Last night the dash lights on my truck quit working. Including the lights behind the heat/ac controls. I turned the headlight switch up and down, wiggled it, etc thinking the switch was not making good contact inside (my old Chevy was like that) and I just can't make them work. I haven't found the fuse box yet to be able to check the fuse, but if its a fuse then there are probably big problems somewhere.

I really don't know what to do besides check the fuse and test for power from the switch - which doesn't sound like a fun job.

I bought a Chilton's for this truck the other day but don't know if it will help me much or not.

Any other things to check?

 

Yeah, it's probably the fuse. Fuse box is usually just under the dash on the drivers side. Behind a plastic cover plate. Twist any retainers and remove the plate. Your manual should help a lot. Let us know if you have any trouble.

 

Found the fuse box. It was a fuse, however upon replacing the fuse, it burned out as soon as i turned the lights on. It blew the fuse before the lights came on, they didnt even flash. I dont know what to do next.

 

You have a short somewhere you will have to use the wiring schematic in your manual to start tracing out the circuit to find it.

They're not that hard to read just time consuming and sometimes a pain to find the problem, but if it shoots the fuse that quick it going to be a direct short to ground some where in the circuit.

I would start by doing a visual check under the dash then move on to the light switch, driver side tirm on the door opening then the door switchs and the interior light.

 

You have the Royal PIA of automotive problems. get yourself one of these: $16.99


This is Equus tester far better then the test light I currently have, and I ordered one as soon as I saw it on Amazon. With this circuit tester using a schematic for your truck you can march up or down the wiring in your truck and find out where the problem is. You should also have a digital multi meter (DMM) but for this job the test probe will do the job. If you decide to get a DMM I have long favored Extech test equipment. This one which costs about $20 dollars will fill the bill.

 

Does anyone have a wiring diagram of the light circuit? The chiltons doesnt have a very good one. It shows 3 wires coming off light switch and there are actually about 9 pins on the switch itself.

It does not show the dash lights on the diagram anywhere and thus, no wire going to it. I took the switch out of the truck just now and I see a spot where the connector has been burned but it appears to be for the dome light since it has no resistance against one of the other pins when i turn the switch to the dome light position.

This means that I have no idea which pin/wire goes to the instrument cluster.

 

i had the same exact thing happen to mine. i checked the fuses and they are good so one of these days i suppose i will have to get under the dash and trace all my wires too.

 

I was having this exact problem. Turned out it was a wire on my ash tray that was chewed up

 

I took the truck to the auto electric shop today and he said it was indeed a bare illumination wire for the radio grounding out. I removed the radio before it went to the shop and I didn't see any wires grounding out anywhere. So I spent $70 (one hour shop labor) for something I should have been able to find myself, but oh well. He also installed my radio like it should have been, unlike the person who initially installed the radio. So it wasn't too bad of a deal in the end. I wouldn't think twice about taking the truck back to this guy for wiring work.