Ignition Switch problems of the 2004 Dodge Ram 1500

Today I went to the Dodge dealership so they could diagnose an electrical problem I was having in my truck. They told me that part # 56045112ae, 56051949ad need to be replaced. Which are the ignition switch and the ignition wire harness. Problems I was having were the power windows would not go up or down without the steering wheel all the way in the up position. The motor blowers for my a/c and heat would sometimes not work. And my air bag light was on in the cluster panel. They told me that the wires were burnt, but could not tell me the source of the problem. I told them that there must be completely too much current going through those wires to cause a problem like that and they agreed. I was then told that because of the wires being in that condition the airbag could possibly go off at any time and/or cause a fire. Why is there not a recall on this issue. When doing some research on the web this is an on going problem with Dodge trucks and jeeps. Also part number 56051949ad has been discontinued so how do they expect to fix these problems. My truck also has the stalling problem when coming to a stop and accelerating.

I bought an 04 Ram 1500 5. 7 hemi that had around 80k miles on it when I bought it in oct 2010. It was awesome the first and a half I had it, only minor repairs I. E battery, idler pulley, ignition switch. I did regular maintenance on it as well as oil changes. In late March 2012 I went to put gas in my truck and it would not let me put more than 10 or 15 cents in before it would "back fill" I was trying to figure out what the problem could be with that, then in early April 2012 I was driving home after running some errands, the truck had run great all day just like normal, but about 8 miles from house I hear this "thunk" and I have no power and I had this awful shaking and rattling noise. There were not even any warning lights telling we that there was something wrong, I called someone to tow it home that night. I did thankfully have another car to drive. In the months since I have been slowly tearing the engine apart with my dad, this week we finally pulled the heads and discovered that my # 6 piston was completely disintegrated and had punched a hole in my block! my original thought was that this was just a random fluke and it was just mine, but after reading on some Dodge forums I see that it was not just mine! this is ridiculous for an engine that has no more miles than this and had been properly maintained. My parents have a 1999 Ford f150 that has almost 300k on it and has not been maintained nearly as well. . . Read more...

While driving in rain my wipers often stop working on high speed which make it difficult to see in a down pour. Also my blower fan for the a/c defroster heater etc. Stops blowing when tilt wheel is moved to some positions. It has proceeded to the point of not blowing at all and sometimes will start blowing when I am not in my truck with the key out of the ignition. I was told by a dealer mechanic that it is a faulty ignition switch and that he has changed several. He said it is caused from the wiring harness hanging to loose and repeated tilting of the steering wheel causes the ignition switch to break and have a bad connection. This is also probably what causes some trucks to stall while driving. These are all very dangerous situations if they occur at certain times.