[Tonyhenley]

I just bought a 2003 tacoma and my gauge lights arent working. The dimmer works the radio and heating control lights but instrument panel is dark. Any ideas?

 

[humanoid]

There should be a little knob with a lightbulb to the left of the steering wheel. Turn it all the way to the right and see if that works. Welcome to TN.com BTW!

 

[Tonyhenley]

thanks humanoid. It will dim the radio and hvac controls but still nothing with the gauges. I took everything out of the dash and found two fuses i think one was a 10a and the other 3.5a both looked good. the 3.5a fuse did look like it had been hot so I replaced it and still no luck. I have looked at every fuse i could find and Im still missing something.

 

[humanoid]

Tony, did you check the fuse box that's right above the right knee on the driver's side? I assume you did. It sounds strange that all of them would go out at the same time. Maybe some loose connections somewhere?

 

[6shooter]

maybe all of the bulbs burned out?? since you just bought it, maybe they didn't all go out at "the same time" per say, they could have gone out one by one and the previous owner never did anything about it. replacement is pretty straight forward and the bulbs are cheap.

 

[Tonyhenley]

I had the instrument panel out yesterday and the bulbs looked fine, but I did notice 4 or 5 holes that were unused. I dont know if they ever had bulbs in them or if that is the problem. I dont know what to try next.

I love my truck but damn this is frustrating!!

 

[EnolaGaia]

Check your taillights. The dash illumination is powered off the same circuit as the taillights. If all fuses are good, it may be a wiring fault in the tails that's the real culprit, and the loss of dash lighting is just a secondary effect.

 

[Tonyhenley]

Well I got it fixed and 6shooter you called it. I went back to the bulbs and sure enough they were all four blown. I just didnt no what i was looking for the first time. I was checking the little bulbs and I should have been looking at the four bigger bulbs. So thanks to everybody for the help!

 

[spookeylukey]

gas gauge

Hey,
I drive an 01 prerunner extended cab TRD, and I think my gas gauge is lying to me,because i will fill up, and after about a 5 mile trip home it will say I have used about an 1/8 of a tank. Has this ever happened to any of you? I will drive to school and back (about a mile) and it will drop to 3/4 of a tank right after i filled it that day. One more thing, has anyone figured out which side the fuel censor is on inside the tank?
Thanks