ok, i have a 96 civic, and i have no dash lights, at all, no guage cluster or heater control lights, now nothing has been touched as far as wiring, nothing has been taken apart and they worked just fine until 3 nights ago. so what do you check 1st, would be the fuse, so i did and it was blown, so i thought, easy fix, well, i put a new fuse in, turn on the lights, and it imediately pops the fuse. so i tried a bigger fuse, went from 7.5 stock to a 20 amp, pops it as soon as the lights are turned on, so my final thought process, just put a piece of wire in place of the fuse, which obviously isnt a fix, but i assumed that where ever the short is it would start to smell, well i was wrong, with the wire in place the lights work and no burning smell. i dont want to keep this that way, anyone have a similar problem and if so what was the fix??? sorry about this being so long!

 

You risk electrical damage or a fire with the jumper wire. Remove and check the dash lights brightness controller:

 

Never bypass a fuse like that. You'll set your car on fire or at least cause worse damage than already exists.

The tail lights and front corner lights are on the same fuse. Could have a short there. Also if the radio has been replaced with an aftermarket one, one or two of the wires behind the radio are for the lights and could be shorted to ground.

 

Ron J, you definitely know your S*#T, i just so happened to have another dimmer switch, plugged it in and its all fixed! and i know you shouldnt jump a fuse like that, and i didnt drive the car like that, i was just trying to see if i could see a short spark somewhere, i had the whole dash ripped apart, but it was just the dimmer switch! so were good now!
thanks again!