my gauge lights in my 1996 dakota havnt workwed now for aout 2 years, ive gone through everything i know to see whats wrong . any help would be appreciated

 

If you have the overhead console, I'd check that.

My 94's gauge lamps would come and go when I first got the truck. I went through everything I could think of until "the problem" found me.

Backing out of the driveway one day, smoke began pouring from the OC. I shut her down and found the culprit. The OC harness was chafed from the console mounting bracket and shorted out. At the time, I didn't realize this was tied into the gauge lights somehow but, when I repaired the damage, my dash lights worked and still do.

The short took out my temp & compass but, I wasn't too worried about that as I was really happy to have lights again. I'll work on the temp/compass later.

I took some wet/dry sandpaper and knocked off the very sharp edge of the bracket, re-wrapped the harness well, fabricated a rubber 'edge guard' on the bracket and buttoned it all back up. Been fine ever since. Not saying this is your problem but, it's another place to check.

 

It could also be the circuit board on the back of the gauge cluster. If itis that then you have to replace the whole gauge cluster as a solid unit.

 

JR318 is right, i need to replace my whole cluster. the solder work is all corroded pretty good and some of the copper is starting to corrode too. only option is to replace the whole thing.