Had an electrical problem with my 93 Dakota 5.2 4wd. Yesterday morning the tach registered at 5 o'clock and did not move. When I started it later in the day it worked fine. This morning the tach was stuck at about 4 o'clock. When I cut the headlights on, the right and left turn signal indicators stayed on and the oil, temp, gas, and alternator gauges cut off and the buzzer stayed on. When I dimmed the headlights, the buzzer sound and the turn signal lights went lower. When I cut the lights off, the gauges worked, but not the tach, and the buzzer stopped buzzing and the turn signal lights that were stuck on went off. Strange!!! I'm thinking it may be a bad ground. Any ideas? Thanks.

 

Most likely a bad ground. Its a common issue with these trucks.

 

Thanks. Weird things happen with a bad ground. I'll crawl under the dash and look around. Any suggestion where to look? Does the ground wire come directly off the fuse block to a ground?

 

I don't believe there is a ground wire that comes off the fuse block itself. Every accessory and electrical part will have its own ground that completes the circuit. I believe the ground wire that you'll be looking for is going to be behind the gauge cluster rather than under the dash, so you're going to have to take the gauge cluster out.

 

yes, it is behind the gauge cluster. I had the same problem. cleaned the wire and reattached the ground work pretty good now. now the only problem is when i turn on the lights i have to hit the top of the dash to get all the lights to turn on. : ) good ole truck!

 

I thought a simple, out front wire would be too easy. I'll pull the gauge cluster out. Thanks for your help.