Lost dash, tail/parking lights on way home

[FJsnoozer]

Calling all gurus (bj40green)

I noticed my dash go out and looked back to see that my tail lights side markers and license were all out. I spent an hour or two at a gas station looking for any loose ground or a bad bulb and could not find one. There were no bad fuses either. Well, there was but I replaced it(the bottom fuse. My fuse cover says that that fuse is for something else though.

Finally, I limped it home with my foot triggering the brake switch so. I wouldnt get pulled over or hit.

What are some causes of this circuit to go out?
What should I be looking for?
I will go back through with some new bulbs and see if they just "look" good.

 

[brisveganbj42]

I've had issues before where wires from the indicators (park light possibly) was exposed and shorted out on where it went through the fender. I use crimped connections here and one had exposed wire. it would short, blow a fuse and take all that with it. It happened after going over bumpy terrain. Check here as it could be an easy find for you..

 

[Coolerman]

Only one thing in common for all those lights: The headlight switch. on a 77 the TOP fuse is the tail lights and the BOTTOM fuse is for the dash lights. I would put my money on it being dirty headlight switch contacts. Remove the headlight switch, take it apart and clean it out. Use a pencil eraser to clean all the contacts then apply a SMALL amount of dielectric grease to the contacts and some to the moving shaft and contact block. Reassemble and see if that fixed it.

 

[bparker]

Coolerman's got it. Had the same happen to me and it was a bad headlight switch.

 

[Pin_Head]

It is not a bad ground when you have so many bulbs go out at once. Each of them has a separate ground and it is very unlikely that they would all be bad at the same time.

 

[CreeperSleeper]

x3 on the headlight switch. Mine is very temperamental. I can usually find the sweet spot where everything works though.

 

[FJsnoozer]

This is great. Should I just buy a new one from Toyota, or tinker with mine? When you guys are talking about dirty connections, are you referring to the internals of the harness connector?

I will probably fix this Monday.

 

[Coolerman]

Yes the internals. It is really easy to take apart and repair. Here is a pic of what you will see inside more or less. Pic is of a 1971 Headlight switch. You want to clean all the brass parts to shiny metal, then put a LITTLE bit of dielectric grease. Not the amount shown, that was my first time doing it and it made a mess...