I own a 95 legacy wagon; I am interested to know the process of finding and replacing my dimmer switch. I believe that I have fried it in the process of installing my aftermarket stereo. If anyone has some info on this at all it would greatly assist my endeavor.

you mean the one on the stalk where you turn on the lights?

I am not sure, a machanic told me that there is a switch mounted inside the dash as well?

I think the dimmer you are talking about is for the dash lights, correct? It should be mounted on the dash, left of the steering column. What makes you think the dimmeris bad? Are the dash lights out? I would suspect a fuse is blown if that is the case. I doubt the dimmer is bad.

dimmer is just a rheostat. If you fried that you would know it bigtime, would envolve at the very least a funny smell, maybe a little smoke...

 

 

check the fuses

All the fuses that blew I have replaced and still no dash illumination. Actually it's strange the dash illumination only works when the headlights are off, as soon as I turn them on I lose illume. There was a smell of burning plastic, so that is why I assumed I fried my switch. Do you know how to locate the rheostat? and assess it.

The box you're looking for is called illumination control unit. I don't know where it is on a Legacy. The variable resistor in the stalk changes its input voltage and the unit controls current in the main circuit. It sits on the ground side of it. I'd suggest checking both input and output voltages with a meter while moving the adjusting knob, then you'll know which component is bad.