2nd Gen Non-Engine/Transmission HOT headlight switch

[Signal73]

My Dash and parking lights went out the other day, the headlights still worked . I pulled the headlight switch out and 2 terminals were melted on the black plug connector. I cleaned the terminals on the switch that were melted, and plugged it back in, and the dash/parking lights are working. Now, the switch gets too hot to touch along with one of the wires after 3 minutes or so.

Is this a bad switch? No fuses popped. I saw the recall for the 3500's for 94-98 M/Y but mines a 2500. No aux. lights or towing. Any ideas on this?

 

[HEMI®Dart]

It's probably normal. From Fritz's web page;



98-02 Headlamp switch hot - normal heat dissipation from instrument light dimmer.

If it bothers you, remove the headlight switch and punch a 5/16" hole in the top of the air duct under the dimmer wheel to cool the dimmer heatsink.

 

[Signal73]

It's probably normal. From Fritz's web page;



98-02 Headlamp switch hot - normal heat dissipation from instrument light dimmer.

If it bothers you, remove the headlight switch and punch a 5/16" hole in the top of the air duct under the dimmer wheel to cool the dimmer heatsink.

In all due respect to "fritz" I believe we would have different opinions as to what acceptable levels of hot were. This thing melted the connectors, Id say not normal. It only does it with the headlights on I found today, so I think Im gonna eliminate the headlight wattage from the switch with some relays so It dosent fire up the Dodge.

 

[tgbol]

What Fritz is referring to was the hot switch caused by the dimmer for the panel lights. If you run the dash lights dimmed the switch will get hot to the touch. The hole in the vent will cause some air movement over the heat sink on the switch and dissipates the heat.

I sounds like you have created a larger draw though the switch. There are a number of causes. Have you installed extra lights, or bigger bulbs? Towing a trailer with a lot of lights will do it too if there isn't a trailer relay in the system. Another thing to check is all of the connections. Any resistance in the connection will creat a greater draw and overload the switch.

Relaying the eadlights is a good idea. You will probably even get brighter lights because of less power loss. That is the therory of the "Brite-Box"

 

[DLove]

That dash light dimmer switch uses resistors to dim the lights. And resistors give off heat. If you don't have any additional lights around the cab, then there might be a short to ground in the cab lights causing the extra load. Or it may be that the resistior pack in the dimmer sw is going funky. I'd think that short would most likely blow the fuse (but thats not always true) so I'd suspect the switch



-Dan

 

[ToolManTimTaylor]

'Member the other nite when they went out real quick in the parkin' lot after the fireworks? I tell ya what that switch was hotter 'n heck. Many just pull the dash plaque and drill a hole in the vent right next to the switch and use the blower to move some air over the switch. It also helps to keep the interior lights NOT DIMMED and run them at full bright so the heat sinc does not have to scrub off as much power.

 

[Signal73]

From what I saw when I searched, the 98-02 with the on/off turn switch and seperate dial dimmer has a heat problem. Mine is the pull straight out switch with the dimmer built in. As far as lights go, Only thing extra is the clearance lights but they are factory. No fuses have blown yet. I did drill two ½" holes in the vent for now until I get the relay harness. Closed the vent to get max airflow through the holes also. . Any easy way to see if there IS a short causing it to heat up, using a continuity test or something? Thanks for the input so far. . Jim

 

[Signal73]

Just an update... ... Brown stopped by today and dropped off my Wire harness from Summit Racing. (also my a-pillar for my guages ) Got it installed in about 45 min taking my time. The switch is markedly cooler without the load going through the switch. Total cost was around $45 with shipping. Nice clean install all plug and play. Defenetly a worth while BoMB .

Jim

 

[rweis]

The Summit relay harness worked for me VERY well.



Bob Weis

 

[MMeier]

IIRC, Dodge had a TSB out on this way back when. I melted 2 switches before I found out about it in my ol' 97. Parked at a hotel one night and get a call from the front desk at 3 in the morning that my lights are on !! Go out to turn them off and the whole friggin swich was toast, suprised it didn't start a fire!!

 

[ViperJay]

Just an update... ... Brown stopped by today and dropped off my Wire harness from Summit Racing. (also my a-pillar for my guages ) Got it installed in about 45 min taking my time. The switch is markedly cooler without the load going through the switch. Total cost was around $45 with shipping. Nice clean install all plug and play. Defenetly a worth while BoMB .

Jim

What's the part number for the Summit Harness?

 

[Signal73]

SUM-890030 is the part #, Headlight Harness 9004 is what they call the part.

 

[ViperJay]

SUM-890030 is the part #, Headlight Harness 9004 is what they call the part.

Thanks... . I got to poking around to see why my cruise control was not working, removed the battery and battery box to get a better look at the actuator, well... . the actuator was not plugged in, and there is no vacuum line running to it... .



OK, what does that have to do with a hot headlight switch? Well, the harness had been all peeled open below the battery, it appears the black lead into the left headlight had a melt down, someone jerry rigged it all, so it was working, but not even electrical tape on the repair! I'll be looking into this harness to see if it can help do the repair in a "cleaner" way



P. S. They are on clearance now for $20. 50+$8. 95 handling.

 

[Signal73]

P. S. They are on clearance now for $20. 50+$8. 95 handling.

#@$%! Why am I not surprised... .

 

[GAmes]

I have added a relay to make my dims come on while the brights are on. Can you do the same with this harness?

 

[ViperJay]

#@$%! Why am I not surprised... .

LOL... I had been planning to order it for a few weeks, when I saw the cooked wires, I said to myself, "Guess now it is the time"... . when I saw the deal I laughed... now saying to myself, "Wow, if I had waited a little longer, I'd have been mad becuase they would be gone. "

 

[ViperJay]

Harness is in.

The harness is in and works great!



It took about six hours to install as I decided to peel open the old harness and remove all the wiring for the existing passenger side headlight. In addition it took some time to fix the the harness damage and cleanup the batteries and battery tray's. I did have to modify the new harness slightly to make it long enough to reach the passenger side headlight. Did not need to add any wire, just peel open and off a little of the shorter leg of the harness to "give it to" the long leg of the harness. It is all wrapped in black flex so it looks stock.



A very nice piece, significantly larger wire and the existing drivers side headlight connector plugs into the new harness to switch the relays. The new harness gets its power right from the battery, all the dash switch does now is act as a switch, no power going through it for the lights. While I was at it I put in new Sylvania SilverStar bulbs, very bright, very white.



An extremely worthwhile project, I may even repeat it on my Viper when I have some spare time after fixing the truck up!

 

[Signal73]

Glad to hear it worked out for ya. I still need to wrap mine in split loom to make it look factory.