One common symptom I've discovered over the years, is the hack job many people have done to underdash wiring. Random cutting, splicing, and yes, loose dangling ends. Do a good, intensive examination of the wiring under there.
It's true. I had an aftermarket tach and a surprise of stereo components in my car when I bought it. On 3 separate occasions, I pulled out 3 bird nests of wire. Literally played out to "Huh, where does
this wire go?" Then pull out 9 feet of balled up, open-ended, constant-hot 12 volt wire. Maybe 2 dozen runs of mess, unnecessary parallel connections, and color change splices.
Agreeing again, fuses are quick and easy to check, replace carefully, my old stuff was brittle (don't be afraid of it, but don't get rowdy either).
-If you can stuff yourself into an uncomfortable position, all of your dash bulbs should be daisy chained together with an orange wire behind the cluster. You can follow them like Christmas lights fairly easy. Further up the harness, they can be plugged in parallel in an unsealed multiplex type of connector.
We can give you further details, but if you know where you had caused the problem (wiring your gauge), no sense hunting really deep for now. Report back if you need further help!
