I'm trying to figure out where the tail lights and the gauge cluster lights would be connected. All my fuses are good but neither work . lol

 

Instrument lights and tail lights are controlled by the headlight switch. Lets try a few checks and see if we can isolate the problem. The most likely cause if bad fuses in the passenger compartment fuse box. It is located just in front of your left knee when seated behind the steering wheel.

1. When you first turn on the ignition and the warning lights do their system check do you see an "passenger airbag symbol light up"? If not then you need to check fuse 84. This is for Instrument cluster, passenger airbag fascia light, seat weight sensor.

2.With the headlight switch in the ON position does the license plate lights turn on? If not then check fuse 97. This is for Glove compartment light, instrument cluster lights, license plate lights.

3. With the headlight switch in the ON position check the front headlights, is there a small light high up between the low beam and high beams lit up? also is the side clearance lights on? If not check fuse 63 for the right side and fuse 64 for the left side. The fuses are for front side light, side markers, rear tail lights.

Please check the operations of the other lights listed for each fuse and let me know if they are working and then we can look at wiring.

 

All fuses are good. When I bought the car I wasn't getting power to the drivers side tail light so after changing the bulb checking fuses I decided to just wire it to the passenger side tail light . When I cut the wire to the passenger side it sparked... didn't blow a fuse, but lost power to only the tail light ... on my way home I noticed the gauge cluster lights, glove box light and also reverse lights went out but there isn't 1 bad fuse in the car.

 

03xxtype, lets see if we can do some simple checks to try and narrow things down some so we know what the affected components are as this may lead to the cause of what you are seeing.

First things first, take the small dial on the headlight switch and quickly rotate it back and forth from min lighting to maximum lighting for the interior lighting that is dimmer controlled. Turn on the parking lights and see if the dash lights came back. If yes, this solved half your problem. If not, then this is one more symptom of what is going on.

With the headlight switch in the PARK position (ie, running lights only), does a symbol show up in the instrument cluster to say that the running lights are on (should be a green light that looks like 2 lights shining to the left and right)? If this does not light, then if you open up the glove box, that should also be dark. If that has a light on inside of it, then this would point to a problem with the instrument cluster. If both the dash and glove box are not lit, then check fuses F97 in the passenger compartment fuse box and fuse F21 in the engine bay fuse box. If in doubt, replace the fuses with the same size fuse and see if your problem is fixed.

Now, with only the parking lights on, look at the front headlights and see if in the inner headlight, you can see a small light bulb lit in the top of the headlight lens. If you can, then this tells me that the headlight switch is good. If this light is off, you most likely have a bad headlight switch. If these lights are on, then we most likely have 2 faults that is causing what you are seeing at this point then. How are you with a multimeter? I only ask as the next steps will need a multimeter to get accurate indications and prove things good and bad. Do not fret if you are unfamiliar with how to use a multimeter. I can step you through it all, I just need to know so I know what to tell you.