So I bought a 2008 Honda Fit in February. Are the dashlights supposed to be on all the time when you turn your car on or are they supposed to turn on when you turn the light switch?

The car manual says the dash lights turn on when you turn the light switch one click and then the headlights come on in the next position.

(My car is USA version - manual sport).

I'm trying to figure out if I have some sort of wiring problem.

 

Your lights are fine. They will be illuminated while running during the day but the output will change when you turn on your headlights. First time you drive the car at night and turn the headlights on you'll see the difference.

 

Hmm. Seems like a weird way to wire the car. All my previous cars have never had their dashlights on all the time.

I also noticed today that when my headlights are on that only the smaller indicator light comes on and not both of them. I don't know if a light bulb blew out or what.

I haven't had my car for very long and I'd for something to be wrong with it.

 

When you turn your headlights on you will get one indicator light on the instrument panel. When you turn on your driving lights another indicator will come on. When your brights are on your headlight indicator will change to indicate brights.

 

You have one indicator light for the headlights and one for the fog lights.

 

i think you might be misunderstanding the manual. 'dashlights' refers to the lights in the car's other controls, not the illumination of the gauge cluster.

the gauge cluster (speedometer, tachometer, fuel gauge) in the fit needs to be illuminated all the time or else you're gonna have a very hard time seeing anything in there.

the dashlights (radio, a/c switch, fan, temperature, and some other controls) are only illuminated when you turn the switch to parking lights (1st click) and headlights (2nd click). the radio display/clock will always be illuminated, and will dim when you turn on the lights (it's too bright at night), just like the gauge cluster.

the 2nd indicator light that you're worried might have burned out is only lit when you have the foglights on with your headlights. if you only have your headlights on, you only get one light indicating it.

hope that helps