Ok so I have been doing some dash mods and I have run into a great dilemma. I replaced the stereo head unit about 3 months ago and it has worked perfectly up till now. I just recently added reverse glow gauges to the cluster and lots went wrong. I attached the glow gauges to the radio dimmer wire behind the stereo because my new head unit doesn't need a dimmer wire. For the 2 days, it worked perfectly. On the third day, all of my dash illumination went black including the glow gauges. It also started to smoke. When I took the radio out, I noticed that there was a black(yellow stripe) wire that had melted and was frayed. I could only see the last 2 inches of it before it went into the massive bundle, but from what I could see, the whole thing was melted. According to Ram radio wire diagrams, there isn't supposed to be a black(yellow stripe) wire. But Dodge Van's have black(yellow stripe) wires that are either the illumination wire or the dimmer wire. Thats the one that melted in my Ram truck. I don't know why it melted or why its even there, but my whole dash is dark. ALSO IMPORTANT INFORMATION. I can pull the lamp **** out to a certain point and the whole dash lights back up, but only if i get it JUST right. Toggling the **** makes the dash flicker and the headlights turn on appropriately. IM LOST FOR AN EXPLANATION.

 

Pull the headlight switch, and check the wiring behind it.

Is it possible the illumination wire you were using got pinched somewhere, and it just took it a little while to wear thru?

 

Kinda hard for anyone to check wiring colors for you, or suggest where you might look to find it yourself, when there is no damn info about your truck. All years are not the same. Please add the info to your sig and profile.

And I agree with HeyYou about the pinched wire, it also most likely smoked the headlight switch and /or the connection on the back of it.

 

my bad. 1997 ram 1500 5.9 v8 sport. i can't update my 'garage' on the website for some reason. I found the issue. a metal part of the dash had sliced the wire open and it had touched my dimmer wire. i fixed the issue and replaced the fuse for my stop lamp that had blown and all is good as new! thanks for the suggestions

 

Make sure you check the headlight switch in any event though. Just in case.....

Glad ya got 'er fixed.

 

+1, glad you got it fixed. And add the info about your truck to your sig and profile. This way you don't have to enter it every time you post.