when i bought my 1998 f150 and drove it home in the night, i noticed the lights for the air conditioner were off, and the left side of my dash was off too. I cant figure out whats wrong. theres a aftermarket cd player in it so i thought the previous owners screwed it up somehow. Any suggestions on how to fix it?

 

the first thing im gonna ask is, did you check the fuse? i know in my friends 97 if you hit the top of the dash about the middle of the head unit the lights come back on. the head unit shouldn't have anything to do with it.

you could also start pulling panels and checking bulbs.

 

i checked all the fuses and they werent blown. i'll check all the lights next

 

I have to ask, is it all or part of the dash is dark ?

Sounds like only part, and in a 1998, I would suspect more then one bulb is blow out.

If you have no dash lights that is something else completly different.

The lights in a 1997 ( the only EVTM 71-2 that I have handy at the moment ) shows the circuit 195 ( Tan w/ White Stripe ) into the main headlamp switch ( from fuse # 7 ) turns into the Brown Parking lamp circuit #14. This is for the exterior lamps. This is fed via the main headlamp switch via fuse #18 to become circuit #1045 Dark Blue w/ White stripe.
This is then fed via the dimmer to become circuit #434, Light Blue w/ Black stripe to the instrument illumination.

REMEMBER this is from the 1997 EVTM, so it could be slightly different.

The Circuit #434 feeds the radio, the ash tray light, function selector switch, 4WD selector switch, the steering wheel CC illumination, 6 bulbs for the instrument cluster ( that might not be an accurate count, just what is shown ) and the power window switch illumination.

So with that list of items that are on the dimmer and fed from the same fuse, you have a list of items to check if they are working or not.

Can't say it enough : REMEMBER this is from the 1997 EVTM, so it could be slightly different. But as a starting point of what to check if it is illuminated or not, this might help narrow it down to time to pull the dash, and start replacing bulbs.

 

its only part of the dash. my old steering wheel's lights were out in the buttons, but when i put a new one on (the old one was bad) the lights came back on. i dont know if that will help narrow it down to something.

 

With part illumination, I am going to take a SWAG that you have burnt out bulbs. I could be wrong, but that is what it seems like, considering part of the circuit works.