Electrical Enigma

[oldguyokiehomer]

Just before I retired I drove my 2002 1500 4x4 Ram Quadcab into Tulsa in twilight morning hours. I thought my headlights were dim but I knew they needed to be buffed. When I got to work I shut all off and went into office. At lunch I was headed to O'Reillys when I noticed the turn signals weren't working correctly so I backed up into the lot and did a check. I had only right rear signal, the right headlight worked but not the left, the left HiBeam worked but not the right, No brake lights, and only the right rear 4ways signals worked. The running lights front and rear worked. Do I need to check fuses of is there something more serious going on?

Thank You,
Doug

 

[tron67j]

That is a crazy one. My first step would be to load test the battery and make sure it is good. Second, clean all electrical contacts at battery and grounds. Third, for a 2002 might consider just replacing the fuses, use contact cleaner when replacing. Do you have any aftermarket electrical items that you recently installed?

 

[RamDiver]

Given the vintage of your truck and the irregular and random failures of lights, I would be looking at common grounds.

Load testing the battery with a toaster-style battery load tester is always a good plan before pursuing electrical irregularities.

Charge the battery first and then follow the directions to load test it.

The $18 device from HarbourFreight linked below is always a good investment.

100 Amp, 6/12V Battery Load Tester

Amazing deals on this 100 Amp 6/12V Battery Load Tester at Harbor Freight. Quality tools & low prices.

www.harborfreight.com

.

 

[tron67j]

Given the vintage of your truck and the irregular and random failures of lights, I would be looking at common grounds.

Load testing the battery with a toaster-style battery load tester is always a good plan before pursuing electrical irregularities.

Charge the battery first and then follow the directions to load test it.

The $18 device from HarbourFreight linked below is always a good investment.

100 Amp, 6/12V Battery Load Tester

Amazing deals on this 100 Amp 6/12V Battery Load Tester at Harbor Freight. Quality tools & low prices.

www.harborfreight.com

.

I missed that unit in my regular search of HF for "tools I don't need right now but may in the future, so let's take a trip to my toy store to wander around again". So thanks for an excuse to go there this afternoon!

 

[RamDiver]

I missed that unit in my regular search of HF for "tools I don't need right now but may in the future, so let's take a trip to my toy store to wander around again". So thanks for an excuse to go there this afternoon!

I wish we had a HarbourFreight store with similar prices.

Thanks for reminding me to visit during my next trip to my NY mailbox.

.

 

[oldguyokiehomer]

Thank you one and all, The first thing I did was replace the battery, it was time. Same problems exist thereafter so I too will run to HF and exchage fuses I hope and grab that gizmo as well. The blade fuses I bought are twice as big as needed if not more. I have not installed anything recently, The only aftermarket is the light in the topper and thats been with the truck since 2003, I am second owner with 308,000 miles, I bought it with 20,000 miles so I've been the main maintainer. It runs great. The heater core is shot and the dash will probably fall apart once somone begins messing with it with cracks in a few areas that are key structural spots.

 

[Oliver Closehauf]

Hopefully grounds, maybe front control module/fuse box(TIPM). Been doing a lot of research lately trying to track down my own mysterious condition.
Seen the youtube videos of the same problems you describe. Been working through cleaning connectors and added a ground. Been waiting for the wife to come back from her mom's so she can work the switches and brake pedal while I check the lights for dim lights or lights that are on but shouldn't be to see if that's the source of what I'm seeing.
Ebay has the FCM's, preprogrammed for less than 250, just in case.

 

[oldguyokiehomer]

I had the system checked out last week before the storm hit and Oliver Closehauf seems to be on target. The findings were that there is no power coming from the fusebox to the front module. The fuse box is bad and needs to be replaced then test to see if front module and lights then work. A circuit board for one of the two taillights need to be replaced. There seems to be a question of whether or not these parts are still available and where. My question is why did this all happen at once?

The truck otherwise runs good except for a bad heater core. Cold on Cold days Warm on Hot days.

Thanks