Instrumental panel lights

There should be a fuse for the gauges if that is what is not working. When you say burnt out.... do you mean nothing is functioning or there is no back lighting. If you are reffering to back lighting, the dash lights work in series with the park lights. Check for park lights working on the vehicle. If no park light, check fuses. If nothing working, try slapping on top of the dash area above the instrument panel to see if it starts working again

i have the same problem on instrument cluster sometimes its working very well and sometime not. i try different thins i clean the terminals adding more ground and power but the problems always come back. so i change the whole instrument cluster.i recomend to change your instrument cluster

Have you tried the dash light dimmer control

Sounds like the instrument cluster main wiring harness pins on the instrument cluster circuit board. How are you with a soldering gun? Just re-flow the solder on the 13 pins of the main wiring connector on the instrument cluster circuit board, and you should be fine. To get there, you need to remove:
- the lower dash panel under the steering wheel (5 screws),
- instrument bezel cover around the steering column (2 screws),
- instrument cluster cover (3 screws to my recollection),
- and then instrument cluster (4 screws)

If the problem returns or persists, then consider re-flowing the solder on the #331 resistor on the body control module circuit board - there is only one of these on the circuit board. To get the bcm out, remove:
- lower dash panel under steering column (5 screws)
- metal kick plate - 10 bolts and 1 screw (although not necessary, you can get more room by removing the lower metal dash bracket as well - 5 bolts)
- three 10mm bolts holding the bcm in place
- 2 wiring connectors on the bottom of the bcm
- 4 wiring connectors on the front of the bcm - You need to back off the connectors with a nut driver - they were either 11mm or 12 mm

Then:
- remove the metal bcm cover - 3 small bolts
- remove the circuit board - 4 screws
- use a magnifying glass to find the #331 resistor
You're probably best off replacing this resistor while you have everything accessible. (this is apparently the standard re-build fix for these bcm's) I didn't have a suitable replacement, so I just re-melted the solder. After re-installing everything, all my previous dash board gremlins disappeared.

Give yourself 2-3 hours (well maybe 4) for all this.

You have to remove the instrument panel assy and replace the bulb from the back. It's not fun and it's not easy.

You will need a cross point screw driver

1 Remove the two screws on the underside of the top of the trim panel surrounding the dash and instrument panel.

2 Pull the trim piece off the dash.

3 Remove the four screws that hold the instrument panel in the dashboard using a cross point screwdriver.

4 Slide the dashboard instrument panel forward and disconnect the electrical connector from the back of the dashboard.

5 Turn the instrument panel over.

6 Turn the base of the dashboard light bulb counterclockwise to unlock it from the instrument panel and pull it out of the panel to remove it.

7 Insert a new light bulb into the back of the panel, and turn the bulb clockwise to lock it into the panel.

8 Plug the electrical connector back into the instrument panel and slide the panel back into the dashboard.

9 Secure the panel with the factory mounting screws and replace the trim and trim-mounting screws using a screwdriver.

Take out the instrument cluster, there is a plug in the middle of the cluster in the back. Several phillips screws hold the circuit board to the cluster. If you look real close there will be cracked solder joints where these pins are soldered to the board. resolder any pins that are suspect. you may have to get a good magnifying glass and good light to see it.

Likely you have a bad connection on one of the dash connector plugs. Generally if they come on when you smack the top of the dash when they go off that verifies it. If so, remove the dash face and gauge panel (use manual) and clean contacts.

There is a plastic garnish surrounding the instrument cluster held in by 2 philips head screws. remove the screws and gently pry the garnish from top first then sides then it should pull out.

Then remove the 3 screws holding the cluster in place (2 bottom 1 top). Once that is done gently flip the cluster bottom up and pull out some to expose the wiring harness. Remove the 3 connectors from the back and then the cluster will pull out.

There are 3 bulbs that control the overall lighting of the cluster. They are spaced about every third across the rear of the cluster. They are the larger Green knobs. Remove the 3 large green knobs and replace the bulbs with the appropriate size. You can call your local parts store to find out the size.

Its a 5 minute job and does not require the entire removal of the dash board.

-ASE Master Tech
-Lexus Senior Tech
99 Corolla Owner.

I had the same problem. Abs light would come on and I would lose all dash instruments. Hit a bump on the road and abs light would go off and dash would come back on. What I did to fix problem, lol I slaped the dash just to the right of instrument panel and it all came back to life. There seems to be a short there, and I slaped it back 3 times in a week and now for the last month it has stayed on.