'02 Dash lights will not dim

I think the dimmer switch on those early gen ones may be like the old Corollas and all of that Pop that hole assembly out of the dash and take it apart or stick in another one if you have such a thing some vehicles these things will swap out in and the plugs will be the same many are not that way I mean in Toyota. If you can't find a suitable replacement that will plug up crack open the one you have and see if there's a wheel and a bunch of mechanical funny business If so you'll probably see the problem You can also measure with a test meter that it's actually not doing anything so on and so forth. The electronic gurus should be a long shortly with I would imagine similar things.

 

The dimmer wheel has a click stop at one end of its rotation, which switches the dash lights to the night setting. You're saying that this click stop isn't changing the setting. Sounds to me like you have a defective dimmer wheel switch. I haven't tried this on my '02, but it looks like the panel holding the dimmer wheel will pop out of the dash with some careful prying around the edges. I'm guessing that this should be a fairly routine R&R procedure. The challenge may be finding the replacement part. I'm going to do some searching and will post here if I find anything.

OK, looks like this is the part: 84119-47010 Genuine Toyota Rheostat, Light Control.

Before shelling out big bucks, I'd try some electronic cleaner spritzed into the wheel opening, like generic "tuner cleaner" from the hardware store. The best stuff is called DeoxIT D5; it's a bit pricey, but a lot cheaper than the switch!

Another source for the switch, with diagram: https://parts.olathetoyota.com/oem-parts/toyota-instrument-light-rheostat-8411947010

 

There's a bunch of them on the auction site right now. Here's one: https://tinyurl.com/2p8cbh9d

 

Today I noticed in my '02 that when the headlight switch is "off," the dimmer switch is disabled, i.e., rotating the dimmer switch to any position, including the click stop, has no effect on the dash lights. They remain in daytime mode throughout. The dimmer switch only works when the headlights are "on."

Whaddaya know, you learn something new every day. It took only 21 years to discover this little quirk!