chesa

Hey, I know this is electrical, but its a specific 2nd gen 4 runner question

My 1990 3.0L auto 4runner Tail lights and dash light are not working. I dont know what has caused it, as I received the car like this.

What I have done:

-Checked fuse (No power on voltmeter lights on or off)
-Checked Tail light relay (power continuosly, and I bridged it with the relay out but no luck, and 74 ohms when i test relay)
-I have no power at the tail lights at all. But other lights on different systems working fine
-Checked the Dimmer switch, and I have NO power here? I thought I may be able to bridge, and try to eliminate the dimmer, but there's no power? Thinking this could be the source of the problems?
-The car has no trailer adapter, but it has had a different stereo installed.

I have searched the forum and internet extensivly, but not winning! Dash currently in pieces.

Any Help would be much appreciated.

scope103

The taillight fuse is downstream of the tailight control relay (same panel http://personal.utulsa.edu/~nathan-b.../2powersou.pdf) . So when you check the relay connector, there should be continuous power to pin 2, and pin 1 should be grounded when the light switch is "on".

Can you hear the relay actuate (click) when you switch the lights? Do the taillights work when you jumper pin 1 to 3? (careful; that pulls enough current to justify safety glasses). Or just turn off the key (to remove power to pin 1) and check for continuity to ground on 2 (when the light switch is ON) and 3 (you're measuring the resistance of the bulbs to ground.)

edit: oops! Turning off the key does not turn off the taillights (so does not remove power from pin 1). You can use an ohmmeter to test pins 2 and 3, but since pin 1 has 12v you need to be careful.

CJM

My dimmer blew awhile back and I found if I grounded out the wiring I got dash lights. Not sure if your tail lights are related to this or not however.

chesa

FIXED! Thanks for replies crew. Not 100% sure what it was, either a loose connection, or a dodgy exposed wire from old stereo install I found.

The tail lights are constantly on now (with the daytime running lights), not sure if they are suppose to be, but I can live with that.