I recently purchased a 1999 Dakota R/T Regular Cab. The headlights work, the hazards work and the cargo lamp works but no other lights are working. I found a rocker switch mounted under the steering column that had 3 wires running from it only 1 was actually hooked up and it was a ground. Wondering where to even start looking for this problem. All of the visible wiring is intact. Fuses and relays are good. Any help is much appreciated.

 

Easier to isolate what is NOT working, for lamps.

Working:
Head Lamps
Hazards
Cargo

Not working:
Front Turn Signals
Rear Turn Signals
Brake Lights
Running Lights


Is this correct?

 

That is correct.

 

1999 will have a standard "ice cube relay" type of turn signal flasher. Do the dash flashers work or are all gauge lights dead?

Do the interior lights work? Do they properly dim with the scroll wheel?

Do the radio or horn work?

 

​​​​​​None of the dash lights work not even the dash flashers.

The overhead compartment/dome lights work and the drivers floor light works and dims with the scroll wheel.

The horn would probably work but the plug under the hood is missing and there currently is no radio installed in the truck.

 

Sounds to me like there's a ground absent, then.

Do the door/lamp chines work?

 

Are you asking if I turn the parking lights on does the truck ding with the door open? If so yes it does.

 

Okay, so the CTM ground is good, the cluster and lighting grounds needs to be checked.

Does the truck have a 4-way or 7-way tow adapter? That's one place to look for issues.

There are Body-To-Chassis connectors at the back of the chassis, attached to the rear crossmember above the spare tire. You can check those.

There is another body-to-chassis connector in the left front fenderwell, behind the splash guard, near the body mount.

There are 4 grounds for the instrument cluster. The main one is in the driver's lower left kick panel. There is a dual ground on the top of the transmission hump, next to the airbag module. There is a fourth ground in the passenger lower right kickpanel.

Also, if there is no radio in the truck, that makes me very suspicious of the dash wiring in general.

 

Okay. So I went through as many wires and grounds as I could find and just for giggles replaced the flashers/hazard relay and went through the fuses again. After all of that the only lights not working are the brake lights.

 

Awesome! That's probably an issue with the brake switch - Plunger might be stuck or bad connection on the switch itself. It's mounted to the steering column, easy access to play with. Gets battery constant power through a 30 amp fuse in the under-hood block (PDC) and connects that power to the turn signal filaments via the flasher module.