so i was driving home from one night and i hit a bump and then the dash lights went out. i get home and i check the fuse and the one for the gauges was burnt. so i replaced it and then the lights still wont come on and i checked the fuse for the running lights and the fuse for that is popped. so i replace that one and every time i go to turn the lights on it pops. any ideas??

 

Dead short somewhere!
What's the year & model of your vehicle?
The rear of your vehicle always gets the worst of a bump, I'd bet your short is somewhere in the rear harness.
If you don't have access to a multimeter:- if it's a truck start by seperating the plug under the drivers seat (on a 4Runner it's under the right kick panel. This will isolate the rear harness from the front/dash harness. Plug in a fuse (for testing use small amp fuses, it's a dead short no sense in wasting 10 or 15 amp fuses when a 5 will test the circuit.) If the fuse holds then your problem is in the rear, if it doesn't then it is either under the dash or up front. Once you have isolated the problem to either the front or the rear unplug all of the accessories, tailights, licence plate lights, etc, so that you are only dealing with the main harness first. A multimeter is the easiest way to troubleshoot as you check for voltage and continuity, if you don't have one then you had better have a s*!^ load of fuses.
Hopefully your problem is in the rear because up front the harness is one piece from the junction block under the drivers kick panel out both fenders to the front parking and signal lights and you have to tear the dash out to get at it!
But if you are lucky enough to isolate it to the rear, with the fuse in and all of the accessories unpluged, put the connector that you took apart back together, if the fuse blows then your problem is in the rear main harness, which you will have to isolate, remove the tape and check visually. A dead short will be easy to see.
If the short was not in the main harness then keep pluging in accessories until the fuse blows. Once that happens check the accessory for the problem.

If you have a multimeter the procedure is a little different. I don't know what you have for a vehicle, but generally a Toyota tailight circuit is a green wire and your ground is probably white/black. If everything is fine up front you check for 12v on the source side of the plug between the green and white/black. On the load side (rear harness side) you set your multi-meter to give an audible beep and you check continuity from the power wire (green) to the ground (white/black) in the plug under the seat. That's generally the way you check for continuity with a multimeter. However, you can't do that with light circuits, because the circuit will complete through any bulb element and you will always read a complete circuit from power to ground. You have to isolate the bulbs. Remove them all from their sockets or unplug the wires feeding them from the harness. Removing them from the sockets is a little more time consuming, but the best way to go. Once removed you will check for continuity at the plug under the seat, then unplug the individual circuits from the harness one at a time as you check for continuity. For example with the bulbs removed and you find a ground circuit when you check for continuity, unplug the licence plate lights, check again, unplug the right taillight assembly, check again, unplug the right side marker light (if any) check again. Keep doing this until all of the rear plugs are separated from the harness and the final check will be the harness from under the seat to the rear plugs. If you lose the ground circuit after a particular plug is seperated then your problem is in the wiring or the bulb receptacles of that accessory. For example if you had a ground circuit before, but not after you unplugged the right tail light assembly then your problem is the right tailight assembly.
Once the problem is found the fix is to splice the wires. Solder and heat shrink with a sealant in it is the only fix for automotive wiring. Using a butt splice (compression connector) or those pinch connectors that you squeeze together with pliers is a lazy fix and because of moisture and corrosion will cause you problems later down the road. You want to fix the problem, not create a new one!
Good Luck!

 

its a 94 2wd pick up.and yes i have a mulitmeter. so im going to go try to fix this thanks for the input.

 

Okay so I unplgged the rear harness and the fuse still pops. So it is the main harness I'm guessing. And one thing I forgot to mention is that one time when. Replaced the fuse it worked for a minute till I put the fuse cover back on and I'm guessing it bumped something? But it popped when I did that. So I'm Thinking the short is somewhere right by the fuse box. Any hint on the next step of fixing this? Thanks for the help.

 

Sorry for just getting back to you. Next I would unbolt the fuse block and look for anything obvious there. A dead short like this there should be evidence of burning and carbon from the arc. If nothing jumps out at you , then next would be to unplug all other accessories that run off of that circuit and test again. That would be front marker lights, combination meter lights, basically every other light circuit. If it is not right at the fuse panel, then you will have to tear your dash completely apart to find this one.