Instrumental Panel lights out

[Everydaycali]

Hi all! This is my first post on here and I have had 318ti for about 4 months now, it being my first car. When I bought it the radio did not send out audio, so im the process of replacing it, i shorted a wire. After fixing my rheostat with a solder job and replacing fuse #37 everything was back to normal.

Well.... i couldn’t correctly fit the rheostat back in the dash and in the process I think I shorted something or pinched a wire? My headlights and tail lights work when I have the dimmer knob pulled out the way but my instrumental panel and gauges do not light up. Any help? When I noticed it, I pulled the light amp that’s connected to the dimmer switch and they came back for a second, but I couldn’t get them to come on anymore. Maybe I unplugged some of the wiring? I was tugging on that light amp to position the dimmer switch back into its place.

[StoneWheelRacing]

What do you mean by "light amp"? You said "...pulled the light amp that’s connected to the dimmer..." I don't understand that.

It sounds like the headlight switch which includes the gauge light rheostat (dimmer) is bad.