1998 Dodge Ram 2500 Diesel Brake Issue
Posted in Brake & Suspension | Asked on May 30, 2010
I have a 98 dodge ram 2500 24 valve diesel. Today coming home from work the seat belt signal wouldn’t turn off even though I had the seat belt on. I tried to undo and reconnect the seat belt and it still didn’t go out. Then after driving with it on the brake light and the abs light came on. I pulled into a parking lot and looked in the manual. It didn’t say anything about the seat belt light staying on, but for the abs light it said that the light meant that the abs system wasn’t working, and for the brake light it said the hydraulic system wasn’t working. I shut off the truck and restarted it the lights were still on, so I shut off the truck again and restarted it, this time the lights went out I drove the rest of the way home and then checked the brake fluid it was a little low but still above the fill mark. Any idea of what could cause this?
There are 3 Answers
Does the key switch feel normal ? Maybe it wasnt fully returned from the start position. If the red brake light comes on the abs will be dis-abled and that will make both lights come on, unless… Chryslers are prone to key switch failures, especially if you have alot of keys on your keyring. If the switch is sticking a lil bit to the start side, that would make these lights stay on. I say wait till it does it again and play with the switch a lil bit.
could be a short in ur instrument cluster, bc if random lights come on wiht no problems. bc ive seen ppl have a few lights come on yet the vehicle is fine, so i would check and see if any problems with gauge clusters for ur truck
or see if the fuse panel and see if there is a fuse for both the abs and seatbelt. bc that could be a problem too
one thing you might want to check on that one is the ground wires on it ,a bad ground will cause those lights to come on like that,i got one now that is a 97 model that the wiring harness under the carpet shorted out on and burnt the insides of it a little and the owner explained it to me this way,he said that all the lights came on the dash ,similar to yours and the truck was still running real good,but the seat belt light wouldn’t go off,but when he took it home and parked it he realized he had left the keys in it and when he got back in it he smelt smoke and burning wires,so you might want to check the wires under the carpet for a bare spot in them,it cant hurt anything to do this,this is the second one i have seen do that,good luck.