Love my ram but the dodge electrical sucks

jkretzer

jkretzer

MegaCrank
Just need to rant. Been in love with the dodge ram body style since 94. Finally got my 98 in late 99, after playing and spending a bunch of money on hard parts I am at the point where I just want to get in and drive it. Electrical gremlins started showing up and they are driving me insane trying to track the source down. Issues are batteries drain if left connected after 4 days, parasitic draw test shows amp draw on the Iod fuse. Brake and 4x4 indicator lights stay on faint after key is removed, headlights and parking lights will only work together if I get the pull out knob halfway between positions, also reverse lights have power all the time. Cleaned all grounds i can find, inspected pdc wiring and harness for bare wire, new headlight switch, key and ignition switch, backup lamp switch on trans, new trailer plug. Check starter and alternator during draw test. Also pcm has been tested. Just needed to vent, I will figure it out eventually. However if anyone has any thoughts I would appreciate it
 
Not sure if this will help or not but a co-worker was going through same type of issues and it ended up being a ground lug somewhere around the gas tank. It was a gas powered truck so may not be the same but he cleaned it up real well and problem went away.
 
Get a factory service manual. It has all the wire diagrams. I prefer the paper version when chasing wires.

1998 Dodge Ram Factory Service Manual

The backup light should be easy. Unplug the switch on the transmission and go from there.

Don't get sidetracked by the headlight switch working when halfway out. They all will do it. When my park lights wouldn't illum with the headlight switch full out I traced it to a wire junction deep in a wire harness. I just wired around it.
 
At some point I'm sure from vibration, age, and weather the insulation on the wires for the entire wiring harness will degrade and render everything useless.
 
Chassisman said:
At some point I'm sure from vibration, age, and weather the insulation on the wires for the entire wiring harness will degrade and render everything useless.
Click to expand...

Uh, no. Not at 1.3 million all over the US and Canada, summer and winter, and 22 years anyway.
 
GAmes said:
Uh, no. Not at 1.3 million all over the US and Canada, summer and winter, and 22 years anyway.
Click to expand...

Sooner or l8r it will happen. My ex drove a Mercedes convertible that had the insulation start to degrade she had it at the dealer so often for electrical work it just stayed parked there. Finally since they either wouldn't or couldn't fix it. Her dad tore the complete harness out and rewired the whole car then sold it.
 
I see you’ve replaced your trailer plug but just thought I’d mention my experience. I had mine pulling the battery down and couldn’t find the problem. This was during daylight and all my searching of course was under the hood and around the cab. Finally, that evening I noticed my brake lights were on. Figured it was the brake light switch but it wasn’t. I finally found ONE strand of the always-hot wire in the trailer plug had come loose from the others and was BARELY touching the brake light lug.
 
It’s crazy the things that happen from a faulty ground. Not saying this is your issue since you say you checked them. I will say my buddy had some crazy stuff going on with his 01 Cummins. He ended up replacing the battery ground cable to the motor and it fixed it.
 
Might try running test lead grounds from the dash to a battery too. Dodge switches grounds so a loose power wire anywhere can cause all kinds of weird things to happen.

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk
 
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