Hello all, always on here but never post due to great answers & troubleshooting found, but am stumped on this one.

01 Ram 3500 diesel 4x4.

problem: no dash light illumination. Have factory manual but get lost looking at 8w-40-5. Problem initially started with blowing a fuse occasionally. Would replace #5 5amp & would be good to go. Now w/ new fuse & following fsm, I have no voltage at highest reostat setting before dome lights as per the test procedure. Below is what I’ve done/ checked.

1. Replaced headlight switch to no avail.
2. Checked fuses
3. Checked continuity at fuse panel in engine bay
4. Hooked up obd 2 scanner & searched for codes= nothing thrown anywhere, ie, ecm, engine,Srs, etc.
5. Checked continuity at every light on back of cluster=all good
6. Equals stumpage....…

everything works, dash wise, except for the darn illumination. If anyone could clue me in on how best to decipher the 8w-0-5 section, I’d be very much appreciative, if that is relevant. The old headlight switch reostat seemed a little suspect, but new one had no effect on problem. Curious why I have no voltage at fuse. Is it because it´s day time? Many thanks for any ideas you may have. Am down here in Central America & roads are terrible.

Stumped in Central America

Moparfanatic & DerTruck thanks for replying! Truck does have a aftermarket stereo will look into that & also check power at pink & red going to power switch. Will update later accordingly.

much obliged!

Well, everything looks good stereo wise & no power going on pink & red going to switch. I also found out I have no parking lights period. When switched to park lamp & key is out of ignition, I get the warning chime as if it thinks the lights are on. I have been troubleshooting solo & when I got out of the truck I noticed no park lights, furthermore when lights are on I have only headlights & no tail lights. When I turn emer flashers, taillights blink as normal. #1 fuse is good, all fuses are good but still no power to number 5 5 amp. Am lost & going backwards, lol. Going to search on here for related problems. Thanks for any comments.

dumbed down in C.A.

Thanks dertruck, gd to know & will start there at pdc. I checked the fuse yesterday & confirmed it’s good, but will get in deeper from there in looking for a short or ground problem. Will also confirm all grounds. The biggest PIA is I can’t physically get or see the back of the fuse panel to see if no. 5 cables are fried. If I could, I would at least be able to eliminate that part. Where the heck are these junctions #5&8? I get lost trying to trace this stuff & my big question is the huge pinned plug with the 10mm bolt in the center. Is this relevant? It’s located right above the clutch pedal under dash. I have performed the diagnostic test on the gauge cluster as per pg 566/567 in fsm & everything checks out except the obvious dash lighting. Thanks for you TS help!

-N-

ok, i checked continuity from underneath pdc park lamp fuse to top of big pin plug I was asking about above & everything checks out & have also found no evident chafing or breakage. I then checked from HL switch to underside of big plug & have continuity there as well. So I’m leading to a ground issue? That pink & red I’m checking branches off & feeds fuse #5 or? I’ve checked all grounds around battery & will check the grounds behind driver kick panel now. Thanks

So, I have everything torn apart & now everything works, lol. I have no effin clue what I did. So pdc park lamp fuse is a 15 amp. In AM I checked resistance at this fuse compared to every other fuse & park lamp had 23ohms, everything else 0. Left side of fuse was 12.5v, right side:12.4. All other fuses read same voltage across both fuses. (Which, at the time raised my eyebrows but didn’t equate it to a bad fuse?)..... When checking resistance of pink/red cable from pdc to pin plug I had 0ohms,I interpret that to mean there is no break or short in this run. When I checked #1 fuse in cab it had the same voltage with right side being 12.4v......somewhere in tsing the pdc fuse gave up the ghost & blew. I replaced this mofing fuse & now everything works. I’ve wiggled every son of a biscuit cable trying to get the thing to blow or trip or something & it’s solid. I don’t want to admit it, but it’s probably a suspect fuse?

my last question: #5 5 amp fuse now has power but it’s only getting max 11.9v when dimmer switch is in parade mode. I understand that v’s drop as you dim down dash lights, but does this sound normal?

on the upside....I just purchased OEM dash panel & structure so will have another chance to look at everything again in about 5wks.... will take this effin thing for a drive tomorrow after all buttoned up & see if gremlin shows up again. Thanks all for replies.