My truck is a Dodge 97 4x4 1ton automatic if it helps

Was coming home from work and the wires on the positive terminal popped out and the truck lost all power. Put the wires back into the terminal and torqued them down so at least I could make it home and replace it. In the process, I lost the tach, speedo. O/D and the wait to start. My boost guage/pyrometer work fine. Battery/fuel/temp guages work.

I checked all the fuses and doesn't look like any popped. Check the fuses near the driver side battery, but can't tell if any of them are popped. Could I have shorted something in the process of the wires popping out of the terminal? Or could the CPS shorted out? (If it can? dunno)

The truck starts up fine. I had to manually shift the gears when I got off the highway though.

 

Is the voltage guage up to normal? There is a 150A fuse in the underhood fuse panel that I think protects that. Would be one thing to check.

 

The voltage gauge isn't where its suppose to be, and the only fuses that I can find are the ones by the driver side battery. And the biggest one on that one is 120A. But, like I said earlier. I can't tell if they are blown. Unless the dimple in the middle of'em is suppose to be broken. If thats the case, then they are all fine.

I called the guy that I bought the truck off of and he said it could possible be the computer got fried somehow. I don't wanna plop down the 300+ bucks at the moment for one, I'd rather weigh my other options 1st.

 

Sometimes a burnt fuse is difficult to detect. Pull them out and check with an ohm meter to be sure.

 

The one thing all the components you've lost have in common is the 5 volt power supply from the PCM (computer).
Some of the gauges you say that still work leads me to believe that the PCM is getting power, no blown fuse. Problem is likely a fried PCM or a bad connection to it. Also the PCM has internal breakers that will shut down the 5 volt supply if their is a short to ground to any of the sensors.

Unless you are an experienced automotive electrician this problem is likely something you don't want to diagnose yourself. You can end up spending needless money on a fix that doesn't work or even making things worse.

 

I'm going to be hauling it back to the shop and have them look at it. I can do the "easier" stuff myself, but when it comes down to the electrical I'm at a stall point. I'm lucky this is my play truck and not my actual work truck.

I appreciate the responses though, love having a wealth of knowledge from other people.