I am wrestling with an electrical short in a 1999 Dodge Ram 3500 15-person Van 5.2 L automatic tranny. I purchased it at an auction and had to replace a frozen alternator and serpentine belt. I had the ECM reflashed and repaired because the transmission was not shifting. Now it shifts fine. The previous owner (PO) installed a battery disconnect switch because of the short problem. Radio will not make sound although the radio lights up and searches and finds stations. Radio works fine when plugged in my other dodge 1500 p/u. Dome light works when driver side door is opened. I now have disconnected the main light switch, the dome lights, the rear heater controls, the glovebox light, and engine compartment light. PO also had an electric automatic door opener spliced into the wires under the steering column. I removed it and resoldered five unrelated wires that were cut (one was the overdrive switch going to the gear selecter). The vehicle starts fine when the battery disconnect switch is closed. No codes are present on the OBD II scanner.

After pulling fuses in the van and watching the amp meter, here's what I found:
no fuses pulled: 2.9 mA draw
radio disconnected: down to 1.4 mA draw
ASD fuse pulled: down to 0.5 mA
I.O.D. fuse pulled: no power draw

In my search for a possible short, I opened the main relay box in the engine compartment. While I didn't find any obvious shorts, the bottom of the box had a small pool of water in it when I opened it! I don't think this was causing a short because with the box open, the mA readings remained the same, and the vehicle started ok. I'll drill a couple of drain holes in it to prevent future water accumulation.

I'd love to find what is causing the short. Barring that, I would settle for a working radio! I can live with the battery disconnect, although I'd rather not. Any and all help would be greatly appreciated!
BTW, I have downloaded the manual for this vehicle provided by the Dodge Forum. THANK YOU for the link.

 

There shouldn't be any draw on the ASD circuit with the ignition off......

 

@HeyYou,
I failed to mention that in addition to pulling the ASD fuse, I also pulled and replaced the ASD relay with ones from a junkyard wreck. There was no change in the amperage draw when I pulled the ASD relay, only when I pulled the fuse. I was surprised that the ASD relay had no effect.
I haven't tried disconnecting the ignition switch yet. I noticed that on the ignition switch, I can remove the key after the vehicle has been started. Also, the ignition switch can be turned without the key from the ACC position to the locked position. I don't think that's normal.
I have a steering column for my 1997 Ram P/U that I never installed (for fixing the 'death wobble'). I bought an after market steering box stabliizer for that problem (now solved!). So I may try and use that IG switch on the Van. Looks like a chore to take off the one on the Van.
BTW, the van only has 78,000 miles on it and motor is solid.

 

Wonder what else is on that circuit........

 

I tried to remove the ignition switch so I could unplug it, but unlike the one on my P/U it has an integral wire harness on it. I have to unplug it at the buss which is located in a very hard-to-reach location under the dash.
No progress to report on the ASD fuse draw of 1.0 mA.

Question: with the radio plugged in (and the key off), there is about a 19mA draw. That seems excessive. I read that the radio memory uses a small amount. Also, a youtuber talks about there being an additional radio amplifier in the rear of some vehicles (not sure if this is for the premium stereos or not). He discovered a short occurring there. Do you know if these vans use an external amplifier?

 

If you have the Infinity system, that had external amps in various places.

 

Looks like mine is the base model stereo with no additional amp(s).
With the radio disconnected and the key out, I'm getting power only to the pink and violet wires on the grey plug to the radio. The schematic from the radio shows the violet wire going to the right speakers but I couldn't locate it in the door. I'm wondering if I have the right manual for the Dodge Ram 3500 Van. I disconnected both the speaker and the lock/light switch with no change. Would be nice to have a working radio!

Another piece of data: when I do plug in the radio with the key off and measure the amperage draw, it jumps all over the place (14 to 20 mA) like it's charging/discharging a capacitor or something. ASD is still drawing 0.9 mA per meter reading.

I'm going to pull the battery and look for any damage to wires to the main harness going to the fuse/relay block.

 

No wire damage to report under or around the battery in the engine compartment. Cleaned battery connections and re-clipped the fuse box/relay box in position.
I discovered something today: I pulled the diag/amp fuse and as expected the obd II plug stopped working; however, so did the radio! I can't find that circuit anywhere in the wiring diagrams in the service manual. I looked further for an external radio amp, but didn't find one in either of the rear speaker panels. I'm not sure there is one in this vehicle but it is interesting that radio disconnects when the diag/amp fuse is pulled. Apparently the PO did some work trying to uncover why the radio stopped working (rear panels have damage probably related to removal and re-installation). Any ideas on what to look at next would be appreciated!

I'll give it a rest for a few days. It's a beautiful fall weekend here in Arkansas, so I'm heading to a lake in the mountains.

 

Is the power draw on the asd circuit on the control side, or the power feed side?

 

I've only pulled the fuse for the ASD. How with the fuse pulled can I tell which direction the draw is from? I've got an extra ammeter. Never thought about using two. I can learn!