I am having a bit of a problem with my 05 Dakota. I drove the truck all weekend with no problems and then around 6pm I noticed my radio wasn't working I then noticed that none of my gauges or my trun signals are working. The only thing that works on the dash is the digital odometer. I have checked all of my fuses and they are all good. I called the dealership and the service guy said it could be a problem with the ignition so I am going to take a look at it tonight. Does anyone have any ideas on what this can be?

 

is this with the truck running? I had something stranger happen as well, I started my truck on Saturday and nothing worked inside, radio, A/C gauges, etc. I shut it off and restarted using very deliberate key movements and everything started working again. I believe it is something in the ignition. I just make sure I turn the key very slowly and deliberatly, it has not happened since. Wonder if this is a common problem, sounds like you had the same thing happen.

 

This is with the truck running. I'll try what your doing and see if it helps.

 

You got to love them CAN-Buss puters. More then likely it's the puter unless there is some other modification not playing nice with ECM

 

So I tried what jkeaton suggested to no avail. I did notice however that when I trun the switch back to the ACC position the radio works fine. I am going to take it into the dealer on Friday and see if they can figure out what is going on.

 

$50 was for a blown fuse!!!! I thought I had checked them all but I guess I missed the one that counted.

While they were at it they found that the rack and pinion is leaking and the exhaust manifold is starting to leak. How difficult is it to replace these? For what they are wanting for just the parts I can by two from Auto Zone so if this is something that isn't too hard I would rather do it on my own.

 

Sometimes those fuses are tricky Glad that problem is fix. Where is the manifold leaking, some of the older 3rd Gen Daks were known for breaking the exhaust manifold bolts off. If the bolts are sticking out of the head then the jobs not so bad, if they arent then they can be a PITA. The rack and pinion job I am not sure about, it can't be too big a deal for the most savy mechanically inclined person, though I havent ever done one

 

So I decided to take a look at the rack and pinion leak and see how bad it is. I set the e-brake on my truck jacked the front of the truck up. After looking at the leak and letting the truck down off the jack I went to back it out of my garage. As soon as I released the e-brake the radio and cluster went dead just like before. So I replaced the fuse that had blown again and began looking under the dash in the area of the e-brake. And sure enough there was a bundle of wires that were rubbing against the metal portion of the e-brake mount and it had worn through the tape and the insulation of one of the wires. Rewrapped the wires and zip tied them away from the bracket and so far so good.