I replaced brake power booster and while I was under there, I hit something or maybe it was just the battery dying (forgot headlights were on, DOH) so now I do not have any power to the fusebox inside the truck. The ONLY thing I can get to work is the hazard flashers and that's probably because the fuse for it is under the hood in the other fuse/relay box.

Where does the "hot" wire come from engine compartment into the cab? I think I might have hit it or something (I hope, already spent $95 on the brake booster and $150 on a new battery, can't afford more parts) that just needs plugged back in.

I've tried looking but have to be nearly upside down on my head to see under the dash and I get dizzy if I'm like that more than a few minutes.

Can anyone help?

1995 dodge dakota, V6, auto

 

I've traced all the wiring I could find that's going through the firewall into the cab. Only ONE has power and I traced it to the relay in the fusebox for the hazard lights. That's the ONLY thing in the fusebox that has power and it's a low amperage wiring, maybe 5 amps. Where is the wire that handles the ignition and 50+amp needed for system power and headlights? None of those have power so somewhere there's a heavy wire that's hidden or I found it and it isn't powered.
Getting desperate.

 

FOund a large plug connecting engine compartment with cab, had a bolt through the middle holding it together... ONLY hot wire on it was a low amp line feeding the relay for the hazard blinkers
Any other place on the firewall to look for the hot to come through firewall?

 

Fixing to break down and buy a used PCM for $100 unless one of you geniuses let's me know there is another possibility. 8 hours under that dash looking at all the wiring that I can see.

Is there any fuse outside the pdc on driver's side wheel well next to battery or connection I need to check?

Only ONE wire that I can find, besides the ones coming off the battery itself, have any power and that one line is the hazard lights circuit.

Why do NONE of the red wires carry any voltage? Even the ones that are always supposed to be hot like brake circuit or headlight circuit, hell, even the light on the underside of the truck hood doesn't light up.

WTF IS GOING ON? Does the PCM control EVERYTHING or is there a simpler spot I may have missed?

desperate in arkansas

 

Jiggle the harness running into the cab and see if anything changes. Then check the starter wires along with all the connections from the battery toward the cab.

Also check the starter. Sounds crazy but I had an intermittent problem like yours and turned out it was the starter (my first post on this forum ironically)

 

Thanks shadow. I've tried shaking the wiring and even took apart the taped bundle under the fuse/relay box under the hood to see if I had gotten the dreaded "bad splice" problem but none of the wiring under there have power either. Bled a couple times poking a voltmeter lead into the insulation to check for voltage...probe is sharp, lol.
Will be jacking it up and putting it on stands in the morning so I can get under it and see if there's any bad connections to/from the starter... I hate that they ran the hot directly from the battery post down to the starter before running hot to rest of truck... should bolt onto a bus bar up where I can reach it then run a line from there to the starter and one wire to activate the selenoid to kick the starter over. Just asking for trouble running all the power down there first then supposed to run back up... somewhere, haven't seen the return line yet.

Sorry for the wall of text, I like putting in as much detail as I can so people don't suggest things I've already tried...saves time if everyone can read, lol.

 

Just pulled the plug out of the PCM and with key ON, checked every single pin on the plug, not a single one has any power to it. You'd think that at least one would have power, just to drive the computer's power supply but nada.

Checked both wires/the main from battery and the relay wire and both are fine.

What the hell is wrong with this thing?

 

You have a schematic ? Much easier to trace the problem that way.

Don't bother with the PCM at this point.
The power comes from battery and eventually to the fuse box,
Some of the power is then switched on/off by the ignition key and relays.
Some power live all the time as long as a battery is connected.

No power to the box then nothing else, including PCM will get power.

Keep it simple. start at the battery and follow the power flow back.

 

Gah, I feel like an idiot. Was wondering why the fuse/relay box under hood had main busbar hooked to ground on battery. Realized that it was black but was supposed to be hooked to HOT side of battery.
When I replaced the battery clamps I did them at the same time... and put the supply line (which has black covering) on the ground side...
After I put it on hot, everything worked great... feel so damn stupid, now.
Oh well, at least I learned a lot about how it's put together. I knew it was something simple, just couldn't find it. Found it by tracing the line from the alternator back to the same place that had that black "ground" wire. Realized that, it wouldn't work like that, heeh.

 

Atleast it was something simple. (Try changing a starter in the auto shop parking lot in the snow). Lol