I swear that is how it worked, but I had to go outside to check myself, and I have to admit I am wrong.

they are not connected, so ignore me on my information, but that isn't to say I wouldn't check the lines before I went and got a new switch.


actually I take that back, it must do something.
the original owner of my car cut the lights out of the rear panels, because the reostat portion of the light switch was gone.
he could only get dash lights by having the "dome lights" on too, so he cut the wires instead.

I didn't realize it till I patched them back in and found they were always on.
which is when I replaced the swtich.

so it is hard to tell, because the power is routed differently, but it definatly does turn the dash lights on.

the other way to know that is, once you rotate the knob all the way to turn on the dome light, the reostat is no longer engaged. it must give power too.

that doesn't mean the switch still can't be bad, but I would still be checking wiring first.