I have a 96 Ram 1500. I have the wierdest problem I've encountered. Recently my signal and brake lights just quit working. I have tail lights and also the brake light on the body above the bed.
I've replaced all the bulbs, front and back in all of them, and I've replaced all the fuses.( also replaced the flasher)I ran a trouble check through the Chilton web site and it said to check the relays and the ground wires. According to the wiring schematics on the same site, I found a ground wire that feeds just those two lights. However, according to the schematics, it shows the wire just orriginating at some point, I assume under the dash but can't find it. Had a friend run a wire test and he came back with I needed a flasher switch? Where is that located? Also it stated to check/clean the connections. What exactly are they? Yes, I'm a shade tree mechanic girl......I used to be pretty good at it when I was roaring around in muscle cars back in the 70's & early 80's. Any help out there??? I found this web site through a search engine and it seems pretty informative. My next issue is to replace the braking system. I have no pedal unless I pump and keep pouring fluid into the reservoir at least once a week and my back brakes are grinding metal. (yes, I inherited this truck from my now 22 yr old who inherited it from a motorcycle deal)
And no I refuse to take it to the dealership which just shaved my skull on a job. I was notified on some recalls, took it in for a 2 day job. They took 5 days to "order the parts" then 3 days to fix it. I had some broken lug bolts and some stripped, thanks to my other son... I bought new nuts ($30.00) and bought new bolts.($8.00) apiece and had to go to 3 towns and 3 parts stores to pick up 6 of them and I had the dealership put in the new lug bolts. They could not/would not give me an estimate on repairing them.When I went to pick it up, they charged me $230. dollars for replacing them. [:'(]actually it was like $198 for the labor and one more bolt at $18.00 and them some kind of additional ????. I like to have fainted. OK, screw me once shame on you. They won't get the change again. Also now my ABS light stays on and the brake light. (that was one of the things they fixed I believe, was a relay for the ABS) []

 

Two things ... 1) You need to fix those brakes NOW (please ... before you do another thing). 2) You should check for voltage and ground at the bulb sockets (contacts). Good place to start.

 

1st question: You have probably already checked this but in the fuse box under the hood theres a 15amp (I think thats the rating) fuse for the brakes that may be used for signaling also. A few months back my brake lights quit working (almost got rear ended) and I searched everywhere. The fuse seemed to be ok just from looking at it but it had actually snapped at one of the joints (it didn't burn out just broke at one of the prong connections). Thats always a good place to start.

2nd question: If you have to keep adding fluid you must have a leak. Check the front calipers and the rear drumsfor signs of a busted cylinder. If not leaks, trace lines back to the master cylinder. Some of the brake lines have been know to rust through.

3rd question: Not sure about the ABS light but if the dealer recently replaced an ABS sensor I would try disconnecting the battery for a couple of minutes to see if the light comes back on after the computer resets. If that doesn't work it's probably something the dealer did so take it back to them (even though I can tell thats the last thing you want to do).