Dashlights not working

I've got an '03 Century with some "issues." There are times when the dashlights work, and times when they don't. At first I thought the issue was with the headlight switch itself due to the fact that the dashlights were operational with the "auto-on" feature; but it seems that is not the case.

I can turn the lights on, and the headlights themselves will operate, but not the dashlights. Just today, I turned on the lights using the switch, and had dash, lights, but on the way to work, I lost them. It's not just the main dash that goes black, but all of the lighting lit by the headlights being turned on. I've been told by the dealer that the problem could be the main console itself and would cost about $500 for repairs (getting the number of the cluster and re=programming) and I don't really want to fork out that much cash for this kind of repair.

Any help in trying to diagnose this issue would be greatly appreciated. Thank you all so much for any suggestions/recommendations.

Does the instrument panel light dimmer have any effect?

Nope, that does nothing to either help or harm the condition. I still have all of the "idiot lights" working, just no illumination of anything else

When the dash doesn't light up, what about the center console, HVAC control head and the radio?

No, I've got no center console lights either.

Same problem is there and i want to repair the dash light If my car dashboard lights have gone out, is that going to be a big-deal repair?Hope the dealer pricing was not too painful..

Thomas, I wouldn't know what the dealer cost to repair was, I never asked them. They told me that more than likely it's shorting out somewhere in the main console and I'd have to replace the whole gauge cluster with a factory one that they'd have to get the part number off of the old one first. There are times when I adjust the headlights, or the trip meter my odometer will come back to it's "normal" intensity. There have been times when the lights will go out for a week and work for 2. It's just got an attitude I guess. As of this response, I have not had them repaired yet.

Personally, I don't think it's the cluster, because he is losing HVAC, Radio, and Center console lighting.....still think it's the headlight switch....

http://repairguide.autozone.com/znetrgs/repair_guide_content/en_us/images/0996b43f/80/24/15/06/large/0996b43f80241506.gif