bigragu

Yeah no blink at dash message area. Bulbs all good. Right turn signal works along with hazards for both for about 10 seconds then a fuse blew. I hear the ticking sound when I signal left but again no light flash at dash or at rear of truck. Only worked for hazards. What gives?

j_martin

Left side wire is shorted to ground. If you keep it up the wire will blow, protecting the fuse. It's Dodge engineering.

NJTman

Could also be a bad hazard blinker / flasher. Mine went bad, and only one side worked. Put an electronic unit in there, vs the standard old crappy silver ones, and it was fixed.

Most likely bad grounds, as these trucks are hideous with their grounding issues. Stupid chrysler junk....


Today, I had to rewire my drivers side tail lamps / backup / harness. Last year, I replaced the socket for the back up and stop lamps. Both ground wires were "tinned" black because of the ground that led up to the lamp assembly, which I never messed with. If I had removed the black tape about 3" back further, I would have found a severely corroded junction that was there from the factory. I wound up replacing the entire ground lead from the tail lamps to the connector below (2.5 feet of wire) and connecting that bad junction (4 prong quick disconnect above the frame) to a new ground. If I had let it go any longer, eventually I would have been dealing with your problem.

The other side, which I replaced the lamp sockets at the same time, was fine. The wire was still brand new copper shiny looking, as that side's ground must still be good through that quick disconnect...


BTW, Do yourself a BIG FAVOR. Put mudflaps on the rear wheel wells. The problem with our trucks it that when the truck is in motion, the tires spit up snow, salt water and junk into the backside of the tail light lamps, rotting out the sockets, or filling them with water. Since I put my mud flaps on, it stays dry in there.

bigragu

Where did you locate new sockets to hold the bulbs? Are they OEM style? You both sold on a bad ground? How about the multi function switch at the steering column? How often do those go bad? Reason I ask is I swapped out the flasher for the electric style made to withhold 10 lamps and every time I went to turn left on the stalk the turn signal 20 amp fuse blew. Right turn no problems. I put the oem flasher back on after replacing the fuse and when I hit the stalk to turn left no fuse gets blown, I just hear the tick tick sound of a left turn but nothing happening on neither of the 3 turn signals and no light on the instrument panel. The 20 amp turn signal fuse remains intact

Hillbilly66

It could be the switch, but I would check all grounds, before I replaced the switch

j_martin

Fact 1. It blows a fuse if the flasher is strong. A weaker flasher just complains, but doesn't blow the fuse.

Fact 2. The truck is wired with fairly thin wire. With a dead short at the socket, the fuse will barely blow.

I would be looking for a short to ground in the wiring between the MFS and one of the corner lights.

You could start by pulling the light bulbs and checking for resistance to ground with everything off. It should be wide open. I'll bet you'll find less than an ohm at one of them. Follow that wiring back till you find the fault. One caveat. It could be in the socket and manifest only when the connector is depressed by a bulb.

If you have a trailer connector, the fault may be there.

You are probably making smoke somewhere. Your nose might be the best way to find it.

NJTman

Yes.....


Switches go bad, but quicker to diagnose grounds. I bet if you disconnect the rear harness at the tail lamp (above the frame on either side) you will find corrosion inside the harness. Cut the wire coating off of the soldered connections at the rear brake light. Look for corrosion. You (if you are daring) can cut and strip the "grey wire" a the rear drivers tail lamp, and see the condition of the ground wire. If it's shiny copper, ground is most likely good. If it's black toasty looking, bad grounds there. Make sure you cut it where you can easily put it back together.

I bought the light sockets on amazon. They are available in the after market, but make sure you cover them with grease or paint them. They will rot out faster than your underwear being soiled if you don't.

bigragu

Thnx Martin and T. Hillbilly thanks for your input also. I will post up my findings and solutions

bigragu

Really weird man. Update: driving home today from work and stewin on parts/pieces I'm gonna need to possibly replace my oem tail and brake bulb sockets for new and out of habit I hit the left turn switch to pass a car and wow light is blinking again at the dash! Still using the 21 year old oem flasher, too. Could a short in the ground miraculously go away or maybe something dried up( roads were dry today vs crazy down pour last few days when I noticed the left turn blinker quit working)or do you now lean towards a fading muti function switch. Me, well, I'm at a loss

j_martin

Hey man, whatcha drivin'. Of course a wire shorted to ground could get shook loose.

My son had a weird intermittent short in the turn signals. Found the wiring harness pinched between the spare tire and frame. Every time he'd hit a bump, things would change. Got the pinch repaired in the harness and routed it out of harms way....all was good.

If you were anywhere close I'd say bring it over. Don't think it'd take more than an hour to find it.

NJTman

I can tell you from personal experience that, if there is water in the tail light sockets, you will have similar issues.


Can't stress this enough... Put mudflaps on the rear of that truck to prevent water from being driven up into the bed and tail light assemblies..

sooty

jm is right, don't overlook trailer connection sockets, stressed wires cross, with the flexing, and other cases the connection to tie the hitch plug to factory wiring, will fail, you can check sockets with bulb out with big test light, try bulb hot wire to body ground on run and sig circuits, to isolate problem to grounds. if flasher cycles ground is fouled.