dash help...

Hello! My name is Alexandra.

I'm a newbie to all of this -- just bought my truck this past January.

I need a little help. I'm not very familiar with the insides of a car or truck, so I'm hoping someone can lend me some of their knowledge!

I drive a 2014 TRD sport. I went out to start my truck tonight and noticed that the dash lights were completely out -- speedometer, A/C & heating fan lights.. it was basically completely dark in the truck. I realized that it wasn't very safe to be driving like that, so I pulled over into a parking lot to restart the truck.. hoping they'd come on. When I turned the truck back on, it sounded slightly weaker than normal. So I turned around and went home just in case. When I got home, I looked up online some possible causes.. started reading all this stuff about the alternator being bad.. got even more worried! I went out and turned the truck on for a third time and it sounded normal.. but all of the lights were still out. I've read a few other threads mentioning the fuse being bad.. could it be a low battery issue since it sounded slightly weak when driving it?

I've never had an issue with the truck, she sounds great when running normally.. any advice?
I'm a girl so I tend to over worry about things.


Thank you.

 

Have you tried turning the trip meter that's on the speedometer. That's also a dimmer switch to turn those down or off. Just a thought.

 

Could be a weak battery but I assume you still had headlights to see and drive? You just need to trouble shoot battery,fuse.

 

Yes, I tried that just now.. turned it all the way up and nothing.

 

Dimmer dial for dash lights is to the left of the display on the dashboard, it's a vertical dial.

 

OK. So it's most likely a fuse. I really can't help you there. Sorry. Not sure which one it is. Fuse box is under the hood on mine. Not sure if the late model 2nd Gen has one under the hood to along with a panel to the left of the steering wheel down where you pull the hood release like my 07 had. They are labeled some what.

 

j

 

Like I said you really need to start trouble shoot. Think about it you need power to light up your dash could be a weak battery,fuse,even a alternator hell it could be something as simple.

 

She tried that already.

 

She, and no she tried turning the trip meter

 

No worries, I'll look into the fuse tomorrow.

I tried turning up the dimmer and I didn't have any luck with that.

 

To me it sounds like a fuse. Just don't know which fuse box, under the hood or in the cab? Either way, on the under side of the fuse box lid under the hood is a diagram of what each fuse and relay controls. Same with the one in the cab underneath the dash on the far left of the driver side. Find the one for that are and replace the fuse. If that's it, then you'll spend about $2 on a new fuse. If not, now you have a spare fuse. Just a thought....good luck trying to figure it out!

 

I think there are spare fuses in the lid of the fuse box under the hood. At least there are now in the 3rd gens, didn't pay to much attention in my 2nd Gen.

 

You happy now grammar police?

 

After a quick search, if not the fuse then it could be a bad dimmer switch.

 

2nd gen has that too

 

If nothing lights up then the dimmer switch went bad
I've seen a good amount of them gone out
Some people short them out when installing new aftermarket radios etc when they accidently cross the wires behind the dash

If a local member is willing to help, just swap switches to test it...

 

That's what I was thinking when I saw that the hvac lights ain't working either.

 

Yea I had a local member drive To my place a couple weeks back with the same problem
Swapped the dimmer switch with mine and it worked

Actually what the op can do is pop the dimmer switch out and unplug it
Once unplug the instrument cluster (speedo etc) will turn fully lit
So she can at least drive it at night and see all her dials

@bullyb.