Hi i have a 98 dodge ram and my radio dont work unless i have the yellow wire hooked up in to my fuse box with another wire what can i do to fix it

Hi,

A couple of things could cause the issue. There might be bad wires to the lights and radio. And if most things aren't receiving power, you might have either a bad battery or alternator (recharges the battery).

If possible, please get a diagnostic scan run at your local autozone. You can call ahead first to see if they are able to use the diagnostic tool on your car model/year. This is the autozone number: 1 (800) 288-6966 . Thank you.

The two best sites

1998 Dodge Ram Pickup Car Stereo Wire Colors and Locations

https://www.the12volt.com > installbay > stereodetail
1998 Dodge Ram Pickup Stereo Wiring ; Right Front (-), Dark Blue/Red ; Rear Speakers, 5 1/4" Side Panels ; Left Rear (+), Brown/Yellow ; Left Rear (-), Brown/Light ...

1998 Dodge Ram 1500 Radio Wiring Chart - MODIFIEDLIFE

https://www.modifiedlife.com > 1998-dodge-ram-1500...
Our 1998 Dodge Ram 1500 radio wiring diagram shows you all the radio wire colors and what they do. Table of Contents. 1998 Dodge Ram 1500 Radio Wiring Diagram ...

Follow the link

http://www.modifiedlife.com/1998-dodge-ram-1500-truck-car-stereo-radio-wiring-diagram

Hello my name is Israel. I have added the following informaiton to help you out. Good Luck.

Radio 12v gray/red + radio harness
Radio Ground black and black/lt. green - radio harness
Radio Ignition pink/yellow + radio harness
Radio Illumination orange/tan (dimmer) + radio harness
Factory Amp Turn-on N/A
Power Antenna N/A
LF Speaker +/- dk. grn/yel - dk. grn/lt. blue +,- radio harness or amplifier
Notes: The amplifier is behind the glove box.
RF Speaker +/- gray/yellow - gray/lt. blue +,- radio harness or amplifier
LR Speaker +/- gray/lt. grn - gray/dk. grn +,- radio harness or amplifier
RR Speaker +/- dk. grn/lt. grn - dk. grn/gray +,- radio harness or amplifier

Hi, unless you have a premium sound system with an amplifier, all of your speakers are powered by the same radio fuse. If you do have a premium system, it is probably an add on. The installers may have added a fuse to the panel on the left end of the dash. Check for a modification there--fuse that the map doesn't call for.
If you don't have an amp, there are 3 or so possibilities:
1. the fader control is turned to rear or is broken
2. both front power transistors in the radio are burned out.
3. Both front speakers are burned out or both wires are bad.

You can check for bad speakers and wires by taking one of the front speakers out and hooking up a known-to-be-good speaker (such as one from the back).

Please let me know if you have questions and thanks for using FixYa.

if you pinched the wires, you may ahve shorted the circuit. check all your fuses.

you have a wire wrong on the radio it all happened
when you turnd on the lights right i done the same
thing on 96 dodge ram pick up when you turn on the lights one wire u would think is a ground turns into a hot for radio lights so check your fuses unhook radio
turn on lights an check for hot wires that are not hot when they are of hook that one to the memory
wire on radio

glad you posted what colors you do have , cause 2 resources didn't match ,actually 3 , i did find a match to your colors was a 97 year model premium radio, so we have a match .....

black/ light green = ground
dark green = left front spkr +
purple = right front spkr +
blue/white = right rear spkr -
brown/blue = left rear spkr -
brown/yellow = left rear spkr +
blue/orange = right rear spkr +
black/yellow = park lamps
brown/red = left front spkr -
orange = dimmer signal
pink = fused battery +
green/red = radio choke relay
red/white = fused ignition
blue/red = right front spkr -

cheers

djmac62 is also an excellent answer

Have you checked for any blown fusible links & fuses under hood?

The fuse for the interior lights has a yellow plastic holder
covering it. Full the holder all the way out, fuse and all, with a needle nose pliers.
Replace the fuse. Disconnect the power to the radio you put in before you do this. Replace with new fuse. Check lights. If light work, plug in radio. If fuse blows, radio connection is bad (grounded hot wire). Fix wiring, replace fuse, and try again.
You could also have messed up the multi-function switch
(turn signal switch). EVERYTHING go's through this piece of crapo switch, and it costs a fortune to replace. Do the wiggle test on the switch, wiggle it while trying the things that do not work, front to back of truck, NOT up and down like your turning the switch on, the opposite way, front to back of truck. If things flassh off & on that stopped working, yopu found the problem. DONT pusy too hard, push gently on end of stalk, there is a lot of leverage there!