[V8] failing light switch

[Roger M. Woodbury]

DAVE:  BTDT.  The failing dash lights may be caused by a failing rheostat.
Is this the part that you wiggle to make them work again?
 
IF it's the failing rheostat, it is repairable, although only by sourcing
another rheostat from a wreck, removing the dash instrument cluster and
r&r-ing the rheostat. 
 
In the first V8 I owned, I was driving along one dark and stormy night (!)
and suddenly my lights went out.  Man!  Was that black interior dark with no
lights, and traveling in the rain at unknown warp was not exactly fun,
especially when it happened with no warning.  in the end I got a rheostat
from a place in Colorado (I think) called Sante Fe Auto Parts or some other
similar and unlikley name, took it to my dealer who did the repair there in
the dealership.  One of their mechanics had been to the Audi type school
when the V8 was first introduced, probably dead now.
 
I also have a failed light switch on my V8 and I haven't bothered to fix it
yet, since I haven't driven the car since July, and have no plans to before
next year.
 
Roger
 
Oh, yeah:  Audi's "fix" for the rheostat is a new instrument cluster plus
core:  it was $1100 eighteen years or so ago, when my I had my first V8.