Sportage dash lights dead....

Hi all,
I have a 98 sportage, and the dashboard lights are very intermittent.
They don't usually come on and when they do they will often go out
after hitting a bump or for no obvious reason. It seems that it may be
related to the dimmer knob on the dash, as on the few occasions that
they came on, they went out when I fooled with it. The original owner
had this problem since the vehicle was 2 or 3 years old.

Before I go into the dash to track this down, I am wondering if this
is a known or a common problem with these trucks, and if so, what the
most likely causes are.

Thanks for any ideas!

AL

check the switch, it comes out real easy. it's jusr pushed in and held with
a couple of pastic tabs. becarful not to snap them, you need them.
sounds like the connector is loose. you might be able to just push it in
from underneath. if you put the seat all the way back, and lay on the
floor with your head by the brake pedal, and reach in there you should be
able to feel a connector on the back of the dimmer. it has a lock tab on
it also. try wiggling it, then push it in and see if it seats.
or it could be the dash ground lug is loose. I'm not sure where that is,
but all the wires run through the same area. I had a simiaiar problem with
the factory fog lights, the connector wasn't pushed in all the way.