Dash lights went out

Howdy, last night my dash lights went out. All other dash light idicatiors (oil, check engine...) went on for a short time after starting like they should. But no dash lights at all with the headlights on. The headlights and signal indicators work as they should. Also all tail lights are extremely dim.

Anyone know what may be going on? Thank you

 

I've heard of people cranking down the dash dimmer switch to turn off the dash lights. Particularly on the vehicles of young ladies they were interested in 'rescuing'.

Just make sure no one is trying rescue you.

Then move on to the fusebox. Have you verified you have brake lights? (you mention tail, but not brake)

 

When my dash lights recently went out, the 'Panel' fuse had blown. Its located in the engine bay fuse box.

 

Anything else fail with that? I've seen other marquees have a tie to the dash and tails or brake lights. Assume that was to give you a clue you had a problem. But don't know if Toyota does similar?

 

I have a floor-shift automatic tranny, and the shifter was no longer illuminated. It fixed that as well.

Not sure if your 2nd-gen truck is wired the same, I would not assume that.

 

Thanks for all the replies so far. It is a 2004 3.4 v6 5 speed.

 

OK I checked all fuses under hood and under dash. None were blown.

Any other suggestions before I tear into it? One clue- before the lights went out one side of the dash lights was out/dimmer. How hard is it to get to the dash lights connection? (2004 )

 

Just checked again. The 10 amp TAIL fuse (Under hood fusebox) was blown. Second I turned on the headlights the new fuse blew.

Now thinking the tail lights , bulb sockets and connections need to be checked. Any other suggestions?

 

You have a short (live wire contacting directly to ground) somewhere in the tail light circuit. Trace the wires back from the lights. Sometimes this is caused by owner-added wiring for trailers.

 

GOT IT!!!!
Appreciate all replies. Exactly what was said above. Disconnected and cleaned the trailer light "splitter" that I added about 1.5 years ago. The plugs were green and dirty. Put it all back together with silicone dieelectric grease and no splitter.

Alll lights working as normal. There were 2 fuses that actual were cooked. The one labeled TAIL in the underhood fuse pannel and the one labeled gauges in the under dash pannel

Thank again to all who replied. Trouble shooting would have been much worse without all the advice

 

Very late but in case someone comes back in the future with the same problem. I fixed that issue by replacing the Tail 10A fuse and everything went back to normal!