1993 Toyota Tacoma 3.0L

My dad recently picked up a 1 owner 93 ext cab 4x4 tacoma and was showing it to me this past weekend. For some reason the lights on the instrument panel no longer work. I know there are 10+ bulbs on the panel and doubt very seriously that all the bulbs are bad (which we later did confirm some bulbs are still good on it) what would be causing this? One guy I talked to this weekend asked if it had a aftermarket radio in, which it does. He said he could be the relay on the dimmer switch that alot of times aftermarket radios will cause them to go bad. Just wanted to check if this could be true or if anyone else has ideas?

 

Oh and the cigarette lighter was not working also not sure if the two are linked somehow?

 

Did you check the fuses?

 

I checked the ones under the kick panel that said inst. panel I think it was 10 or 15amp (can't remember) but it was good. We put another in it just for heck of it.

 

There should also be one in the engine bay fuse panel

 

I will check it this afternoon, I wasn't expecting two but thanks for the heads up.

 

No worries check all the fuses and relays in the fuse boxes and check the connection to the plug on the back of the instrument cluster had my buddies entire gauge cluster go out because a few wires were loose

 

its usually pretty simple. That dial for the dimmer goes bad too.

people hack shit up for the radio and mess it up. luckily they are pretty simple still

 

I think thats the route he's going now last he told me all fuses were good when he pulled the dash apart all the harness connections were still connected and tight. But trying to find a dimmer switch for it is gonna be fun.

 

Egay always has them. You can bypass the switch to test.

However there is a power issue too if your cigarette lighter is not working. Maybe the grounds?

 

Oh forgot about the cig lighter, it is working again that one was a plug issue.