Odd thing happened tonight...

[Stinky]

No good deed goes unpunished...I went to start my truck to give someone a jump, and when I turned the key from "off" to "run" I saw a small spark from behind the glass of my instrument panel. I figured I burned out a buld, pushed the key over into "start" and the instrument cluster lights all come on. Truck starts, lights stay on. I try turning the switch to dim the panel lights over to off, and they stay on. When I shut the truck off the lights go off...Any Ideas?

Thanks,

James

Just a side note, I had the trans in Neutral and my foot on the brake, brake lights lit.

[MountainMoparRobin]

You saw the flash from a newly acquired short, you have exposed wire now start tracking from the ignition switch

[Stinky]

I didn't find a short from the ignition switch, but I did get my aftermarket temp gauge and tach working again. It's a rat's nest of old and new wires down under the dash. I did some pruning and was able to take out a few feet of wire that wasn't connected at either end.

Here's another question...On the back of the headlight switch is a small tab that looks like the male half of a solderless connection.



You can see it on the back...Is that an actual connection to the switch? Could that be used to power the lights for my aftermarket gauge lights instead of slpicing into the wire for the bulb to the stock instrument cluster?


Thanks,

james

[CSS-Registry]

get a test light and see if it is hot.

[MountainMoparRobin]

[Stinky]

I almost forgot. Not hot. I still wonder what the crap it's for.

[moparmike]

I almost forgot. Not hot. I still wonder what the crap it's for.

could it be a ground conection for if the switch were instaled in a non metal dash?

[Stinky]

Could be...But I had that switch just hanging by the plug for the first year that I owned it, and it didn't seem to need to be grounded out. All of the lights functioned, I only just recently found a replacement for the fitting that holds it to the dash.