Speedometer/tachometer lights out. Ac panel lights out.

[Caccomando]

So!
My speedometer, and tachometer and AC bezel lights are out. NOTE my battery light, door light, high beams, ebrake light all work and on my climate control the Econ button ans AC button still light.
1 Checked fuses and replaced every single one accordingly to spec...No fix.
2 Wiring? Maybe but car has 20k original miles hasnt been touched or tampered in anyway
3 Bulbs?
4 Doubt its the battery its newer and I still have power to everything

The only thing ive done electric wise, I unplugged all the speakers and factory headunit then replugged it back in to try and fix the issue of no sound coming from the headunit.
(If anyone has any idea on that that would awesome as well)


The car is an SR5 and I just noticed this today.

[Deuce Cam]

It's likely the headlight switch (common problem). (I've had 2 with the same problem.) You can try tapping on headlight switch knob (or slapping the dash around it) to see if there's any change, but this is usually just a temporary fix. IIRC there are write ups floating around showing how to re solder the connections in the switch which supposedly fixes the issue, just search around. Or get another switch.

[Caccomando]

It's likely the headlight switch (common problem). (I've had 2 with the same problem.) You can try tapping on headlight switch knob (or slapping the dash around it) to see if there's any change, but this is usually just a temporary fix. IIRC there are write ups floating around showing how to re solder the connections in the switch which supposedly fixes the issue, just search around. Or get another switch.

Tapped the ish out of her, still no response not even a flicker. I made sure 100% that I rotated the illumination the entire time to ensure. Something tells me the bulbs are burnt out in there.
Ill get some new ones and go from the green to white (planned on doing this at some point) If that doesn't work, I'll check the switch.
Hopefully I'll return with good news.

[Deuce Cam]

It's probably past the point of no return. Mine just did as well. After going years tapping it to get them to re illuminate (a few bouts were it wouldn't work for months), they no longer light up no matter how hard (or how much) I tap.

Fwiw it controls the hvac lights as well. My feeling is the odds of all the bulbs being bad is slim, but I could be wrong. You could always try replacing one bulb to see if there's a change.

[MtLemmon86]

When this happened to me my break lights stopped working and I had a short somewhere off the kick panel fuse box was a major pain to track down and get everything working again.

[Caccomando]

When this happened to me my break lights stopped working and I had a short somewhere off the kick panel fuse box was a major pain to track down and get everything working again.

Where did you end up finding the problem? Also did it happen simotaneously such as when you hit the brake the cluster went out?

Like mentioned above, its probably not the bulbs since its effecting my climate control lights as well. Definitely could have the same issue you did.

[MtLemmon86]

It was the wires right behind the kick panel fuse box, they were just exposed in a few spots so I basically had to redo half of them. I was driving home one night and my cluster and climate control lights went out, the next morning I looked at the corresponding fuse and it appeared fine but I changed it anyway, then the fuse for the brake lights kept blowing everytime I hit the brakes. After replacing one of the bulbs and replacing the exposed wiring I was good to go. Not sure if the bulb was what was wrong with the cluster lights or if it just happened to be out or how related the two are but that's what worked for me.

[Caccomando]

It was the wires right behind the kick panel fuse box, they were just exposed in a few spots so I basically had to redo half of them. I was driving home one night and my cluster and climate control lights went out, the next morning I looked at the corresponding fuse and it appeared fine but I changed it anyway, then the fuse for the brake lights kept blowing everytime I hit the brakes. After replacing one of the bulbs and replacing the exposed wiring I was good to go. Not sure if the bulb was what was wrong with the cluster lights or if it just happened to be out or how related the two are but that's what worked for me.

Good info my man! I will be applying this when I tackle this. I also notice my right signal is blinking double speed. Something is off.


At the end of the day though, did you ever have to replace anything behind the cluster? Light bulbs or the switches? Im dreading it being the switch itself like stated above.

[Deuce Cam]

I also notice my right signal is blinking double speed.

That generally means a bulb has gone out, or a bad/loose connection on the wiring to the housing with the bulb. It's probably not a fuse if it happens on just one side.

Try swapping bulbs side-to-side first to see if the problem moves to the other side.

If it persists check the wiring starting from the housing back. If you have jdm bumpers/lights odds are some type of splicing took place to get the jdm housings wired up, maybe a connection came loose - it's happened to me before.

[jondee86]

My speedometer, and tachometer and AC bezel lights are out. NOTE my battery light,
door light, high beams, ebrake light all work and on my climate control the Econ button
and AC button still light.

Having a browse of the USDM AE86 wiring diagram, I can see that power for all the
instrument panel and switch illumination comes from the 15A Tail Light fuse. It seems
that each light that is associated with a switch or control function is on a separate
sub-circuit... for example, de-fog switch, headlight and wiper switches.

But lighting for items that don't have a control function is on a general "Instrument
Cluster" circuit... for example, tacho, speedo and heater panel illumination (not the
switches). The cluster circuit hooks up to pin C2 (live when lights are ON) and pin C1
(ground) in Junction Box #3 (located behind the instrument cluster).

The C1 pin does actually ground via the lighting rheostat, so if there was a problem
there, tapping the switch could shake something into place. However, such a problem
would affect ALL the switch and instrument cluster illumination, not just a few items.
So I think you are going to have to check to see if you have an open circuit between
those C1 and C2 pins.

An good luck wit dat !!!!

Cheers... jondee86