95 318ti coolant issue
 

My coolant is not circulating at idle in my 318ti. Heres the backstory.

I replaced all the intake gaskets and cleaned the manifolds and ICV+ hoses after a rough idle, and I didnt tighten a hose clamp for the coolant attached to the place where the gaskets meet for the upper and lower manifold. I noticed large amounts of coolant spilling everywhere, so I waited for the engine to cooldown and tightened the clamp. After tightening the clamp I have 0 circulation of coolant in my radiator and I cant feel any coolant moving through the hoses after idling the car. Could the overheating have ruined the thermostat or something like that? The engine is fine, no ticks or anything afterwords either.

Around the same time, the lights in dash went out - fuses are fine...also scratching my head on this one.

sounds like you got air in the system, you'll have to bleed the bubble out since it's blocking the coolant from flowing, there's a good write-up in the knowledge base

Sounds like you have airlock. Read this and follow the steps precisely:
http://www.318ti.org/forum/showthread.php?t=27983

As for the dash lights, it sounds like you may have shorted out one of the grey/red wires in the dimmer circuit. If one of those wires comes in contact with a ground or any metal part of the chassis, it instantaneously blows the rheostat inside of the headlight switch. This kills everything on the dimmer circuit including the gauge illumination, the window/sunroof switches, the HVAC panel and the cigarette lighter. If this is the case for you, you'll first need to find which wire shorted out and make any repairs to keep it from shorting out again. Then you'll need to replace your headlight switch. You can repair the rheostat, I've repaired several of them, but you have to be crafty with a soldering iron as it's a rather delicate procedure.