luckydiamondran

We were troubleshooting the sensor in the intake manifold heater (hard starting problem) by turning the ignition switch on and off. Got the sensor replaced (no more hard starts!) but in the process, we lost our interior lights, door buzzers, radio & trailer lights. We noticed, however, that we could find a "sweet spot" on the headlamp switch - between parking lights and full headlights. At that spot, everything works - even without the key in the ignition. When we fully engage the headlight ****, everything shuts off. We replaced the headlight switch with a new one, but have the same problems. Can anyone help us pinpoint the relay or circuit that is obviously shorting out? We need to make a 6 hour road trip on Sunday, and can't risk driving at night -

Ray Roton

What model truck are we talking about?

luckydiamondran

Sorry - I thought that info came up from my profile... It's a 95 Dodge 1 ton flatbed - 3500 5.9 liter diesel - the few bells and whistles I have don't work unless the headlight switch is in that sweet spot between parking lights and headlights.

smokeyram

There was a recall for the headlight switch. Mine was replaced about 4 years ago, and yet Im inthe same boat again.
Just started up a few days ago. have to jiggle the headlight switch just like juggling keys to open a stuck lock.
The part, if i remember correctly, is about $60. And if your good with a soldering iron, not a bad swap,
Ill have to take care of it this weekend.

akghound

I have a 96 2500, been through a lot of light switches 6 or 8 by now. Simple to change, takes me about 15 min. They cost $15 at Napa with a discount. A lot of wierd things go on when these switches go bad. Be sure that the connector plug is well connected to your new switch. Look and see that none of the contacts in the connector are burned. Good luck ... Ken

TomW

I'll second the "aftermarket" route. I had to replace a few on mine as well. Got expensive through the dealer and found Auto Zone has 'em for a fraction of the price.

luckydiamondran

Thanks for responding, everyone! We replaced the headlight switch with TWO new ones and had the same symptoms. Also bought a time delay relay since a lot of the things that weren't working traced back to that on the wiring diagrams. After hours of trying to find where the danged relay goes, we found that our truck didn't have one in the first place. We headed off on our trip to Oregon and hoped to make it back before dusk - as luck would have it, we were an hour and a half away from home when darkness hit us. Decided to go over everything ONE MORE TIME at a rest-stop and guess what - found that a 50 amp fuse had been removed from position one in the power distribution center. Now. THAT puppy doesn't just fall out on it's own, so we think someone is messing with us... Also strange that Schucks doesn't carry 50 amp fuses on the rack, and can't order 'em, either! The truck stops we visited didn't have 'em, either! Anyway, we replaced the missing fuse with a 40 amp fuse from another position, jumpered the donation site and were able to make it home safe and sound with everything working. Now, we need to attend to a newly discovered leak in the fuel line dripping diesel (now that the price of diesel is the highest ever, we're leaving drips of it down the road... sigh..). And a new squeak somewhere in the suspension.

Do you think these things have anything to do with the fact that we JUST paid off the loan on this truck?? It only has 74K on it!!