As John says, there are lights behind the panel cover, although, from the parts book, the simple, non-optional panel may not include lamps. Three across the top and two on the bottom. As for the lower panel with oil press, temp., etc. there are two. They are retained by "pinch-in" socket assemblies. There are two problems with these. First is the aluminum plate that the instruments are mounted in grounded? If not, none of the lights will work, so, is you have some, it must be. Second is that that plate corrodes and the socket mounts don't ground to the plate. I just went over all of mine a couple of weeks ago, as only two of the five worked. A little work with some sandpaper and a small knife will fix that problem. Of course, you want to check all the bulbs. With the 'advances' in technology, it's hard to find the bulbs now. The 170 parts manual I have just lists Cessna's part number, not industry standard. I think this might be the right size:
http://www.bulbtown.com/756_Miniature_B ... p/b756.htm Of course, they need to be red. Radio shops used to sell little bottles of red lamp dye - can't find it any more. I have a handful of lamps in my spare parts supply that I sprayed with red lacquer. Seems to work OK.
My 170 has an overhead light that shines on the whole instrument panel. When Dad put that in, he disconnected all the in-panel lamps, as that was the way they did it. When I got the 170, I reconnected them and run both. I like that better.
Sorry I got long winded - just hope it helps.
