Previa Center Console Lights

Burnt bulb(s)?

Most likely place to start - bulbs are cheap, and you'll know right then whether that fixes it.

And if that isn't it, check for power and ground at the lamp sockets while you have it apart. Check both leads to both a +12V source and a ground source with a conventional test lamp, Toyota often supplies full +12 (fused) from the lighting relay to the dash lamps, and the rheostat control dims the common ground connection.

If that's not it, follow the power and ground (or lack thereof) back to the next connection point.

If the control panel has a multi-connector and the lamp sockets twist-lock into a circuit board, check for cold solder joints to the connector where the wiring harness plugs in.

The wiring harness for the console might have come unplugged, or the wire pinched and broke farther back.

Trust me, it's easier to do than describe. If it's not the lamps, get a service manual and it'll probably walk you right through it.

-->--

Ray and Bruce,

Found the bulbs to be the problem. Strange though that both burnt out at the same time.

Thanks ...

In my experience, one bulb goes before the other but people don't notice the diminished brightness until the other burns out. Hopefully, you were able to reach the bulbs without having to do much disassembly, because the Previa dash is a major pain to take apart.

I once had both headlights burn out. I tried fixing it myself, thinking it was a fuse. I took it to a mechanic and I thought he was an idiot for simply replacing the bulbs, without checking anything else, but that's what he did and it was fixed.

cordially, as always,

rm

Funny thing about all lamps - they have a stated designed lifespan, in your case (most likely #151, #168 or #194 T-3 Wedge lamps) let's say 5,000 Hours +/- 5%.

(I could go out in the garage, dig up a lamp catalog, and get the exact lamp that a Previa console takes and the exact life figures for them, but this is just for discussion.)

If you test any 1000 random lamps you'll get a Bell Curve. One or two out-of-box failures (material fault or rough handling) and one or two that die earlier, but the vast majority of "5,000 Hour +/- 5%" lamps will go out somewhere at the top of the curve, between 4,750 and

The two bulbs in your console were likely from the same production line run at the same lamp factory, likely made within minutes of each other and ended up in the same carton. They used the exact same materials and methods of construction

And then those two "identical twin" lamps were plucked out of the shipping box and installed in the same console that ended up in your automobile. And being on the same lighting circuit they have been operated exactly the same amount of time, including being dimmed to the exact same brightness level.

Is it any wonder that they both burned out around the same time? ;-)

As Ray said, one probably went first a few weeks earlier, but you didn't notice - most people don't look at the quadrant very often. You just grab the shift handle, hit the trigger button, and count the clicks till it hits the "Drive" stop - and you know by feel roughly where that is.

When the second lamp died and it went totally dark, then you noticed the total failure.