It's pretty much doing it all of the time now and I have to bang on the steering wheel to get it going. Once I hit the steering wheel, it runs no problem until I shut off the truck and then start it later on. What could be going on?

 

See this post https://dodgeforum.com/forum/3rd-gen...on-switch.html for the likely cause, since your steering wheel banging remedy's it temporarily.

 

Yep, dead indication of the ignition switch going bad.

 

wow. what a pain. That makes complete sense. Thanks for the lead!

 

is that the same cause for my signal lights messing up on me. once in a while my right blinker won't work and then when i signal left it goes right until i jiggle the steering wheel up and down.

 

$27.99 plus tax at AutoZone and a sweat filled half hour or so, got the new one installed. Works like a champ! Not as easy as some made it out to be, but figured it out. It really wan't all that bad. One key thing to remember is the tilt lever pulls off towards the seat.

 

I'm beginning to wonder if the SuperChips programmer would work now, new battery, new ignition switch ... that switch was probably the problem the whole time! Oh well, not worth it on a 4.7 anyway.

 

No. That's the multi function control lever itself. Real pain in the *** that is apparently fairly common in these trucks.

Mine was pretty bad, I gave it a light blast of compressed air and electrical contact cleaner. It helped but it still does it from time to time.

 

by chance did you have any melted wires on your ign switch?

 

Not a one. I must have caught it in time.