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The easy way is to buy a used dimmer, a new dimmer is very expensive, an alternative is to bypass the dimmer and let the thing goes full on when you turn on the lights, I think Lu has a post on the how to. If you want to give surgery a try first then read on.
You don't need to take the dash apart but you need to pull the dimmer out and check. I also has a 1995 9000 which was exhibiting similar problem to yours as well as a burnt light in the dimmer.
Getting the dimmer out is very easy to do:
Pull out the blank switch that sits above the dimmer, I can do this without any tool, just start pulling all around the blank and it should come out. Just don't force the thing, it should come out relatively easily. Alternately, you can put some electrical tape on a small screw driver tip (so you don't scratch the dash or the blank) and pry it out.
With the blank out of the way, you can see the dimmer right below. You can put a finger or two and try pushing down on the back of the dimmer so it comes off the dash. The switch comes straight out, the pushing down part is just to dislodge the dimmer. Again, you can put some electrical tape on a screw driver and pry the dimmer out of the dash.
Pull the dimmer out from the hole until the whole thing comes out the dash with the connector at the end. This thing is long, about 4 to 5 inches. I would test the dimmer at this point and see if it dims etc., wiggle the wires and connectors and see if it helps. If it does, you may suspect some bad solder joints. If not, turn the light off and continue.....
Pull the connector at the back off the dimmer. Take the dimmer to a well lit work surface. There is a little circular cover on one side of the switch near the front, put a tape over it so you won't lose it when you take the switch cover off. The circular cover gives you access to the bulb for the switch, if you need to replace the bulb too, you can do so AFTER you fix the dimmer. As there is no point replacing the bulb if the patient dies :-). Look around the front of the switch and see four tabs (two on each side) holding the front cover in place. Do your best to remove the front cover, again not much force is needed. Once it is off, you can slide the rest of the switch out the *BACK*. Note how the dimmer wheel catches to the 3/4 turn rheostat inside, you need to realign the wheel with the little gear to put the cover back on.
Now put forward your best electronic/electrical skills, test the rheostat and see if it is working right. If you don't know how to test it, then you may just want to go for the Hail Mary pass, get some electrical cleaner that comes in a spray can and squirt some into the rheostat. Don't over do it and some of these cleaner can mark plastic so make sure you keep the switch cover at a distance.
Also look for any possible cold solder joints at those pins at the back or anything that looks suspicious, especially where the pin connects with the circuit board. If you are not comfortable with soldering, get a friend who is, or else I would just close it up and test the thing and see if the contact cleaner works. If not, then call it a fine day and get on the phone to buy a used unit. I would not attempt to re-solder anything that is surface mounted on the circuit board. I know my limits and I only have a pencil soldering iron that is too big for such task. After seeing the dimmer circuit with a few surface mounted components, I understand why it costs so much to buy a new one.
It turned out that my problem was not with the rheostat. I tested the rheostat and it worked fine, but I also squirted some electrical cleaner in it too just in case. When I put everything back, the thing was still intermittent. So I opened it up again and got a soldering iron to re-solder a pin that seemed OK on the outside but was not making contact with the circuit board. There are not that many connector pins that are soldered to the circuit board, so if nothing obvious, I would suggest doing all and see what happens.
Putting everything together is again easy, the mildly tricky part is to re-align the dimmer wheel back with the rheostat.
Good luck, take everything slow, and have a real fun time :-P.
posted by 12.42.232...
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