Driving home tonight the backlight of my instrument cluster flickered. Ten minutes later it went completely off along with my cold/heat panel. I played with the rheostat, headlight switch but it wouldn't turn on. I stop at Wal mart to get a fuse because it was my first guess but when I came back and turned it on it started working again. Driving out of the lot it turned off again.

Now everytime I turn it on in my driveway it stays lit. Going through the owners manual I can't even find which fuse to change if it is just a faulty one, at this point I dont think it is. About the radio, when I turn the headlights off it is clearer on some stations, specifically some further away ones that I could hear before this. When I turn the headlights on it turns to static.

Quick search online some people are saying it is a loose wire. I'm planning on taking the cluster and light switch out tomorrow to see if I see anything. Any help I would appreciate a lot. I know basic stuff such as switching out parts. I never done electrical work.

Thanks.

Ive seen this in a few movies.

It doesnt end well.

Dodge

Aliens?

did you experience any missing time? Might have been anal probed.

i think my buddies truck was doing the same thing same year too, I guess dodge has a recall for the issue but only on 2009 and newer so he got screwed. He said he came out one day to a dead battery so he jumped it and everything was fine. that night the truck was parked in his driveway and the radio and lights  kept turning on and off and the windows were rolling up and down. took it to a shop and they said his computer was dead. cost him 1500 irrc.

2008 Dodge, eh?

THIS ARTICLE was written in 2007.  About the time your car was being manufactured.

It's well-known within the industry that vehicles are deliberately sabotaged during labor dispute years.

Take a look at the main connector for the dash panel. I bet you can find something wrong there.

You should be able to reach under the dash, where the light switch is, and "mechanically agitate" the wiring while the lights are on to see if you can repeat the problem.  A fuse is not going to be intermittent.

That's all you need to know for the reason.
Pot smoking and drunken assembly line workers.

I used to know some of the rich and vibrant people who made 747s in Hawthorne.

My God!

The three worst vehicles I've ever owned were all Chrysler.

Might be the ECM

What ever you do don't take it to the dealership, I've got a 2016 that's been waiting on the gauge cluster for 2 months now.

Dodge has a well known PCM issue that might be your problem. Quite expensive to correct with no guarantee it won't happen again.