I'm extremely new to working on anything automotive related, but I'm learning. I have a 2001 Dodge Ram Van 1500 V6. I purchased the service manual and have been using it to learn about and address multiple issues. One thing I am stumped on is my electrical... here's the issues -

• tail lights don't work -- brake lights, reverse lights, and turn signals all do work. when I have the headlights turned on, no tail lights / running lights. (so if I'm driving down the road at night, the back of my van is completely dark to anyone behind me.)
• dash lights and instrument panel lights don't work -- check engine light, brake light, and seatbelt light DO work. no illumination and no gear lights. no lights on rest of dash (radio, temp controls)
• radio does not work

I scoured the forums and haven't found much specifically about the vans, but have found some info about similar info regarding some Dodge trucks. I have replaced all of the fuses in the interior fuse box. I have not replaced any fuses in the fuse box under the hood - but I don't know that any of those would be related? I followed the wiring from the tail lights up to the engine but that's as far as I really got with them - just finding where they lead pretty much. Any and all advice is welcome. Thank you!

 

Does you van have the trailer harness? Those were notorious for bad splices.....

Trick is, find out where you are losing power, then find out why.

The trucks were also notorious for smoking the headlight switch, so, that would be worth looking into.

 

The tail lights do not share a fuse with the headlights, so there's that. Then there's also the headlight switch as HeyYou mentioned. I would first verify all fuses are good, then move onto checking for power at the switch for the running lights circuit.

 

Thank you! The van doesn't have a trailer harness, so I ruled that out. How do I check to see if there is power at the switch? I've located where it's at and ordered a new one but would like to figure out if it actually needs to be replaced first before installing it and throwing away 50$. Any advice on next steps is so appreciated!

 

From what I remember the tail and dash lights were funked up when my headlight switch went bad.
The radio is a different circuit. Ive done a lot of stereo work in my van That wouldnt affect the other two.

 

The dash illumination has its own fuse in the panel (atleast on trucks), also if the vehicle has Daytime Running Lights (DRL) could be an issue with that module as far as running lights, I was thinking it was only 98 and older headlight switches that were a big issue, didnt 99+ switch to ground control eliminating that overheating issue?