Electrical Problems?

OK guys. Looking for some help.

Yesterday my Research Power side steps on the drivers side broke. They no longer went up after closing the door. The lights worked though.
So I just unplugged the steps in the up position. I was going to address why they don’t work later.

This morning I get in my truck and all my major dash lights are out. The radio, clock, maint req light, and my light light is still on. But no gauge lights.

I plugged the steps back in to see if that fixed the issue. It didnt.

Whats going on?

Did I blow a circut when I unplugged the steps? How do I check that?


Thanks for any help.

 

Start with the easy stuff, check your fuses and the wiring connections for the steps.

 

Also check your grounds for all ecms and main ground. Than look at the tail light harness for a bare hot wire hitting a ground.

 

Ok false alarm...

Dropped it off at the dealer this morning for lack of time.

Apparently there is a knob on the dash you turn to dim or brighten the dash lights... apparently it was turned down to off.

Feel like a gigantic idiot but at least I learned that knob exists now LOL

 

Oops.

You aren't the first and you will not be the last.

Look on the bright side. At least you didn't dump the transmission fluid doing an oil change and then pour it into the radiator overflow tank.

Just sayin.

 

This is true.

My grandfather would get a kick out of this.

He pulled a worse one though. He bought a brand new Buick. Took it to the dealer 3 times for rattling in the dash driving him nuts.

He left a peach pit in the ash tray.

Lol

 

And .... did the steps get fixed?

 

Yup, those darn dimmer switches. You'd think they'd list and point out stuff like that in a small book for each vehicle. They could even include it with the vehicle, and make them available to other vehicle owners in case it gets lost. They could call it something silly like, an owner's manual!

It could include all sorts of useful information, yeah! Like bulbs/fuses, what buttons/knobs do, fluid specs, maintenance schedules. Nah, that's just silly. Who wants to read anything that doesn't have a meme or cat attached to it? LOL

 

As my Computer Teachers always told me - if you have nut'n good to say, you should tape your delete key down.

 

It was just a bit of light-hearted humor. Apparently that humor/sarcasm was lost on you. Next time I'll include a bunch of smiley faces, just for you.

 

Mine was just a bit of light-hearted humor as well .....

 

D'oh! LOL!!

 

I honestly don’t think anyone reads their owners manual.

I don’t because its impossible to find things. The indexes aren’t set up well. Also the owners manual hides a lot of things intentionally so you pay a dealer to fix them.
My moms Subaru Manual will not tell you where the oil pan is.
Also her owners manual has the incorrect instructions for her head unit. It gives instructions for the non-upgraded system. So you have to look up everything on YouTube anyways.

While I get your joke... owners manuals are not useful and people shouldn’t be expected to read, conprehend, and memorize everything in them.

Plus... in 16 years of driving I have never once thought to myself “gosh these gauge lights are so effing bright! They should be dimmed!” LOL. Never in a million years would I think that to be an intuative option in a car. Why is that something that should exist?

But its a Toyota. Options you don’t want are standard and options you do want aren’t made.

 

Lol that’s funny!
Cool you got the nut to say what it was!!
The arrow by the gas gauge also points to gas door side funny a lot of people don’t know this.

 

wow lol I've never read a maual cover to cover.. or even the cover from top to bottom.

 

Rationalize it to yourself all you want. Dimmable instrument lighting has been around since at least the 60s, and not just in Toyotas.

As far as owners manuals go; they're a wealth of info but they're not service manuals. And upgraded/optional systems not included in the base manual typically have supplement manuals added into the portfolio to cover them.

Been in this business a lot longer than you've been driving.

 

Exactly. I don’t think younger generations take in and recieve information the same today as decades ago.

I prefer to research info online and get more information faster than looking up crap in a book and wasting my time.

This was an issue that could only be fixed by memorizing the manual. No one does that. And I don’t feel bad about not doing it.


I’ve talked to a couple people and only folks over 50 knew what I was talking about LOL.
Majorly outdated feature. Maybe thats why Corey Hart wore sunglasses at night.

 

I doubt the dealer techs have memorized the owners manual for every vehicle they work on

 

What, you don't take in information through your eyes or ears? Just because you can scroll, use a search, or ask Siri/Bixbi to narrow the scope doesn't negate the fact that you still have to read, watch, or listen in order to take it in.

I humbly disagree. This never would have been an issue if you'd familiarized yourself with the features & functions of your vehicle. The dimmer switch isn't exactly hidden, and the graphic on the switch shows a gauge with a lightbulb and a scale - pretty intuitive if you think about it.

You could only consider this 'outdated' if your eyesight's perfect and not sensitive to light, like a lot of people. It's not an age-related thing, it's an eyesight thing.

 

Truth!

Owners manuals are a reference guide for vehicle owners. Service manuals are a repair guide for dealer techs. Typically anything in the owners manual is in the service manual, and expanded upon in far greater detail.

Manuals exist because there's too much information to memorize, period. A few dozen manufacturers, a couple hundred new models every year, manuals for every model...do the math. Even if you specialized in one make, there's still a dozen+ models on average, with drivetrain/option variants. Unless you're Data from Star Trek, it would be impossible to know it all. The fact that owners manuals use to be 50-100 pages and now are 6-700+ pages is a testament to just how much crap there is in any given modern vehicle these days.

Having the manuals available, be they service or owners, is a great resource when you need it.