Need some help with my truck

[malbojah]

Hopefully a quick answer. I just picked up a 1998 ford f150 6 cyl manual tranny. Drove it home just fine. Was going to grab some takeout for dinner, hop in...start...turn on lights: no instrument cluster backlights. The individual warning lights work, just nothing else lights up.

Which fuse should I be looking for??

 

[BatmanNate]

If they're not mapped, just pick one at a time and see which one is burnt.

 

[malbojah]

Originally posted by: BatmanNate
If they're not mapped, just pick one at a time and see which one is burnt.

Not mapped (damn ford) and I pulled almost all of them and they're all still good (couple on the top and bottom I couldn't reach)

 

[BatmanNate]

Originally posted by: malbojah

Originally posted by: BatmanNate
If they're not mapped, just pick one at a time and see which one is burnt.

Not mapped (damn ford) and I pulled almost all of them and they're all still good (couple on the top and bottom I couldn't reach)

Well, if you manage to eliminate the ones you can reach, often times there is another fuse box in the engine compartment. It is unlikely that it would control instrument lighting, however.

 

[Black88GTA]

You can buy a little tool that will test fuses for you without having to pull them out - maybe you can test the unreachable ones that way. Or, get a shop manual for your car at an auto parts place that will have a fuse map on it. If you have an owner's manual for your truck, the diagrams should be in there, though. I've never owned a car that didn't have the fuse map in the owner's manual.

 

[lightpants]

The one marked inst - or tail should be it. Try messing with your rheostat for the brightness of the dash lights- I think you just turn the headlight knob on a ford of that year.
Edit:
Sorry, in 98 they might have a separate light dimmer wheel

 

[malbojah]

Thanks for all the suggestions. It works now, don't know what I did. Didn't replace any fuses...damn gremlins...stay in the Saturn that just died and leave my new toy alone