Subject: electrical system
Question: I have a 1997 mitsubitshi mirage de coupe... my dash lights went out last night... so did my tail lights.... my digital display for miledge WORKS...my door open indicator WORKS... my gas gauge WORKS.... my hot/cold gauge WORKS... but my dash light WILL NOT illuminate making it impossible to see my speed at night... MY TAIL LIGHTS DO NOT WORK ... my back up lights DO.. my blinkers WORK.. my emergency blink lights WORK and my brake lights WORK.... I checked and changed all fuses related to these problems but no success... anyone have any suggestions... No recent repairs have been done to my car, but coincidentally I moved my dial back and forth that illuminates my dash, just to see if it would work.. and it did.... my dash light dimmed and then brightened back to the original light.. it did not go out and worked up until the next day when I was ready to go home from work.. once again... no illumination for my dash and no back up lights... ANY SUGGESTIONS WOULD BE APPRECIATED..
Answer:

Julie,
The little dial that adjusts the brightness of your instrument panel may be faulty. In technical terms, its called a potentiometer (aka "pot"). It just varies the resistance of the circuitry that operates your panel. If that pot is worn down for whatever reason, you won't get sufficient illumination.

Now, when you had the instance of your instrument panel not lighting up and your tail lights not working, that would indicate that the circuitry in the switch that controls your headlights is faulty. Because, when you turn on your headlights, your tail lights and dashboard lights come on and stay on together.

When your dashboard lights were out AND your back-up lights were would not come on, that is a bit more serious. Your back-up lights are warning lights and can be dangerous if they don't come on. The circuit your back-up lights are tied to is on your transmission. When your car's computer recognizes that the car has been shifted to REVERSE, it activates the back-up light switch and your lights come on.

Since a lot of these things are intermittent, I would guess there is a shorted wire or wires somewhere on your car. For them to be so widespread, you may be looking at a faulty ECU; the car's computer. Have the ECU checked out by a qualified technician. If it is determined that the ECU is bad, replace it. You'll have more and more problems as time passes if its not replaced.

Good luck!