Greetings all,

I've got another electrical gremlin I am trying to track down, but I am having no luck at all.

We have a 2004 Dodge Ram 1500. It's a 3.7 V6 with about 40,000 miles on it.

In the past we've had issues with the brake lights (faulty tail amp boards possibly) but last weekend we were driving and the radio cut out a couple of times and then the odometer and gear selector lights shut off. The truck continued to drive fine, A/C kicking, headlights working and the the motor had no apparent hiccups either. Eventually the turn signals also failed to respond as well.

This happened 4 or 5 times over the next few miles until we made it to our destination. It was then once I shut the truck off it refused to start up again.

I get the proper key in the ignition/door ajar dings, and the normal lights are all still working, but when turning the key over none of the gauges are responsive and even more curious the little box around the gear indicator is no longer lighting up. For a while it would show reverse (for park) but now it won't even show that. We've checked voltage on all the fuses and switches in the under hood fuse panel and we have checked the battery and ground at numerous points. My mechanic (who specializes on race cars, not street cars) was even able to get it to crank by manually jumping the solenoid, but of course it wouldn't start because it was getting no fuel/spark from the rest of the system.

I have don't a search to see if any of these symptoms were common, but I wasn't able to find a specific situation that mirrored my problem.

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!

 

The earlier year trucks did have tail light circuit board issues. I have two circuit boards for sale now in the classifieds if you want to check them out.

As for the instrument cluster, sometimes the harness or grounds can come loose behind the panel. That sounds like what happened in your case.

The gear shift indicator actually gets its position from the transmission.

Feel free to click on the links in my signature to download the 04 Service Manual for more help

 

Thanks!

We actually used your links to get the SM the other day when we were chasing down all the ground points.

 

Cool. Glad to hear you are thinking ahead. Let us know how is works out for you and good luck

 

I had my dash lamps & radio flicker on me once, the weight of my keys caused it. I jiggled the keys and it came back on, could be a failing keyswitch ( in both yours and mine).