[papajam]

Yes, the rheostat is the rotary dial. The wiring diagram shows 4 wires and 3 terminals on the rheostat; two yellow wires (input) go to one terminal - one from fuse #10 and the other to the clock. The black wire goes to ground. The white/black stripe output wire goes to the lighter light, rear defog switch light and most important, to terminal D6 at the dashboard connector to power the 7 dashlights. Try jumping the yellow and white/black wires at the rheostat. If the lights work, the rheostat or rheostat ground are NG. If the lights still don't work, the problem could be the D6 connector, broken foil on the dash circuit board, 7 burned out bulbs or the dash isn't properly grounded thru dash connector D4 (black wire).