Hey all, need some dash light help....

[88Chicken]

So I decided I was tired of not having any functioning dash lights, and decided to start messing with it. I pulled some of the dash apart to try and figure it out. I put a new dimmer switch in, hoping that was the case, but was not. After I hooked the radio back up and turned the running lights on, everything lit up, but then the dimmer switch started to smoke and burn. I'm not an electrician, so don't have too much knowledge of what to look for. Any suggestions? I was told the dimmer in the dash, (the aluminum heat sink looking thing) was prone to go bad a lot back in the day. Thanks!

[spectrabullet]

there is a short somewhere. I wish I could be more specific but that's about all I have for you

[Formula94]

What year is it? 3rd and early 4th gens used a transistor to control the dash lights. Most cases it is mounted to the dash frame around the steering column. Has a heat sink on it as well. Three wires. Usually green , green w/white stripe and gray. This transistor gets a variable voltage from the dimmer. When they go bad they can make the dimmer smoke. Replace both transistor and dimmer switch and you should be fine.