Lets start at the begining.

3 weeks ago I finally crawled under my truck to troubleshoot why my running lights would either melt a fuse or pop it altogther at any given moment. I knew it had to be a shorted wire, as the PO had done a hack-job on the wiring both under the hood, dash & to my suprise the wiring on the frame-rail. His logic was to bypass the headlight switch he burned up, but I found he created more of a problem than a fix. I found 4 wires on the frame rail just in front of the fuel tank bare with no insulation where it appears he tried to splice into the rear lights. I also found serveral wires in the same shape under the hood in the main wire "loom" right off the battery. I spliced all new wires in using what i call "butt" connectors without any solder.

While in a good mood about fixing my fuse problem, I decided to get the code from my RWAL, which it turned out to be a # 9. After much searching on the forum, I determined my problem was probably the wires running from the pumkin to the RWAL module, so I decided just to replace it and see what happened. I used the same type butt connectors to replace the main portion of the wires and spliced the connectors on each end. I also confirmed that at the areas I found the bad wires, none were the same color as the two wires I replaced. To my suprise the AL light went off, and the system worked flawlessly until yesterday.

The light started coming on and off when I hit a bump on the way home. I was able to duplicate the situation by a bad connection at the plug that goes into the PCM behind the dash. All of the wire harness checked out, so I took the PCM out and found that the studs that come out the back side of the recepticle plug and down through the green board had came unsoldered on the back side. Since I am no electronic guru, and was able to find the studs pushing too far through the board causing the lack of contact, I just took a thin piece of plastic I had and shimmed under the plug to create a permant connection there. Temporary problem solved.

However, after the truck sit for around 45 second to a minute and a half the light would come back on. This was with the truck idling and not moving. The system worked great for the past 3 weeks, so my thinking is maybe the wires I replaced from the pumkin to the RWAL have run their course, or maybe my std. butt connectors are not what I needed there. I am just at the end of my rope here, and need this system to function properly, as it helps tremendously while I am towing.

Sorry for the long post, but wanted to include all the details - please help!

 

As long as you have a complete circuit out to the sensor you should be good, there is nothing wrong with using butt connectors there as long as you have taped them up good to keep out water/dirt/corrosion. It's still giving you a code 9?

 

Yes, still a code 9. Could it be the sensor itself? I noticed the two wires to the sensor are red & purple and white & purple (I think). For troubleshooting purposes could I run two long pieces of wire from the sensor outside the truck to the dash and hook up my meter to test resistance?

Did I mention I am Electric stupid?

 

It could be a bad sensor or corrosion in any connections along the way. The sensor circuit should be between 1300 and 1500 ohms, start at the sensor and work your way up towards the BCM until you find the trouble.

 

Well, I *THINK* I found the problem. in part of my troubleshooting, I found that the connector on top of the sensor was broken. It appears the prongs had broken off and no connection was being made. I went ahead and ordered a new cable assembly from the Dodge place since I was not confident in the cable i constructed.

I will post my findings once I know for sure hopefully with some pictures to help out the searchers of the forum. Otherwise, I may be back asking for some more advice!!