Hi there, I have posted on here previously regarding the lights behind the instrument cluster not working: http://www.aussiemagna.com/forums/showthread.php?t=100116

but in addition to this, I was driving behind my fiancee's car last night and noticed that neither of her tail lights were working, but her brake lights and indicators were working as well as her headlights. Im pretty sure that the brake lights and the tail lights use the same bulb and therefore if one works the other should to.

I was thinking then, that the absence of the tail lights and the lights in the instrument cluster not working potentially could be linked although am unsure why the headlights would be working in this situation. Can someone please give me some insight into whether this potential is there and if so, what could potentially be causing it.

Your help will be much appreciated.

Thanks
Daniel

Tail lights and brake lights use a single globe, but it's a dual-filament globe with (usually) 5 watt tail light filament and 21 watt brake light filament. Basically two globes in one, capable of burning independently. Your tail/park lights are on a separate circuit to the brake lights with separate fuses, which is the first thing to check. Make sure there's no blown fuses in either fuse box (one in the engine bay, one near the driver's feet). Not sure about the instruments, in older cars the instrument lights were on the same circuit as the park/tail lights but in my TJ the instrument lights are always on. Do any cabin lights come on with your headlights (ie. lights behind your climate control/heater controls)?

I did have a weird issue that took a while to diagnose a while back. Driving at night, every time I braked the climate control screen illumination got brighter, like it does when the lights are off (anti glare feature). Turned out to be a stuffed tail light globe, the burned out 5W filament had dropped onto the 21W filament so every time I braked power was fed backwards into the tail light circuit. Took a while to figure that one out! Probably totally unrelated to your problem, just thought it was a ripper!