My dash illumination is not working. All the idiot lights/ turn signals work but the lights that light the gauges and buttons are out. I have verified power on both sides of the rheostat so that is not the culprit. Where should I look next?

 

I would look at the connectors onto the pod circuit board. I pulled mine this year and had odd behaviour, in the end traced to the connector blades that actually wipe the copper traces being so soft that probing them with meter leads bent them out of contact. Re-bending them fixed everything. With care you may be able to pull them from underneath without removing the pod. IIRC the left most 2 wires of the Right hand connector are +12V and ground for those lights. If that ground fails, you will get odd stuff like the fuel gauge pegging when you turn on the side lights.....
Note that this only applies to early cars, NOT those cars with 4 connectors, and very different internals
jp 83 Euro S AT 54k

 

Did you connect the two wires from the rheostat together?

 

Not yet. I figured it works fine because the amps going through it would increase and decrease as I turned the wheel.