sorry.. lol.. i have a 1997 ram 1500 regular cab short bed, with the 5.2 V8 318.

although i just found the problem on mine. the problem i was having is that when you tilt the steering wheel it would pull on the wires in the steering column and the low beams would shut off. i was taking some things apart when i tilted the wheel all the way up and the low beams came on.. lol.. so now i just need to get into the column and fix the shorted wire.. but thanks!!!!!

 

glad ya found the problem! chasing wires is no fun

 

yeah.. now on to the O2 sensor.. lol..

 

Having the same problem here. 2000 1500 Magnum 4x4 quad cab. High beams work, low beams do not.

Is the consensus here that the headlight switch is bad? I hate throwing parts at a problem, so I guess I need to trace the wiring.

 

I am having the same issue with the lights but my lights turn off and on in various positions when the steering wheel is being adjusted. Could this still be the headlight switch?

 

You can try this and not spend anything. Take the plastic covers off the steering column (either 2 or 3 screws in the bottom section) - the top and bottom halves separate. You'll need to unscrew the lever for the tilt adjuster. On our 1999 2500 there was a big plug on the multifunction switch (where the turn signal/wiper stalk is) - can't remember which wire color it was but it was very obvious that one wire had pulled completely out of the connector and the one next to it was on its way out. It will be the longest wire, farthest away from the dash - it's about a quarter inch too short. I spliced in a short piece of wire, covered the splice in heat shrink, and wire-tied it to the next wire to keep it from moving. I then soldered the new end of the spliced-in wire to the connector still in the plug. I also soldered the wire that had started to pull out (they're crimped on). Problem solved. Symptoms were that the low beam headlights wouldn't work when steering column tilted down, but did work when it was tilted up. High beams worked. IIRC, factory fog lights worked OK.
Another place to check if you have factory fog lights is the relay (in the big relay/fuse box next to the battery) for the fog lights. The fog light relay can get flaky and affected operation of both the high and low beam headlights.

Hope this helps.

Chuck

 

Thanks Chuck:

It was the purple wire with the white stripe. As soon as the covers were off, you could see the wire pulled right out of the crimped connector.

Thanks again

Mike

 

I found this same condition, but could not restore low beam functionality. High beams work fine. Can anyone point me to a pin-out diagram of this connector? I would like to investigate other connections in this loom and verify proper location of this purple/white stripe wire. Thanks in advance for any assistance.

Scarfie

PS: I pulled the light switch and could not see any melted wires as per the discussion above

 

Look in the faq section for the Service Manual thread. Download the one for your truck. (or, close enough. 95 will be good for 94-95, 96 will do 96-97, 01 will do 98 and up, for the most part.)

 

yes, yes, lol, i have searched everywhere seeing if otheres have had the same prob as me, That is exactly my problem too, please let me know hows its going on fixing the prob, right now my lights don't turn on even when i tilt the wheel up or down im not good at stuff like this but Ill get in there and give it a try hehe