I have a 2001 Ram Van 3500 that just developed a problem with the turn signals and the radio looses power and shuts off & on when I am driving and I hit large bumps in the road? It is intermittent and they come back on once in a while. Sometimes I can smack the dash and they will start working.
I took off the fuse panel cover and removed the screws for the fuse box and pulled on it while the radio was playing and nothing happened. I thought maybe it was a loose wire or something. I also checked the fuses and they are all good. I noticed the radio and turn signals have separate fuses, so I can't figure out why the radio and the turn signals go on & off together? Anyone have any ideas what it could be?

 

Both are controlled by the ignition switch, so that's a good place to start. Shake the ignition switch connector and tap on the switch (engine running) to see if you can duplicate the problem. By ignition switch I mean the electrical portion of it down under the dash mounted to the side of the steering column. I don't mean the lock portion where you insert the key. Although you might want to try turning the key back and forth a bit to see if that causes the problem too.

 

If it's not a basic wire connection that is intermittent, then look for a bad ground of the dash IP to the body of the van.

 

I also have this problem with my 2002 Dodge Ram Van 1500. It also affects the power windows, mirrors, door locks, and radio. I noticed that when this problem started, my wife would use her keys that had a lot of weight on it with all her other keys. etc. My keys just had the key and key fob. It rarely happened to me when using my keys.

I figured it had to do something with the electrical part of the ignition switch being out of adjustment with the key switch. On occasion, until very recently, like last 7-10 days, I would wiggle my key and the problem would clear up. Now it doesn't seem to matter which set of keys we use and the problem seems to occur 80% of the time we use the van.
I didn't come up with a solution yet, but haven't really checked it out in depth. I did pull the fuse cover off at the l/f door dash panel area and didn't see anything but a light coat of rust on the steel dash frame. I tapped on the fuses and circuit breakers and nothing made the situation come back to normal. That made me think of a possible ground connection problem too.

I looked for the ignition switch on the column. I didn't find it. Is it up very high on the column? I am use to working on GM cars from the 80's and older and expected to see it toward the lower end of the column with a long bulky connector on it.

Any ideas?

Thanks

I am too interested if someone comes up with any ideas of what to do next.

 

Yes it is higher up the column than on GM's. You will have to pull the covers off of the column to see/change it.

 

I finally figured out the problem with the radio and turn signals going on & off intermittent.
When I move the keys around when they are in the ignition, it makes the radio & turn signals go on & off. I tried spraying some lube in the ignition key hole, but it still does the same thing. Is there a way to fix this problem? An adjustment or something?

 

Easy fix, yes, change the ignition switch module just below the key locale on the column.

No adjustment that I am aware of.

 

What is the ignition switch module? I went on the Napa website and searched for ignition switch module and nothing comes up? Is the module the same thing as the ignition switch on the coluum or ignition lock cylinder?

 

As Alloro said in post number 2 above it is the electrical part of the switch, it is what the key cylinder activates as you turn the key from off to the desired position.

 

Here is a picture of the ignition switch below the ignition lock cylinder. Is this what I need?