Please help, anyone who has any ideas at all!! I have a 98 ram 1/2 ton and all my corner lights are so dim you can barely see them, replacing the bulbs doesnt do anything, I think it is a ground, but I dont know where to look to find it. The corner lights turn signal works, and the brake lights work but when I have the switch out one click they dont work. It also blew a few fuses but now it isnt. I already replaced the switch in hope that it would fix it, but it didnt, and I know the switch is registering now because there is the dinging when you open the door telling you that your lights are on... Any help please!!

 

First, I would go get the FSM (https://dodgeforum.com/forum/2nd-gen-ram-tech/41924-merry-christmas-guys.html). Technically, it's for a 2001, but it's probably close for a 96 and it is better than nothing at all.

What fuse did you blow? Was it for parking lights? Signals? Need mroe info...

If you think it is a groud... grab one of those little jumper wires with alligator clips on both ends. Temporarily connect the ground from the assembly to a known good ground. If the lights get brighter... you know its a ground problem, and you can start hunting that down.

The schematic in the FSM should help you to track down this problem... I can try and help too if you can give a few more details. Was the truck always like this, or did something happen and now they are starting to act funny?

Good luck,
Cartman

 

If you blew fuses there was something drawing too much current, which changing fuses would eventually burn out the point of the problem. If the fuses blew instantly you had a short. If they took a while to blow you had a partial ground which acts as a short but is not a true short since there is some resistance present which formed a paralell circuit, lowering the voltage available for the lights themselves. Assuming the fuses blew immediately you have done what we used to call a "smoke test", burning the problem into the clear. Hence, fuses don't blow now because the source of the problem no longer is in the circuit. If the chimes did not work when you had the problem and do now the problem is on the downstream side of the chime circuitry. As the previous post said we need a little more information to try to help you pin it down. One thing you can do is get a multi-meter and test for voltage on the center button in the bulb socket. You should see battery voltage with the switch in the on position. Switch the meter to Ohms and test to ground from the shell of the socket to ground. You should be at zero Ohms or close to it. If the resistance is higher than 1-2 Ohms at the shell then you have bad grounds too. Bad grounds however will not cause you to blow fuses.

 

And a second ground wire. Then see what happens