Headlights, taillights, brakelights, horn do not work... left third of dash doesn't work

40

Asked by Mike Oct 11, 2017 at 04:26 PM about the 1992 Dodge Dakota 4WD

Question type: Maintenance & Repair

Hey guys,

Before I posted, I looked around the forum and found some issues similar to
mine but not quite my entire problem.

So here's what happened... the other night, I was doing maybe 60kmh and
braked/swerved to avoid a deer. I ended up basically perpendicular to the
road, so backed up to correct and carry on. I didn't realize there was a ditch
so close to me, backed into it (pretty slowly), screwed up trying to correct that,
and left my truck hanging in the ditch overnight on 3 wheels (back right was 2
feet off the ground).

Got a friend to winch me out this morning (if I didn't have a vacuum line issue
I haven't bothered to fix yet, I probably could have just thrown it in 4H and
drove out).

My lights do not work. My brake lights do not work. My signals and hazards
DO.

The entire left third of my dash does not work... The ABS and e-brake lights
stay on, the rpm meter is stuck at 2600. The check engine light is not on.

Any pointers on what I screwed up would be awesome.

1992 Dakota 3.9L Magnum V6

4 Answers

40

The 30 second brake pedal thing did nothing. I found fresh dirt up in the back rear of under the frame where all the wiring to the back end lighting is, but haven't been so lucky that I just had dirt grounding a wire out. I checked all the fuses already that are remotely related, they are all fine. Radio works fine, btw. My immediate concern is obviously brake lights so I can at least drive in the day. Head and tail lights so I can drive at night. It's a 5 speed, I don't actually need the tach so the left third of the dash is last concern. But I do remember the moment the lights went out, I was trying to rock back and forth out of the ditch (and making things worse positionally). The left edge of the back bumper was stuck in dirt. The ditch was basically a V shape, 5 feet wide, 3 feet deep. Cluster? ... If this was a brake or clutch job, I could do this easy. Wiring, not so much.

40

So..... I've narrowed it down with the ole multimeter that somewhere between the wiring harness and the back end, 3 wires are facked. I've decided that I'll be busting out the soldering iron and getting into that fun in the morning.

3 people found this helpful.

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