Hey,

I'm new to this forum, mainly because I do not own a Dodge. I drive a 1985 Nissan 200SX.. My parents own a 2000 Dodge Dakota V8 Magnum and they asked me to fix it. I drive it, but like smaller cars.. Fun truck tho!

I might be a noob to this forum, but I've been wrenching on cars for about 3 now and dealing with all the electrical fun of an 80's car for 3 years as well... I know how to search, and everything, so this shouldn't be a repost..

Anyway, they've owned it for about 4-5 years, and about 3 years ago it was in a wreck (I was driving it....). The driver's fender had to be replaced along with the bumper. The low beams on the headlight don't work, but the high beams do.. I replaced the fender, bumper and turn signals (replaced with clear corners)

Never really drive the truck at night, so it wasn't an issue.

So, I figured that a wiring harness was damaged during the accident, so I pulled off the fender, but could not find any damage to the wiring harness. I replaced the bulbs, low beams still don't work. Took a voltmetre to it and found out that the headlight connector isn't getting any power when just the low beams were on.

So, I've checked the fuses, all were good (verified with multimeter).

Decided to google it, found out a lot of Dodge forums charge money and I found a post on here about it.

https://dodgeforum.com/forum/2nd-gen...eadlights.html

Apparently, its a common problem with Dakotas...

Well, took the steering column apart and I found a problem..




Took a voltmetre to it and it has 12v when the car is off. Don't know if its directly responsible for the headlight, need to fix it and contiune troubleshooting if not..

My question is, how would I pull that pin out so I can resolder the wire back in it? My Nissan is pretty easy (there is a clip on the back I undo then pull it out)..

The wire color is Purple/White, what does this wire do?

Thanks for any help, it is greatly appreciated!

 

oh man, i was just in my harness today, i couldnt get the pin out to save my life, your best bet would be to kinda get the wire back in as best you can, use small needlenose to try to close it again, then solder it in place,
that i believe might be your low beam problem

 

good luck

 

There is no way to actually remove the pin??

I would do that, but the work space is EXTREMELY tight..

 

oh i know how tight it is, i had to add a wire off the dimmer line..lol
i couldnt remove it, even with "proper" type tools.

the closest i got was to try and push the pin up with a small flat screwdriver

 

That's the only way i've ever got that type of pin to pop.

I'm also noticing a loose black wire in first pic and green wire in second pic.

 

Forgot to update..

The "black" wire in the first pic, is the Purple/White wire that I found was loose.. It had grounded and burnt up.

I ended up getting the pin out with an extremely tiny flathead screw driver.

I took it inside, and soldered a new 2" piece of wire on it. I bent the head of the connector pin in so that it was a tighter connection on the pin of the multifunction switch.

I reinserted it into the harness connector, and it stays. I cut and stripped off about a CM of the old wire since it was burnt. Soldered and heatshrinked it to the new wire leading to the pin. The pin stays in place no problem and you can tug on it without it coming loose.

I decided to extend the wire by 2" since it seems the harness is too short and it was easier. If I would've just resoldered it like it was, it would pull out again due to it being too short and the steering column adjustment.

The lowbeams now work again!

I also decided to redo the loose green wire to prevent any other problems.

Thanks to all that helped!