Tl* the contact owns a 1996 dodge ram 2500. While driving approximately 50 MPH, the low beam headlights suddenly shut off. The contact examined the vehicle and discovered that the headlight switch overheated and melted. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 68,000.
1996 Dodge RAM 2500: engine overheating
8 of the 289 complaints about the 1996 Dodge RAM 2500 describe engine overheating.
- owner complaints
- 8
- of this car's complaints
- 3%
- recalls
- 0
Is there a fix? 1 service bulletin covers this area of the car. See below
Engine overheating by model year
What owners say
Early morning, dark, some fog, mountain roads, 45 to 55 speed limits. Using high beams as needed but not constantly due to fog and some oncoming traffic. Headlights went out,flashed back on and off,seemed to happen a couple of times as I was breaking and trying not to hit something or go into a ditch. Hit dimmer switch and low beam lights came on. Stopped at next available safe pullout. Checked truck over,found nothing. Resumed trip. Lights went out again,using high beams,finished trip with only low beams and had no other problem. Checked out headlight switch,and found overheated wiring that could result in fire.
On the morning of 12/7/09 I started my truck to warm it up with the heating fan on high when at some point, somewhere in the wiring harness under the dash overheated and started the interior on fire. Destroying my vehicle. The windshield and driver door windows were broken from the heat but luckily remained intact and not letting air inside to fuel the fire and it eventually extinguished itself.
Third engine compartment fire on 1996 dodge p/u w/ deisel engine. I reported to dot on 11-jul-2000 after the second fire. See your reference no 865223. This makes three times the driver could not turn engine off, wiring harnesses overheated causing engine compartment fire.
Headlight switch keeps overheating due to faulty wiring. Consumer replaced switch 4 times. Dodge is aware of defect, and has designed new part which includes an extra relay.
When A/C or heater is on the ignition switch will overheat and steering column start smoking, consumer had to buy another switch, and dealer put it on. Original switch could not take all the power coming from all the circuitry.
While pulling a trailer up amountain pass, pulled over to let traffic goe by, saw large cloud of white smoke, discovered that transmission fluid overheated and dumped on ground, rendering vehicle inoperative.
Insufficient brakes traveling down grade will overheat and pedal application is reduced. Please describe details. Tt
Service bulletins that may apply
Related recalls
No recalls on record for this model year.
Questions about the 1996 Dodge RAM 2500 overheating
Is engine overheating a common problem on the 1996 Dodge RAM 2500?
8 of 289 owner complaints about the 1996 Dodge RAM 2500 (3%) mention engine overheating. The model year with the most reports is 1995.
Is there a recall or service bulletin for this on the 1996 Dodge RAM 2500?
There are 0 recalls and 1 service bulletin for the same area of the car. Check them below with your VIN.
Other symptoms on the 1996 Dodge RAM 2500
Headlights 19Brake failure 18Tire blowout 15ABS 14Fire or smoke 9Pulling 9Transmission failure 8Stalling 6
VIN decoder
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