Lisa,
Again, I'm no expert, I have enough experiene with this so that I now have more questions than I had before
After having thought about it, I'd say that if there was a short, you'd be blowing fuses. If there is a blown fuse, and when you replace it it immediately blows the fuse, then there is a wire that has power to it that is shorted out. The other side of the situation is a bad ground. Either way, the only way to diagnose it is to have a wiring diagram that shows the dash wiring. You'll see that on there are 4 terminals at the back of the instrument cluster. the terminal on the far left (left of the steering wheel looking forward has a wire again on the far left. That is the one that delivers power to the cluster. Once you've got the cluster out. You can flip it over and actually trace it's path around and see how it delivers power to 2 lights in back there. So the short and skinny of it is you have to get the cluster out to test. Check the bulbs. If not then you can turn the parking ligts on, check with a volt meter to see if power is at the terminal. very simple procedure, getting the dash apart was the tought part. if there is power therem you can test with an ohm meter for continuity on the back of the cluster itself to make sure power is passing through bulb housings and so forth. Someone with a very basic understanding of how to run an electrical tester and read a wiring diagram can go through this.
All that said, I have no dash lights
My tail lights went out, and the fuse box was blowing fuses. I traced the power line forward from the tail lights, tapping into it every so often and delivering 12 v from a raw wire on the battery to try to find the short. I know the short is in behind the dash somewhere. So I bypassed the dash and ran power off the fuse panel straight to the tail lights, giving me no dash lights. The parking light switch send power to a relay which switches and sends power through the fuse box, then through both bulbs in the instrument cluster, then the tailight power wiring leaves the cluster, runs in behind the dash, comes out under the engine control module under the glove box to a junction under the passenger seat, then pretty much straight back to the tail lights.
What I don't totally have figured out is that there is a safety mechanism, somehow if you don't have power in your tail lights, the circuit shuts down and turns your dash lights off. Your problem may be related to that, I don't have mine figured out so I'm not one to say I guess.
Did both dash lights go out at the same time/ or was half the dash lit, and then all the lights went out? One of the dash lights os right behind the fuel meter, the other is behind he left side of the speedometer meter on my truck. My right bulb had always been burne out. I'd beat on the dash with my fist and sometimes it would come back on. That may be related to my problem.
If both lights went out at the same time, there is a very small chance that both bulbs blew at the same time naturally.
Check to see if there is a fuse just for the dash lights, I don't think there is, I think it is tied to the tail light fuse.
If the fuses are fine you've really got to get the instrument cluster out to check it out, and having someone around who knows what they are looking at would help.
Probably didn't help a lot but that's all i know about that.
Pete
tail lights
Linear Mode
