Ive got mostly everything squared away on my new 98 dakota, so now its down to little things. My truck has a 3rd brake light with cargo lights, and ive never seen the cargo lights work. The IOD fuse was replaced after an earlier incident so i know its not that, do the cargo lights have their own fuse elsewhere and/or how are the cargo lights turned on in the first place?
I checked the bulbs and both of the cargo light bulbs appear like they were never used.

Thanks
-Nemesis

 

Rotate the headlight switch to turn them on, like you wanted to put the dome lights on. It should say on the switch.

They don't, at least on my '00 they don't, come on when you open the doors, like other trucks.

 

I believe the dimmer wheel turns mines on... the first 90% controls the brightness on the dash and the last click turns on the cargo lights on.

This is on an 02.

 

After checking, they did come on turning the dimmer all the way over. thing is, that notch says "off" on my wheel? idk. I was looking to get a replacement third brake light/ cargo light piece because mine is somewhat scratched and faded, but i dont really feel like $40 is worth it. I don't much care for the design of the LED ones available on ebay, so i think i might actually try making one myself. not sure how yet though....

 

Have you thought about using a headlight polishing kit on the one you have? Brake light is a great place to try it out once. I used one on a Sunfire I had already sold but was awaiting pickup because I was afraid of screwing up the lights on my Dakota. Learned the "what not to do's". Now, both vehicles have much nicer lenses. If you're already thinking of fabricating something, it wouldn't hurt to try.

Chad - 03 Dakota Sport Quad Cab, 01 Durango R/T, 98 Ram Quad Cab

 

its only really faded along the top edge. there are scratches on the face of it but its still easily visible.

 

Since I have a cap on my truck, the cargo light is not used much at all, but cleaning faded headlights or other lens, I picked up the headlight kit from Harbor Freight and this kit worked really good. This kit has a sandpaper disk for use in a power drill which works a lot better than those kits that only have fine sandpaper included. I restored a set of very dull headlights on a Honda Civic and my 2000 dakoda. The lens will still fade again over time since Harbor Freight does not have the UV sealer like the other kits have to wipe on cleaned lens after polishing the lens, but well worth the price and 15 minutes of work.