tail lights and inst. lights out! help!!

well the other day ihop in my car at night and hit the light switch on and there are no dash lights at all. the hi beam light works though. well i drive it around anyway and during the night someone tells me that my tail lights dont work. i check them out and they dont work running or as break lights. but my blinkers/hazards do work,so i know its not the bulbs.

what the hell could be wrong? i just had the entire wiring harness replaced about a year ago. i checked all the fuses and they all appear to be fine. i even replaced the one for the inst. cluster but still no lights. i have absolutely no idea what it could be and i sure as hell dont feel like getting ripped off by my local shop again. please help.

any suggestions or ideas would be absolutely great.

i usually dont like fooling with wiring problems and have been reluctant to learn but this time i will do everything i can. i hate getting ripped off for crap like that.

thanks in advance.looking forward to your replies.

Luke

i am running the sylvania cool blue headlights.

how complicated is it to pull the headlight switch out? are there any tips you guys might have for getting the switch out? also, if i dont pul it out, how can i test if it has power to it? what kind of tester do i use?

thanks.

well i looked in my haynes manual and it says to push the relese button on the side of the switch and pull the knob and rod out. well i pushed and held the relese button down, but the damn rod/knob would not come out?

what am i doing wrong? i tred it about 20 times, tried turning the knob every direction, but it wont come out for soem reason. any ideas?

thanks.

its the metal button with the spring behind it right? its the only button available to press. i tried it again and the thing does not come out. could it be stuck somehow? i dont want to pay $80 for the shop to do it. any more sugg. would be great.

thanks.