my dakota as you all know just got the engine put in well it runs beautifully except it at random cuts all cab power i can have it running of either and all of a sudden cab lights up again and itll run on its own then when the headlights die it stalls power windows and locks do not work after this any suggestions?

 

 

Haha! My thoughts exactly!

My truck does something similar to what I think you are describing. Every once and a while I will lose power to my heat/ac and my airbag indicator light will come on in the gage cluster. A simple "re-position" of the adjustable steering wheel fixes it. It would randomly shut off and then randomly turn off and I didnt know why until I got pissed at it one day and shook the hell out of the steeing wheel and it came back on! My guess is there is a wire rubbing somewhere in the dash.

 

Capital letters, punctuation, etc. are not at all over rated. I am not trying to be a jerk, but really it's extremely hard to follow what you typed.

Anyways, as bump187 said, you will need to just look at wiring. Something is making bad contact. I know you've probably come to this conclusion (thus the title of the thread), but really, that's what the problem most likely is.

 

Now that we got that out of the way...

After I deciphered what appears to be wrong, I would look at possibly a loose ground strap. You did mention that you just replaced the engine and it runs great but then you started getting this issue with the loss of power and stalling. I would start in the engine compartment and work my way back to the ignition switch. Best of luck...I hate electrical problems