redwake9112

well, i cannot seem to win for losing here. I had my 4" exhaust put on yesterday. The exhaust sounds incredible, absolutely love it. However, directly after install, I took the Dodge for a quick drive. I pulled out of the shop and drove about 2 miles and turned around. On the return trip I braked for a turning car and noticed that my instrument panel went crazy. The speedometer and the tach would swing from the actual speed and rpm to zero and the back again, continuously. The rest of the gauges were ticking back and forth about 1/4" the radio blinked on and off. As soon as i let off the brake, it all went back to normal. So.....after driving it about 70 miles...this is what I have figured out....whenever i hit the brakes, turn on the radio, turn on the heat or ac, anything electrical, my gauges lose their minds. I was forced to drive the truck during the night, and while i had the headlights on, the entire instrument panel would shut of repeatedly and the come back on.....the headlights were not really affected,,,though they would dim slightly. Blinkers do not work. soooooooo....... ......what the (*&(&*^&^%$^$%#@%$@! is going on?....as always, thank you all for lending me your genius. redwake

4RnrRick

sounds like a votage regulator or a ground wire problem....


EDIT
But I would trouble shoot the blinkers first. could just be a short that is feeding back through the brake light.

Underpsi

Sounds like a major ground problem. I don't know where you can look though as I don't know where the grounds are in the interior

redwake9112

whoa...that was fast.....sweet.....i'll see what I can find

bnold

If he was welding the exhaust on the truck?? Could have messed with the computer if batteries were not disconected?? Shotinthedark

4RnrRick

HIGHLY UNLIKELY! ......unless he grounded his welder to a random wire harness.

Although he could have melted a harness going to the rear of the truck. Just crawl under there and look at the harness going up the driver side frame rail for damage.

redwake9112

he grounded the welder on the exhaust several times (he was moving around a good bit) but i cannot remember if he grounded elsewhere.....dang...it's dark here..but i need to check that out. going to be awkward if he did...he's a good friend.

lowwag64

He should have still disconnected the neg.on the batteries.Some damage may have happened,but I would think ground may be you problem...jmo

GIT-R-DONE

There are many different ground wires on the truck. There is one for the radio, one out by the battery that goes to the Radiator support. Also one on the firewall, about the middle, behind # 6 cylinder. I am sure there are more, but would start with checking around where the guy was working on the exhaust.

If you didnt have any problems before you took it in, may have been something he did while working on it. Also there are fuseable links under the hood too, may have to check them too.

Boatnik

Check the main ground lead to the block. I found rust, coorosion and water behind the bolt on the engine. Also make sure the small ground wire is made up good near the battery.

Jake R.

my truck did kind of the same thing but only when I hit bumps and stopped hard. Turned out to be the red wire that goes to the ignition from the fusible link. It rotted out right after the fusible link and didnt have a very good connection. This probably doesnt have anything to do with it but i thought if all else fails you could just glance.

redwake9112

I never did find anything under the truck....no telltale signs of an electrical mishap....so I procrastinated on fixing the problem. Well....the porblem is now gone.....I have no clue what happened..the electronics stopped freaking out...gauges work just like normal...I can apply the brakes...run the headlights..turn up the heat...and listen to the radio without an iota of trouble. Whatever happened just went away...gotta love a truck that fixes itself. redwake

woodrat

Hate to be a wet blanket, but I bet it will be back. My gauges are all wacky too, and they started out by going bad temporarily and then mysteriously self repairing. Finally the oil gauge quit being reliable alltogether, just have the idiot light now. The temp gauge is on it's way out , still in between broken and occasionally fixing itself and the fuel gauge is now not accurate either.

johnny5.9

My truck does the same thing. One day it will be good and then all of a sudden, my speedo is a voltmeter. It seems to happen more when I'm running alot of electrical components, ie. wipers, headlights. I did a ton of welding on my truck and never disconnected the battery. Perhaps I should have. What will that damage on these trucks? Do they really have much in the way of electronics to hurt? I was thinking strongly that it was a ground problem. Any thoughts?