2001 Dakota 4.7 Quad. Turn the key and nothing, no horn,interior lights,headlamps, nothing. Checked battery cables and when I tug on the positive cable I get power. Went to change positive cable but it connects to three other places in the harness. Tried to buy new cable but they quit making them in 2015. Have done nationwide search for #56049536AA, everybody says discontinued. Can I run a straight cable to the starter and will the other stuff work in the truck. If I run a straight cable how do I keep the starter from having constant power going to it?

 

The starter does have constant power to it, on one lead. The starter relay activates the starter motor itself.

If you can find an aftermarket cable with the terminals you need you can make one up. You can also get insulated standoffs so you could run one lead from the battery to another location and make a heavy gauge connection to the other leads.

 

junkyard. chance of getting another bad one = LOW. and very cheap.

with a test light you can check current from battery to PDC , from PDC to other components.

but i'm sure it's just the grounds. do like i did buy wire and replace battery ground and engine ground with better wire.
also change battery to PDC wire.