2002 Ram 1500 - Tail lights, parking lights and license plate lights not working. It happened about a month ago, found a short in the trailer plug, diconnected the trailer plug, and the lights were fine for about a month. Oh, btw, a couple months ago I spent $750 for the instrument cluster to be replaced. Those same lights went out again the other day.

Called the dealership.....they can't get me in for a few days, so I took it to another mechanic, not another dealership, though. He worked on it for 6 hours, then came to a standstill because, he said, he doesn't have access to certain schematics, being that its a new vehicle and the manufacturer doesn't provide those to smaller shops. He did tell me to take it to the dealership, that it seems like it may have something to do with the instrument cluster that was recently replaced.

In the process, he showed me a way to get the lights on. He pulled out the parking lamp relay, took a piece of electrical wire, and jumped it between two of the terminals. Lights on.

I'm driving home, and looked at the dash, BOOM, "air bag" light is on. Had gotten a flat recently, didn't have a chance to get it fixed yet. I left the rim and tire in my bed, along with the center cap. Well now the center cap is missing. I think the mechanic shoveled all the snow out of my bed and pushed the center cap out. And I found the mechanic's cordless shop phone in my truck.

Well, I called him and, of course, he must've just left.

Un-freakin' real!

I'm 'bout ready to trade it in.

 

It's a dodge, your lucky its starts

 

^^^ wtf is that supposed to mean.

In all honesty if the truck is that much of a problem I say trade it and get another dodge. All brands have their issues and all brands have trucks that have issues no one is perfect. If you trade it and get another dodge the new one will probably not have any issues whatsoever. Every carmaker has a lemon once in awhile and the odds of one person getting mroe than one that is a lemon is slim to none. It's this reason i'm not a very brand loyal person. I like dodge becasue I think they have the best looking trucks and I love the CTD and the Hemi engines. But if someone comes out with something that I like more I'd buy that.

 

I'm willing to attribute a lot of my truck's problems to the fact that it is a first year model. Iimagine the first line of vehicles would be most susceptible to problems. Yes, I'll probablytrade it for another Dodge, but only forone that's under warranty.

 

I don't blame you at all for wanting to trade but like I said it happens to all carmakers. My mom had a ford escape lemon, they replaced wiht another exaclty like it 50k miles later no problems whatsoever. I suggest trading for a new one that way you have the warranty and know fromt he start what has been done. It's nice when morons like "Gotts2bme" make idiot comments like his. i doubt it will be too long before he turns into a troll saying stuff like that

 

Ford named that one right.ESCAPE

 

Ben D., don't take that smack talk so personal, bro. I'll admit I've done my share to Ford and Chevy honks that I work with. It's all fun. And yes, those are the exact reasons I'd trade it for a new one. Funny thing is, I've had the truck for about three years. No problems whatsoever until now, and its only got 48000 miles. I'm wondering if any other '02's have had these kinds of electrical problems.

 

You know if it hasn't had electrical gremlens in the past there might be something simple that is being missed that could be causing a problem. For example we have problems with squirrels yes squirrels. They got up under my dad's GMC the other year and really went to town. Lights and stuff wren't working replaced bulbs couldn't figure it out till we looked at the wiring and it was all chewed to ****. Could just be a simple issue that can be fixed easily. Fixing trucks isn't hard. It's diagnosing the problem that is

 

My thought for your light problem is the relay it self. If the mechanic is jumping the terminals to get them to work maybe you need a new relay.

 

I had the same problem with the lights a few years ago, I ended up replacing the power distribution center (PDC) or fuse box as a normal person calls it. It had a short inside it somewhere, it cost me about $500 but I havent had any problems since