Oy Vey, Amigo -

The radio, dash and shift lights are on a separate circuit from tail light stuff. Problems there are likely coincidental. Check the dimmer knob, the rheostat fails. Quick fix is to jump the rheostat, no dimming, but you get lights. Best fix is another dimmer switch, if that's the problem.


Tail light.

The plastic housing in the area where the circuit board is around the hole for the light bulb should be in a flat plane. The circuit board can be a little up-and-down, but the underlying plastic should be flat.

The plastic around the lower outer bulb is often heated to being warped. Look at it closely. That could explain why the bulbholder won't go in easily. BTDT

Another trick is to bend the contacts on the bulbholder a little "downward", so as to make a tighter contact with the circuit board. Oh, and clean the circuit board contact area with a pencil eraser or some such. Don't make the bulbholder too tight, that plastic can be brittle enough to crack off, and the fix for that is another tail light unit.

Keep on trucking rolling,

Bob

:>)