My guage lights and tail lights spaz occasionally

Hello everyone, I'm new to this forum and I did use the search feature, but if anyone can direct me to a thread about my issue that would be great.

Occasionally, my guage lights don't come on when I turn on the headlights. Sometimes flicking the dimmer switch on and off a few times will cause them to come on, sometimes they come back on in a few minutes by themselves, sometimes they don't come on at all.

This hasn't really been a problem, as I just use cruise control to keep from speeding. When I was leaving school Wednesday, however, I got pulled over and the officer told me my taillights were not on. My brake lights and flashers work fine, however. I keep thinking this isn't a fuse issue, because most of the time when I turn the headlights on the guage lights come on like they're supposed to.

So, if it is some type of short I need to know if anyone knows how to fix it. I'm a big doofus when it comes to cars, but my father could likely fix it if I knew where to start. Sorry for the long post, and thanks in advance for any help.

Welcome to the forum!

What year is your Taurus?

If your brake lights and turn signals share bulbs with the taillights, your brake lights and turn signals use a separate filament from the taillights. So, it is possible that all the filaments for the taillights are finally burnt out, but your brake lights and turn signals will still work. And they may have been burning out one at a time, but now that all of them are out, the officers are noticing. :(

If you have a test light and understand how to use it, you can check for voltage at the bulb sockets to see if there really is a power issue for the taillights, or just a bad bulb. Or, if you have a new bulb sitting around, try it out and see what happens.

It sounds quite suspicious that your dimmer switch may be the problem for your instrument cluster lights.

As far as helping with the wiring, we'll need to know what year your Taurus is to go into much detail there.

-Rod

Thanks for your reply, Shorod.
I can't believe I forgot to post the year of my bull. It is a 99 24v DOHC Duratec. Whatever the problem with my taillights is, it is tied in with the gauge lights. The gauge lights work sometimes, and when they do, the taillights work also. I found out yesterday that the parking lights are also not working, as well as the chime that sounds when you leave your headlights on, remove the key, and open the door.

I took it to my mechanic today, hoping against all hope that it was the headlight switch, which my dad thought it might be. He checked all the fuses yesterday that were relevant, and they were all fine. The mechanic said this evening that it isn't the headlight switch. He also spoke to someone at Ford who told him it may be something to do with the wiring, and he might have to take the whole steering column, etc. apart. The mechanic said that it might take days to do the job, and the labor could get high. :banghead:

Thanks for your response, and hopefully my mechanic will be able to resolve it without me having to become his apprentice to pay off the bill. Sorry I wasn't more specific with the details in the first post.