Headlights not working

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JoeyT

Junior Member
Joined
Jul 11, 2016
Posts
8
Reaction score
0
Ram Year
1996
Engine
5.9L v8
I put new bulbs in, the brights work, but the regular lights don't. The turn signals turn on but don't flash. I'm relatively new to working on vehicles, so I'm at a loss. The guy at the parts store was useless.

It's a '96 ram 1500
 

dudeman2009

Senior Member
Joined
Feb 9, 2016
Posts
1,562
Reaction score
208
Location
Arizona
Ram Year
2001 1500 Sport with enough electrical modifications to make my brain hurt
Engine
Magnum 360
For the turn signals, its probably just the flasher. Are the bulbs LED? That will cause this problem if the flasher hasn't been changed for a proper LED flasher. That is such a cheap part, i'd throw a new flasher at it just to try and avoid doing any real diagnostics work on it.

The headlights, are a bit more problematic. Do you have the sport model? What happens when you turn the headlight switch to the on position and hold the multifunction switch in the flash position?
 

Yeret

The Village Drunk
Joined
Oct 2, 2014
Posts
938
Reaction score
178
Location
Under the hood fixing/breaking something.
Ram Year
1999
Engine
5.9 Magnum
I had the same problem for quite a while. Turns out the purple hot wire for the low beams had popped out of it's socket in the multi-function switch connector. Snapped it back in and problem solved.

It seems to be a fairly common problem if the steering wheel is tilted up/down a lot. When I fixed the problem, I set the steering wheel where I wanted it and then unscrewed the adjusting lever. Now anyone who borrows my truck either deals with the position that it's in or tough ****, LOL.
 
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