Well to start off i purchased an after market radio for my 2000 Dakota 3.9v6 and went to install it, found that someone had already cut the wires pretty far back. I unstalled it accourding to the Repair manuel i bought and it worked for a week. On the way home from a friends graduation the instruments lights started to go in and out, after a few seconds i heard a pop and they went out and i haven't been able to fix them. Now it apears that my tail lights also went our, didn't find our until i was pulled over. So i've checked all the fuses, inside and under the hood. I checked the light switch and it was trashed from the previous owner and peaced together. I replaced it and nothing works still. I have headlight, interior lights and can move my moriors, but no instruments lights and tail lights. Does anyone have an idea what happened or what i can do. I just purchased my truck less then 8 months ago. Please if anyone has an idea i'll try it.

Thanks
jb

 

First thing to do is remove the radio again. You will probably find an unused wire behind there. It should be orange. This is the wire for the lights in the OEM radio and it is part of the dash illumination and tail/parking lamp circuit. It sounds like the wire is left naked or uninsulated and it contacted the case of the radio, which is a ground. This may have blown the fuse for the illumination circuit which might have been the pop sound you heard. You need to tape up or cap off all the unused wires behind the radio so they don't short out against the case of the radio again. There may be another wire there that is from the dimmer circuit. I think it was black/yellow but I don't remember. These should be the only wires left over and not used from installing an aftermarket radio in your truck. Well there might be an unused green/orange wire there that is the remote on wire for the factory amplifier, too but I don't know if you have the Infinity amplified system in your Dakota. The illumination wires will read as ground when the lights are off but don't use them for ground. Use the silver braided ground strap that should also be behind the radio or just ground your new radio's ground wire to a metal point under the dash somewhere.

According to my Haynes book it should be fuse #14, which I would guess is in the interior fuse panel. I have a 2001 Dakota and the fuses are different from yours. This problem has to be a blown fuse. Look for the fuse marked "park/tail" or "illumi" or something like that. It might say "inst panel lps" too.

Either the illumination/parking light fuse blew or it somehow smoked the central timer module in your truck. I'd bet money it's a blown fuse but you need to make sure the wirng behind the radio is ok first. Let us know what you find.

Jimmy

 

yea the tail lights, parking lights, and interior lights are all on the same fuse. I actually got pulled over while I was on my way to get a new fuse during nightpoint...didn't realize my tail lights weren't working as well. He let me off, though. Actually during the middle of my drive (only 2 miles) I then overthought about the fuse and I was thinking "hmm..if the parking lights don't work...crap.." Just my luck a cop turned on the street behind me.

 

Thanks i'll check the wiring our and the fuses and let you'll know what i find.

 

Hey, i have another question, i looked in my haynes manule and i can't find where the CMT is, i've heard its under the drive side kick plate. Is that where it is?

 

I got my tail lights to work, it was 14# fuse. Thanks, i have a question, do you know the color codes for the radio wires, i have a haynes manual but a lot of them are different and the green/orange for the amp is black/green.
The wire colors on my truck are;
brown/red,
blue/orange,
brown/yellow,
red/white(power),
green,
brown/blue,
pink,
black/green(amp),
pruple

 

Here you go, these are the speaker wire colors for all the speakers in your truck:

Right Front Spkr (+) Purple
Right Front Spkr (-) Blue w/ Red Stripe

Left Front Spkr (+) Dark Green
Left Front Spkr (-) Brown w/ Red Stripe

Right Rear Spkr (+) Blue w/ White Stripe
Right Rear Spkr (-) Blue w/ Orange Stripe

Left Rear Spkr (+) Brown w/ Yellow Stripe
Left Rear Spkr (-) Brown w/ Blue Stripe

Pink is constant battery +
Red/white is accessory +
Not sure on the black/green, it may be the dimmer wire
If you have the factory amp its remote on wire is green/red

Be sure to insulate any unused wires


Jimmy

 

Thanks Jimmy for the wiring info. I went to the store tonight and realized my instrument panal lights were working. So now i have my tail lights and instrument lights back. Thanks for the help. I guess it was just the fuse, weird though i checked it several times. Oh welll, thanks again everyone.