My '97 dakota Sport V6 has had an electrical problem about two years now and I can't seem to find anyone who can help.
Occaisionally (more often when its cold - and so much more fun to deal with!) something will drain the battery down to virtually dead. Buddies have said that they can only guess its the alternator, since the thing hasn't gone up in flames yet. But how much $$$ do you spend on a "maybe this will do it"?
Monday the problem got worse. After I got a jump from a friend, she stalled in traffic, waiting at a light. I slipped 'er into neutral and she re-started OK, but the "CHK Gages" light came on and I had no tach or speedometer. Afew seconds later & the fuel, Alt, Oil and Temp died. I still have dash lights, but no gages.
Now the shop is (still) guessing and thinks that the gage cluster may have been causing the drain all along.

Question(s): Can I trust a set of gages from a bone yard? How long will an install take a novice wrench?
More important - Any one else had this kinda fun before?? What was the fix?

Thanks for the help!!

bpdy

 

I havent had any electrical problems with any of the 3 ram trucks that I have. the dash and gauges should be easy to swap out. but that is the same as the alternator swap... "maybe this will fix it" kind of shotgunning it. i'd say that if the motor still runs ok with the dash problem, then the PCM should be fine, go ahead and swap the dash cluster and go from there.

one other suggestion would be to get a shop manual and look at the wiring between the pcm and the cluster to make sure there are no shorts.