it could be the switch itself. To remove it, there is a button you have to depress by reaching up under your dash on the side of the switch--push the button in and the knob stem comes out from the front. Then remove the switch and replace, or just remove and test by jumping the terminals with a stripped wire. Unless your '83 has the steering column light switch, i don't know when they switched (pardon the pun) over to the steering column light switch.