No dash lights, headlights only come on with dimmer

[Kenneth Barton]

I’m in the midst of refreshing some things in my dash. I got my passenger ash tray working for the first time ever apparently, evident by the factory defect tag. 

“While I’m in here I might as well replace some bulbs proactively.” That was a mistake. 

After replacing bulbs, nothing worked. I decided to clean the headlight switch - all the contacts with alcohol and a q tip.

Now I have no dash lights at all, and the headlights come on only when you rotate the dimmer all the way like you’re activating cabin lights. 

Theres no obvious wire breakages, and I’m suspecting the headlight switch since it’s responsible for power distribution. 

All fuses look good. 

Any ideas?

[Kurt]

That is strange. Did you replace with incandescent bulbs or LEDs? I've heard that some LEDs are not the correct polarity for these cars. Did the headlights work fine before you cleaned the switch? If you disassembled it, maybe something went wrong with the reassemble. My headlights were intermittent a while back. After I found out I could not find a new switch for under $500, I took mine apart & cleaned & lubed it. So far it's been working great.