I have been messing with this for a week. My rear turn signals work fine, but, none of my fonts do. I have changed the sockets and bulbs, fuses, relays, and traced every wire in the truck, and still cant figure it out, so what else could it be?

 

Start testing with a volt meter....see where in the chain you lose 12vdc. Have you checked your ground connections on the inner fender well? Although a ground would only affect one side.

 

I am starting to think its a wiring harness issue itself, since the harness has multiple splices, and, now, after fixing 2 of them, i got the passenger side marker light and turn signal working, but, since i also have other issues with it from the PO (such as the blower motor being direct wired to run without the key), i think it would be better to just replace the under hood harness altogether.

 

I agree with this!

However, one more thing - pick up a copy of the Factory Service Manual so you have the wiring diagrams for your truck to hand.

RwP

 

I have the FSM, as i have exclusively owned first gen dakota's for more than 15 years (i personally dont like the second and third gen), and, have done full frame up builds on a 91, a 94, and a 95, including a frame off rebuild and color change on the 94 that i am having issues with.

 

You mentioned splice in the harness....When I re-did my harness on my frame up build, I found a couple of those junctions were cracked and broken inside the rubber insulator. I resoldered them and all was well.

If you're thinking about swapping a harness, I wouldn't unless yours is really trashed. You'll only be introducing new unknown problems. I took my harness completely apart, fixed all the splices, cleaned all the wires, re-taped with the factory stretch tape (DON'T use elec tape unless you want a gooey mess later), and re-pinned connectors where they were corroded beyond help. The other's got a vinegar bath and baking soda wash which removed alot of the tarnish. Then I put new dielectric grease on all the pins/connectors. It was a lot of work, but very satisfying to have a brand new harness built by me in the end.

 

Im thinking of getting a brand new harness, for multiple reasons. As for my harness, it has so many splices, i actually have wires that have less than 6 inches of wire between one splice and the next. These arent factory splices, they are from the PO hacking the harness every time something didnt work right. As for me rewiring it, i suck at doing wiring, so, i would more than likely screw something up and burn the truck down ( I did that on a ford putting a radio in, if that tells you anything). The most i do is unplug the harness and replace it, usually with new, but, it seems, after multiple searches, the harness aren't available anymore, just like a lot of other things on it.

 

Yeah I assumed you were aware that they aren't available so when you mentioned swapping, I thought you meant using a J/Y pull which would have its own problems. If there are that many hacks however, it may be worth it after all to grab a junker. There are three harnesses....the main engine harness, the tranny harness, and the rear harness. Might as well get them all.

 

Add the cab harness, especially since the OP mentioned the blower motor resistor (that's the cab harness, fed out through a grommet to the resistor. Yah, that's .. wonky. But avoided pulling all that current through the bulkhead fitting, and left the resistor and the end easy to get to.)

RwP

 

True....in my experience however, the cab harness is usually pretty well protected from the elements and in tact...unless there are mice living in the cab. Then all bets off. I didn't touch the cab harness in my build...just rebuilt the exterior 3. I did fix the speaker wire in mine. Previous owner had cut the plugs off and then reattached them by just twisting the wires together and using a little elec tape