Just inherited 97 Dodge Dakota 2WD and new to this site. Overdrive switch is not working and diagnosed to a broken wire under the steering column. Please see picture. I cannot find where the broken wire is suppose to attach to. I cannot see the other broken wire or connector where this wire is broken from. Please help.
Thanks

 

imo, it looks like it came out of that big bundle of wires along the steering column

 

I am thinking the same thing. I would start by unwrapping where the big bundle splits into the two smaller bundles. That small bundle on the right looks like it should have a wire running into to me.

 

Thanks for the replies. As you can see from the picture, I did cutted portion of the wrapper from that big bundle of wires but I did not see any broken wire inside. Can someone verify this on their vehicle?
Thanks.

 

what about the other side of that yellow connector?

 

On my 98, the wire you are holding in the picture goes up the column and disappears into the plastic shroud. Sorry but I didn't have time to remove the shroud, but if you remove yours, it will probably be apparent where the wires go. If not, post your findings and I will do some further exploratory surgery to try to help you out.

Hope this helps.

 

I did remove the four plastic covers around the steering column to find where the wire goes. I did not see any other broken wire. The only thing I saw was a hole at the bottom on the back side of the shift level but the broken wire is not long enough to reach it and there is no wire coming out to connect to it. I was not able to see where the wire from the OD switch coming out of the shift level to trace it back to the broken wire. Thanks.

 

I don't know about the OD wire but the yellow connector is for airbag wiring. It is best to leave this and all other yellow connectors and any yellow wire looms alone.

Jimmy

 

It looks like only 2 wires are present on the OD wire harness. Check the wiring diagram in a Haynes book or service manual and see if you can tell how the switch operates the OD. The OD switch probably just connects one wire to the other. Does the OD work if you just short the 2 wires together? If so, and you don't ever have a need to turn the OD off maybe you can just twist those 2 wires together for permanent OD? Or if it does just short the 2 wires together for OD you could wire in your own on/off push boutton or toggle switch and fix it that way.

Jimmy

 

I figured out that by momentary short circuit the two wires, the OD function will turn ON and OFF. I can tell this because the OD light turned ON and OFF in the instrument cluster. I just want to get the original OD switch working again.
Thanks