The switch can still be bad.

Cap the red/black as he said. Yes, you can send power up that wire and illuminate your parking lights. There are many other places you could tap into that circuit and power it up, it doesn't mean that's how it's supposed to be.

Test all of your fuses with a voltmeter.

You can also test the steering column switch with a voltmeter. The procedure is in the repair manual.

fcm

Ditto the above, connecting the red/black to a power at the radio harness is only sending power "up stream" to the bulbs, and that puts the dash light fuse as the same one and the wire your connecting it to, [radio acc. or radio constant] 94