For some reason when I turn on the lights in my 96 A6 quattro the headlight washers dont seem to work and the back lights for the gauge cluster and all the buttons are very dim(I can barely see them at night).

any ideas?
thanks

 

The headlight washers are probably caused by a bad headlight washer pump. I would inspect the pump for any cracks on the body of it.
As for the cluster, its supposed to be dim, but if its more than normal it could be a bad cluster.

 

it is dimmer than normal but the thing is its not just the cluster basically all the displays such as the climate control, also it seems to start out bright and then dims a second later.

 

Shouldn't do that, i would check all the main grounds in the car. First check the battery ground, then find all the main grounds in the car, usually behind the kick panels on both sides, make sure they are all tight.