91 dodge truck

[neon14]

Ok guys, one of my coworkers has a 91 dodge ram with a gas motor. I think it is a 318. I need help identifying this part. Its to the left of the steering column. Looks like a flasher and it has 3 wires going to it. It gets so hot that I had to wrap a rag around it to unplug it. The things drawing alot of current even with the key off. So I took it out and he is driving the truck without it. Everything works in the truck except the fuel gauge and the oil pressure gauge. Anybody have any ideas? Thanks

 

 

[NightFlyer]

I know this sounds like the obvious since you already mentioned it, but you've checked the turn signals AND the emergency flashers? They might be different flashers for each...

[jwmbishop]

I just looked over 90, 91 and 92 wiring diagrams - nothing with those three colors going to it (many schematics are only good until production starts - they change a lot sometimes). But bot haz and turn are two wire flashers. My guess would be daytime Running light relay, key/light buzzer or trailer package flasher.

[1-Crew]

If everything works but the fuel gauge and oil gauge, my guess would be a voltage regulator for the instrument cluster. I know Ford uses one, I assume all other do as well. The system voltage is too variable for consistent gauge readings (12V - 15V), so there is a separate regulator to drop this down to a constant. Most regulators need at least a 2V drop from the supply to regulate so expect the normal output to be somewhere around 5V - 10V.

 

I would not expect it to run hot unless there was a draw somewhere else in the system, do the gauges work normally if you plug it back in?