dash lights not working?

[ForOffRoadDriving]

my little brother has a 1990 ranger 4x4 stx which is sufferring from night blindness. when he drives at night the instrument cluster and the heater control unit do not light up with the headlights on. i checked under the hood in the main fuse panel for an instrument light fuse, but there was nothing under there for the dash. i then checked the fuse panel under the dash board but his is missing the cover with the numbers. a quick visual inspection of the fuses showed them to be good, but it was 3am and i wasnt about to get out my manual and look that hard. is it possible that the bulb on the back of the heater control burned out and the power to the instrument cluster lights got disconnected at the same time? all the gauges still function properly (as good as they ever will with fords gauges), he just doesnt get light.

 

[Colin]

Probably just a dirty contact(s), I know with mine sometimes I have to smack the top of the dash a couple of times every once in a while to get them to turn on.

 

[srteach]

The likelihood of all 4-6 of the lights burning out at once is extremely low. There is a fuse in the under dash area for those lights. Keep checking.

 

[ForOffRoadDriving]

ok thanks for the input guys, i have never had his cluster out before, so im not sure how dirty things are or if someone has hacked the wiring and maybe theres a short somewhere back there. i guess i just need to tear into it and do some diagnosing from the wrench end instead of on the keyboard.

 

[RobbieD]

Look at the light switch first. If it's passing power through the rheostat, then pull the cluster.

 

[ForOffRoadDriving]

i fixed it, all it took was 1 left handed cigarette and a care free attitude on the side of a muddy backroad and now hes got lights. luckily he still had the FACTORY manual in the glove box in its original sleeve and i was able to find which fuse it was and pry it out with a pocket knife. then i borrowed the fuse for the ac clutch since he doesnt have ac and now hes all fixed up. i do still want to remove the cluster and clean the contacts becuase i noticed after replacing the fuse the lights were not all lit, but then they all lit up briefly but then went out again. do you guys recommend using any dielectric grease on the cluster connector ir should i just use some steel wool and get the contacts clean?