Got home from work tonight like always shut off the engine and went to shut the door and the radio came back on.
It seemed that the acc was stuck on. tried to turn it off a couple of times and it stayed on. Finally it went off.
anybody had this problem?
i don't want a dead battery in the morning.
thanks
scotte

 

The Dodges have a very common problem of ignition switch failure.

Never, but never, put anything with any weight on the ignition key as a fob. Even the weight of the remote for remote equipped trucks is too much for the OEM switch if you have a key ring with several other keys attached.

 

How do i fix it or replace it. are the parts OEM only?

 

The switch is available from most autoparts. For some reason even though the switch looks almost identical after '97 they cost three times more that the $30 for the older switch. Replacement is easy but you need to follow the instructions in a service manual correctly or you can really mess things up, suggest you buy a manual, it will pay for itself in this repair alone vs. having someone else do it.
You will also need a torx security driver to do the job.

 

If you can't find the torx security bit you can just break off the little pin in the middle of the screw with a small screwdriver and a hammer - bend it back and forth and it will break off. I know then you would be reducing the security level of the switch but it was easier than tracking down a special screwdriver.