1998 gas headlight harness grounds
Thread Starter
|
Registered User
Joined: Feb 2025
Posts: 2
Likes: 0
1998 gas headlight harness grounds
Hi everyone, thank you in advance for any help you can give me.
I have a 1998 Dodge Ram 2500 with the 8.0L V10 Magnum. Since it’s a Dodge and a 2nd Gen, I’ve had my fair share of electrical problems. I’ve been slowly working through most of the gremlins myself, but since I’m 17 and doing all the work on my own, it’s taken a long time — and I’ve definitely made some mistakes along the way.
One major mistake was connecting the battery ground to the post on the fuse box where the alternator output should have gone when I replaced my alternator. It kind of worked for a while, so I thought I was just chasing random electrical issues. Eventually, it fried my fuse box.
I replaced the fuse box and headlight wiring harness with ones from a 2001 truck, not realizing that later 2nd Gens run the headlights through a separate computer or timing module that my 1998 doesn’t have. So now I’ll be pulling that setup out and swapping in a correct fuse box and headlight harness from a 1998 gas truck.
All three of the harnesses I’ve dealt with (my original, and both donor harnesses) came from gas trucks. I’ve seen mentions in forums and videos about tightening the grounds on both the driver and passenger fenders to fix electrical issues. But none of them clarify if that advice is only for diesel trucks or also for gas trucks.
On all three harnesses, I only see a ground connection on the driver’s side under the battery tray. I’ve never seen any passenger-side ground wires. So my question is:
Do gas trucks need a passenger-side ground in the engine bay, or is the driver-side ground enough?
I have a 1998 Dodge Ram 2500 with the 8.0L V10 Magnum. Since it’s a Dodge and a 2nd Gen, I’ve had my fair share of electrical problems. I’ve been slowly working through most of the gremlins myself, but since I’m 17 and doing all the work on my own, it’s taken a long time — and I’ve definitely made some mistakes along the way.
One major mistake was connecting the battery ground to the post on the fuse box where the alternator output should have gone when I replaced my alternator. It kind of worked for a while, so I thought I was just chasing random electrical issues. Eventually, it fried my fuse box.
I replaced the fuse box and headlight wiring harness with ones from a 2001 truck, not realizing that later 2nd Gens run the headlights through a separate computer or timing module that my 1998 doesn’t have. So now I’ll be pulling that setup out and swapping in a correct fuse box and headlight harness from a 1998 gas truck.
All three of the harnesses I’ve dealt with (my original, and both donor harnesses) came from gas trucks. I’ve seen mentions in forums and videos about tightening the grounds on both the driver and passenger fenders to fix electrical issues. But none of them clarify if that advice is only for diesel trucks or also for gas trucks.
On all three harnesses, I only see a ground connection on the driver’s side under the battery tray. I’ve never seen any passenger-side ground wires. So my question is:
Do gas trucks need a passenger-side ground in the engine bay, or is the driver-side ground enough?
Legend
Joined: Nov 2014
Posts: 8,098
Likes: 318
Hi everyone, thank you in advance for any help you can give me.
I have a 1998 Dodge Ram 2500 with the 8.0L V10 Magnum. Since it’s a Dodge and a 2nd Gen, I’ve had my fair share of electrical problems. I’ve been slowly working through most of the gremlins myself, but since I’m 17 and doing all the work on my own, it’s taken a long time — and I’ve definitely made some mistakes along the way.
One major mistake was connecting the battery ground to the post on the fuse box where the alternator output should have gone when I replaced my alternator. It kind of worked for a while, so I thought I was just chasing random electrical issues. Eventually, it fried my fuse box.
I replaced the fuse box and headlight wiring harness with ones from a 2001 truck, not realizing that later 2nd Gens run the headlights through a separate computer or timing module that my 1998 doesn’t have. So now I’ll be pulling that setup out and swapping in a correct fuse box and headlight harness from a 1998 gas truck.
All three of the harnesses I’ve dealt with (my original, and both donor harnesses) came from gas trucks. I’ve seen mentions in forums and videos about tightening the grounds on both the driver and passenger fenders to fix electrical issues. But none of them clarify if that advice is only for diesel trucks or also for gas trucks.
On all three harnesses, I only see a ground connection on the driver’s side under the battery tray. I’ve never seen any passenger-side ground wires. So my question is:
Do gas trucks need a passenger-side ground in the engine bay, or is the driver-side ground enough?
I have a 1998 Dodge Ram 2500 with the 8.0L V10 Magnum. Since it’s a Dodge and a 2nd Gen, I’ve had my fair share of electrical problems. I’ve been slowly working through most of the gremlins myself, but since I’m 17 and doing all the work on my own, it’s taken a long time — and I’ve definitely made some mistakes along the way.
One major mistake was connecting the battery ground to the post on the fuse box where the alternator output should have gone when I replaced my alternator. It kind of worked for a while, so I thought I was just chasing random electrical issues. Eventually, it fried my fuse box.
I replaced the fuse box and headlight wiring harness with ones from a 2001 truck, not realizing that later 2nd Gens run the headlights through a separate computer or timing module that my 1998 doesn’t have. So now I’ll be pulling that setup out and swapping in a correct fuse box and headlight harness from a 1998 gas truck.
All three of the harnesses I’ve dealt with (my original, and both donor harnesses) came from gas trucks. I’ve seen mentions in forums and videos about tightening the grounds on both the driver and passenger fenders to fix electrical issues. But none of them clarify if that advice is only for diesel trucks or also for gas trucks.
On all three harnesses, I only see a ground connection on the driver’s side under the battery tray. I’ve never seen any passenger-side ground wires. So my question is:
Do gas trucks need a passenger-side ground in the engine bay, or is the driver-side ground enough?
Record Breaker
Joined: Sep 2010
Posts: 1,753
Likes: 155
From: Parker, SD
to my knowledge the gas/diesel chassis wiring is all the same aside from obvious diesel/gas functions
If you still have the pull style headlight switch I would recommend adding a headlight isolation relay harness like such, they are a great upgrade and should keep your dash from spontaneously combusting
If you still have the pull style headlight switch I would recommend adding a headlight isolation relay harness like such, they are a great upgrade and should keep your dash from spontaneously combusting