Dash instrument panel and tail lights went out

STOP and PARK LPS will be tail lights.

ILLUM and GAUGES will.be dash lights.



STOP
Stop/CHMSL, Stoplamps

GAUGES
IP Cluster, DRL Relay, DRL Module, HDLP Switch, Keyless Entry Illumination, Low Coolant Module, CHIME Module, DRAB Module

PARK LPS
License Plate Lamp, Parking Lamps, Taillamps, Front Sidemarkers, Glove Box Ashtray

ILLUM
LP Cluster, HVAC Controls, RR HVAC Controls, IP Switches, Radio Illumination, Door Switch Illumination

Oh boy, I just went through this with my '92 Lesabre, took a long time to trace it all down, and wound up splicing in a new wire just to my instrument cluster lights. A short kept blowing fuses somewhere in that circuit.
Down where your feet go, up under the dash at the fuse panel, there is a 15 amp fuse for park/tail lights. When you hit the light switch (for heads or park lights), power is sent to that fuse, and then to the exterior park lights. There is another wire from that fuse (green wire on mine) that also goes up under the dash, and splices to several bulbs-on the radio, on the HVAC controller, on the ashtray light, also one to the under hood lamp, and then one to the dimmer/brighter switch on the dash, the rheostat that controls brightness of interior lights. One of the green splices goes into this switch, and then another wire goes from this switch to the instrument cluster for the gauge and dash illumination. I couldn't find the short, so ran a new wire from the park light fuse to the gray wire to the instrument cluster for the cluster bulbs. I bypassed the dimmer, and left off the HVAC bulbs and ashtray light. Too much trouble to wire them all up, and think my short may have been in the dimmer rheostat.
If you have a voltmeter, pull out the dimmer switch and check for power on those wires, the green from the fuse. The park light must be switched on, or the fuse has no power. There be 8 or 9 wires on that dimmer rheostat-I never did figure out where all of them went. Asked all over a Buick forum, but nobody had an answer.

The tail lights work off the headlight switch, and there is a fuse for the tail lights. Make sure the fuse is good, first, a 15 amp (blue) fuse in the instrument panel fuse block. Then, you might have a bad headlight switch.
So you DO have dash lights, they just don't dim from the dimmer switch? In the wiring diagram, there is a green wire from a "tail light relay" (in the "Junction Block-Right Instrument Panel") that carries power to all the exterior lamps, as well as having a splice to the Instrument Panel Cluster (illum. bulbs), and to the lamp dimmer, and to the radio bulb.
To do any further testing, you would need a voltmeter or a test light, so you could chase down this power loss. Good luck.

No. Dash lights being out could be a bad headlight switch, since the dash lights are routed through the headlight switch, not the dimmer switch. Park and tail lights also controlled by the headlight switch.

hi ,ive got exactly the same problem on my cherokee,ther is a sound of a relay buzzzing under the dash.when i turn on the side lights,nothing,turn on headlamps and i get dip plus side lamps,no dash lights though,after a whils all lights fail but i can pull/flash main beam and hold it on,im taking out the dash area tomorrow,friday ,i have aspare headlamp switch and relay/fuse box ,my mobile is 07712128561,ill keep you posted

Dash light could be your dimmer switch. as for your tail light check power at chasis junktion plug with test lght 4 buck at wal-art. ford used fuseable links as a safety feature in case of shorts but you cant see when they blow so test light is your friend.

try replacing the dimmer switch

My dash board lights are out on my 2002 taurus wagon, any comments?

The headlights have 2 fuses. One is a main power feed under the hood in the distrabution box and the other is under the dashboard. Check the fuses and then check for power at the switch. If you have power at the switch then its not a fuse its the switch and the trailer you had connected most likely shorted and back fed into the parking and dash light circuit. Those circuits also run from the light switch.

Check instrument panel fuse first. It would be labled on the fuse door or in manual. If not blown i would suspect the dimmer switch. There are to many bulbs in a instrument panel for them all to blow at one time.