Interior lighting issue
 

Hello guys new guy here! Hoping y'all could help me with a issue I'm having with my interior lights. I got a 2003 2500 and about half of guage lights went out at once, I can only see my fuel guage and battery guage. After some research I found the previous owner put a 25 amp fuse in slot number 18 which is a interior illumination fuse only meant for a 15a. They have also spliced into the the orange and white wire behind the dimmer switch for some pillar guages and clearance lights, neither of which work now even though the bulbs are good. Can't find any burned wires so just looking for a place to start to find the issue.

Bad dashes/connections are common on 3rd gen. Lights, speed, and rpm jumping/dying included. Are you getting voltage to the wires where they tie in at at the orange wire?

My guess would be the gauge cluster needs to be re soldered but it is odd the pillar gauges aren't working either. That makes me think there may not be a good connection/voltage getting there.

you should be able to run stock fuse and not blow them even with extra gauge lights

the orange wire sounds correct on the dimmer to have that option. For just constant power I am not sure of a place other than that in cab. I ran halo headlights a while back which I tied in on the front drivers side fender. The white with lime green striped wire I believe is the positive for the running/park lamps. You can follow it from the headlamp easily