Hey everyone, finally signed upto this sight. Im a member on cf but have been getting a lot of info and help from this sight just searching. seems to have a lot less bickering over here thats for sure! I try my hardest to always search for my problems but cant quiet figure this one out. my reverse lights havent worked since i bought the truck about a year ago and got sick of not being able to see behind me so i checked bulbs and fuses , they were good so i got on here and found out about the reverse switch on the tranny. Seems like it is located in diferent spots depending what tranny you have, i have an auto. It did not seem to really be on top as much as the side and it did have a black/violet wire like i read but not a 2 wire plug but 3, am i looking at the right plug? I pulled it out to give a look and make sure nothing was broke, i havent put a tester on it yet but i pluged it back in and relized tonight my dash lights were not working now. I also installed a stereo today. So my questions are does the reverse light switch have any thing to do with dash lights? Am I even looking at the right switch? Or did i do something while installing radio and if so do you know what it is? thanks a lot

Welcome!The dash lights and stereo smell like the problem there. The factory stereo has wires hooked into the illumination circuit. Sounds like you might need to pull it back out and take a look. You may not have the ability to get the manual yet. page 8w-47-3 is where the panel lamps and daytime brightness connect into the radio wiring harness.the reverse lights. 8w-51-2 (electrical) 21-237 (actual location mechanically). With an automatic your "reverse light switch" is a three wire switch. here is the troubleshooting info.PARK/NEUTRAL POSITIONSWITCHDIAGNOSIS AND TESTING - PARK/NEUTRALPOSITION SWITCHThe center terminal of the park/neutral positionswitch is the starter-circuit terminal. It provides theground for the starter solenoid circuit through theselector lever in PARK and NEUTRAL positions only.The outer terminals on the switch are for the backuplamp circuit.SWITCH TESTTo test the switch, remove the wiring connector.Test for continuity between the center terminal andthe transmission case. Continuity should exist onlywhen the transmission is in PARK or NEUTRAL.Shift the transmission into REVERSE and testcontinuity at the switch outer terminals. Continuityshould exist only when the transmission is inREVERSE. Continuity should not exist between theouter terminals and the case.Check gearshift linkage adjustment before replacinga switch that tests faulty(I work from a 2001 manual, so your mileage may vary.)HTH GLHag

I agree: dash lights (or lack there of) and stereo install are most-likely related.

Welcome to the family and I see other family members have jumped in and started to get you straighten out. I tend to agree with then so far as a start...

ok that all seems to make sense. I do not have a manual, but i have been wanting to get one so I am gonna try and do that today. looks like ill be pulling that stereo back out. It went in way to easy so it seems right that something went wrong! I will check that plug and let you know how it turns out. thank you

Nuck,No worries. There is a .pdf around here of the 2001 manual. (i think since you are a limited member you can't get behind the firewall to download it. It will be close (wire colors may not match etc.) This will bridge you until you get a manual. If you plan on keeping the truck, and do even the littlest of your own maintenance, its worth the $150 to have a manual if you have to spend it.You could have blown your dash light fuse btw. On the 2001, the dash lights are actually protected separately from the headlight switch. (variable voltage power leaves headlight dimmer, goes thru a fuse, then goes out to the bulbs in the Instrument cluster/ overhead/ radidio:wink: ) In the fuse block by the drivers door it should/could be one there (5 or 10 amp)GL HTHHag

Click!..... Door is unlocked...

ok, i found a loose ground wire and a blown illumination fuse. would that ground cause that fuse to pop? its light out so im not positive but i fixed ground and replaced fuse and it doesnt look like i have dash lights still. i have all my warning lights and blinkers but not speedo and rpm and other gauges. could i have blown fuse and the bulbs back there?

is your odometer digital? does it dim out when you turn your parking lights on?

yeah the odometer is digital. it does not dim when parking lights are on. i downloaded the 99 ram manual but i cant seem to open it. what do i need to do?

mmmm,

(sorry rick didn't see you were here too. I will stay out for a bit.)

(notice that Mopar1973man unlocked the downloads area for you. you should be able to go to the download tabs and find a manual in pdf form there and download it.)

loose ground should not cause a short. unless it drug across power wires.

Hmmmm with the loss of the gauges.... make certain that you know which power wires are what. in connecting to the radio.... it sounds like you could be looping something. or you have some other problems and disturbed the wiring.

You need to look at your manual. The CCD system is part of the wiring to the radio. It sounds like you are crossing some wires to the CCD or the central timer module.

The gauges are really driven by the PCM and displayed by data across the CCD.

I hope you have just popped a few other fuses.....

GL

Hag

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manual is "zipped" with a program called win rar. (the technical reasons are for smaller storage space and less transmission time (bandwidth) for downloading.

you will have to find a program to un-zip a winrar. do a boogle search for a quality unzipper. this should allow you to view it with adobe reader.

HTH

Hag

alright i gotcha! i had that on my last computer, didnt relize this new one didnt have it. As for the wiring i got a wiring harness that plugs right into the factory plug so there wasnt much confusion. there is a black and blue wire that was hooked to the back of factory radio that came unhooked and when i just went out there to check the color of that wire i went threw again and the orange wire(i think is the ilumination) is unhooked. pos wire harness! is that my problem

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alright good news, got manual downloaded and got dash lights working again. tomorow i will start on the reverse lights. thank you all for your help

COOL!!!I always worry a bit about the "factory" harness connector.What I got from Crutchfield was an adapter and had to solder it to the Kenwood pigtail. So I had just recently looked at all the extra wiring and had to blind off a bunch of wires. (the adapter brought through a bunch of wires that were unusable in the new head unit.)Glad you are finding it and getting it worked out. Hag

ok i got a new back up switch today. the only one i could find in town was a standard brand, its made in china so hopefully it works. how tight do I need to tighten this down? Its not tapered or nothin is it?