no parking lights or dash lights?

[blockade-runner85]

so i noticed with some night driving that my dash lights dont turn on, and neither do my marker lights. only the pop ups are turning on from what i can tell, not even the tail lights illuminate unless the brakes are applied, anyone know of a possible culprit? I believe they worked around a month ago when i purchased the car. Any help would be appreciated, just felt like asking before breaking out the multimeter.

[sirdan]

The dash and tail light circuit is tied together on most cars. That way if your dash lights go out you know you don't have tail lights. I had trouble with my tail light grounds in the tail light housings at one point. Id check the fuse first since your dash lights went out then try and figure out why it blew.

[blockade-runner85]

thanks a ton, i was driving and noticed that my rear lights werent illuminated in their housings.

[blockade-runner85]

ugh. after replacing the relay for the lights, they still dont work. looks like im digging into the wiring diagram to find a fault, watch it be some really obscure grounding wire smh

[sirdan]

My 4 runner has a plug for the rear harness down by the passenger kick panel. I guess it is there so when they assembled it they could fish the harness in from the back or something, it serves no purpose other than to separate the harness to put in or take it out of the vehicle. Well between the windshield leaking and whatever comes off your feet when you get in it corroded and my tail lights stopped working. I ended up just cutting it out and connecting it back with butt connectors since id never use the plug anyway. Any plugs are going to be most vunerable to corrosion or melting from a loose fit so I would start there. Clean up any chassis grounds you come across as well. I want to say there are some connectors by the drivers side kick panel but its been a long time since I have had a celica now.

[blockade-runner85]

fixed!! it was the stereo wires, they were crossed and abhorrently slashed up. tidied them up and no more fuses getting blown. it makes sense now since the fuses only blew with the key in the ignition, which sends power to the stereo plugs. i did find some rather mysterious plugs that i suspect are left over from when the chassis was an automatic.