No Lights

[jdurham]

This past summer (June I think), I was on a trip and my headlight switch burned up and the electrical system started doing some weird things. Some of you who helped me troubleshoot may remember. I bought the new switch and splice in harness connector from the stealer, and the truck has been fine since. Tonight it was getting dark on the way home, I pulled the switch, and the parking lights came on, but started flickering. I noticed the headlights were flickering opposite the parking lights. I pushed the switch in one click and the parking lights worked fine. I drove home with no headlights, so I looked at it when I got home. The left headlight flickers on, the right one does nothing. When the left headlight comes on, the marker lights dim and the voltmeter gauge drops. Any ideas?

 

[Philip]

I would start by cleaning the body grounds from the battery. That is the small wire from the battery to the body. Check to see if it hasn't burnt off or corrided off at the battery. Then unhook it from the body and sand to bare metal under the terminal. Then clean the terminal itself and reattach. (I take a small dab of paint and seal this connection after cleaning to stop future corrision). Dodge did it the other way. Paint the body then put the ground wire on



If you have a volt meter. Hook it up to check you have a good connectin when done.



Then post back afterwards. I hope that gets it. If not then we can dig deeper. At least this time you are home.

 

[jdurham]

Thanks Philip. I'll do this first thing in the am and post results.

 

[jdurham]

New development. I tried the brights, and they work. If I dim the lights, the flickering and dimming of the dash lights continues. Doesn't sound like a ground to me now...

 

[DPKetchum]

Check that connector at headlight switch again,were you towing and had a trailer with lights plugged in?Almost sounds like that connector melted again!

 

[Philip]

Yes it does.

 

[jdurham]

Wasn't towing and haven't for the last month. I'll check it anyway this moring and post results.



Thanks guys...

 

[jdurham]

I haven't posted a reply since I worked on the truck, but I'm still having problems, so here goes... .



On you guys suggestion I pulled the headlight switch out of the dash, and suprisingly, it looked great, as did the harness. Unplugged the harness from the switch, everything looked good, reconnected it, and everything worked fine. Since you can't fix what ain't broken, I left well enough alone and drove it. The other day, it started again, but differently. It doesn't flicker the dash lights on and off, or act like a short, but when I hit a good hard bump in the road, the headlights flicker like a loose connection. Any ideas or common problem areas I should be looking at first?



Thanks guys,



Jim