Clampett

I believe I have a ground issue somewhere...or a dead short. I had the headlamps on last night for about 30 minutes and when I got home I check the wiring coming from the headlamp switch and felt fine but I touched the "accessory/recall running lamp relay harness" and it was super hot. All of this wiring has been torn up and I thought I had it straightened out. I guess not. The running board lights are not working now, they were when i replaced the headlamp switch. Also, my radio was very static'y this morning. I'm thinking something is fried? I hate the wiring in these trucks.

torquefan

On 1st gen trucks, I have seen far more headlamp switches damaged by the park lamp circuit than the headlamp circuit, especially on duallies with all the extra clearance lamps. Judging by your last post, that seems to be the issue. If you have extra running board lamps drawing from that circuit, it is most certainly overloaded. I would drive it for a while with only the park lamps and see if the problem repeats itself, then measure its draw with an ammeter. You may need to rewire the park lamp circuit on a relay that draws straight from the battery area, and split off any extra running board lighting to another separate relay that is triggered by the main one. If you pull a trailer, I would definitely wire the trailer tail circuit from another completely separate relay.

j_martin

The original wiring is a bit marginal, but usually effective. It's the ad hoc add-ons that are unbelievable sometimes.



I hang a mini-iso relay near the headlamp switch on the lower dashboard plastic for this circuit. I power it from my add-on fuse panel.