Dash lights not working radio stays dim at night.

Ask and ye’ shall recieve. Your problem is as follows:

This is what ye’ got:

And these are the specific circuits that affect the aforementioned inoperative devices:

The stuff marked in blue are your instrument panel lights.

Test points are numbered 1 through 5 in descending order of priority.

[b][i]**Anything in the orange highlighted circuit will knock out both your radio and your instrument panel lights.

[/i][/b]There appears to be in inline fuse inside the headlamp switch that I am confident is a common point of failure (test point #1). Therefore, the easiest place to start and the most likely cause of the problem will be the headlamp switch. Pull the switch, turn it to “Head” and test for continuity between pins “O” and “I” (pins associated with ‘orange’ and ‘grey/black’ wires). If open, replace headlamp switch.

Hopefully at this point your problem is solved. 🙂

If not, then…
(more comprehensive testing follows)

There is a pretty hefty splice point at S212 (Test point #2). You should locate this splice pack and probe into the wires and test for voltage. 200 level connections are located inside the vehicle under the dash. Use schematic color coding to back track from easy to get to devices and locate the splice point and test for voltage. Make sure the headlamp switch is in “Head.” If no voltage, perform wire repair.

Test points 3 & 4 can be easily tested if all the stuff in the green highlighted box works. If some or none of these devices work, then you will need to pull the headlamp switch and test for voltage at pin “H” (gray wire). If voltage, then locate splice pack S203. Back trace color coded wires from easy to get to devices until you locate the splice pack. 200 level electrical connections are located inside the vehicle under the dash. Probe into the wires and test for voltage. If no voltage, perform wire repair. For all measurements, make sure the headlamp switch is in “Head.”

If all the stuff in the green box works, then go straight to test point #5. Pull the instrument panel and test for voltage at pin “J” (gray wire in connector C1). Again, make sure headlamp switch is in “Head” to energize the circuit. If no voltage, repair open circuit. If ‘low voltage’, locate damaged wire or connection and repair.

I don’t usually like to speculate and take guesses, but I am 99% sure you could just go to autozone and throw this $5 part at your problem and save yourself a lot of testing:

Dorman/Conduct-Tite 15 Amps 180 Watts fused 3 position push-pull switch
Part #85989

Although not mentioned, I am willing to bet that your HVAC temperature control head lights are also inoperative. B)

When you say to put the headlamp switch into “Head” what are you referring too? Just turning the headlight switch to the on position?

Yes, just turn the headlight switch to the “ON” position.

I forgot to ask about a switch to just bypass my issue. If i were to go the route of the switch, where would i splice that into?

You’d think a simple 3 position toggle switch would work; however, the headlamp switch has internal logic that controls a lot of stuff. You’d be better off just replacing the switch.

Any suggestions for me to improve on my electrical skills

.
Believe me, I would have never have been able to come up with this stuff before I my auto electric classes at school. After taking electrical fundamentals (which I learned a ton) and advanced automotive electrical systems, I think I can pretty much do anything with auto electric.

But in the meantime, you could look through some books to get a good grasp of the related subject matter:

http://www.amazon.com/Diagnose-Automotive-Electrical-Motorbooks-Workshop/dp/0760320993

http://scannerdanner.com/

There are also a lot of youtubes on automotive electric:

And lastly, you could just look at the ASE practice test 🙂

http://www.freeasestudyguides.com/a6-electrical-test.html