I have a 1990 honda civic and I lost one headlight, my instrument lights, and taillights and I have troubleshooted everything and it has to be the dimmer switch but how after taking the two screws under the steering column out do I remove the plastic without breaking clips or anything. also it feels like there might be more screws other places do I have to take my entire dash apart?

 

Dimmer switch has to be pushed out from the inside. Take the plastic cluster housing off, unplug wires connected to the dimmer switch and push it out.

Just because im curious how did your troubleshooting process lead you to the dimmer switch?

 

it was more a process of elimination and reading different posts but i just got the new dimmer switch in and still no lights...Could you have some ideas as to what is going on with my car? all fuses are good so idk whats wrong...

 

Please give more details? Did your headlights go out EXACTLY at the moment that your instrument cluster went out? And by "taillights", do you mean your regular parking lights (front and back, without pressing the brakes)?? Does your brake pedal still light up the rear lightbulbs?

Here's what I think I know:

The dimmer switch has no effect on the exterior parking lights.
The headlights receive a signal from the headlight switch.
The exterior parking lights receive a signal from the same headlight switch.
The instrument lights receive a signal from the same headlight switch.
A "fault" in the above-mentioned headlight switch will probably still let the brake activate the rear lights.

The headlights each have their own fuse.
The instrument panel has it's own fuse.
The parking lights PROBABLY have their own fuse???
It's rare that several fuse blew out at the same time unless there is a major short and the wiring harness melted.

What were you doing when exactly what happened? The headlight has a separate fuse for each headlight, but if the headlight went out at the EXACT moment that the instrument lights went out, I would lean toward a wiring issue "near/related" to the headlight switch. I just don't understand how 1 headlight is still working, unless the headlight switch plug is only half-way faulty/unplugged. Or perhaps the fault with the instrument panel caused only 1 headlight fuse to blow out.

 

My Parking lights, brake lights, reverse lights, and turn signals all work just fine and it's not the gauge cluster cause I have upgraded to an Si one with the tach on it and the problem continued thru to the new cluster.

I don't know if the taillights and headlights and instrument lights all went at the same time...I was driving and it was dusk so the sun was still up very slightly when my instrument lights went out I wasn't doing anything weird I was just driving.

all fuses are in perfect working order.

Would you suggest the next thing for me to do is to replace above mentioned headlight switch?

or what should I do? I really need help with this problem cause I cannot drive once it starts getting dark out for fear I will get stranded somewhere if it takes longer than I thought.

 

The next thing to do is to troubleshoot with a multi-meter. There is probably a video on youtube that will show you how to use a multimeter. Actually, even using just a testlight (for voltage) will allow you to track where you have voltage.

You need to identify where you don't have voltage and trace them backward to find out what is stopping the voltage (broken wire, fried relay, possible bad headlight switch, half-unplugged wire connector, for examples).

Please specify that the front AND REAR parking lights are working?? you said the "parking lights" work and the "brake lights" work, so I am not understanding what you mean when you say that the "taillights don't work." My only possible understanding is that you mean your FRONT parking lights work, but the rear parking lights dont???? (aka "taillights")

 

no i mean all my lights work except my running taillights so people know you are there at night they are the double filament bulbs that are also brake lights yes front parking lights work as well as my rear parking lights but the lights that when your headlights are on are supposed to be on on the rear of the car are not working.

 

Most likely a fuse or a bad ground.

Dont just visually check the fuses, replace them. The only way to really check them is with an ohm meter or multimeter, seeing if they still have continuity.

Same thing for a bad ground. Get a multimeter and check for continuity of both power and ground.

 

the power comes into the headlight switch from the big fusible link, I believe under the hood, it splits from there, into the low beam and high beam circuits at the dimmer switch in the headlight switch, it then splits into two circuits for the high beam, and two circuits for the low beam, these go to four fuses in the fuse box, and out to the lights, the parking light part of the switch, splits into power going to the parking lights, and power going to the non dimmed instrument lights, and dimmed instrument lights, I cant remember if that is one fuse or two, but I know the parking lights have their own fuse. If non of your parking lights come on, but your instrument lights do, check the fuses, if the switch was bad, neither the parking lights or instrument lights would come on, since one headlight comes on, it's not the switch, you have a bad headlight bulb or a blown fuse