Chrysler Repair: Power to door locks/blower gone, airbag/abs lights on/ speedo out:Dodge truck, blown fuses, ohm resistance

Question
I have a 1999 Dodge pickup. My air bag and abs lights are on. Also the speedometer, blower, and power windows don't work. This all happened at the same time. Have you heard of anything like this?

Answer
Hi Jeff,
I have heard of losing the horn/air bag light on/ and no cruise control, simultaeously which is caused by the clockspring connector between the steering wheel and column breaking down. But the speedo/blower/power windows would usually be on different fuses under the dash. But I bet if you look under the hood in the power distribution center, a box near the battery, you may find a fuse or two that have blown and which in turn provide power to the smaller fuses under the dash that power the item that are out. I would take a reading between the cold side of such a fuse's socket and ground (- post of the battery) to see if there is at least a few ohm resistance on the circuit so as to not just replace the fuse and have it blow again. If it appears shorted to ground (near 0 ohms) then I would check the fuses for the items that failed to see similarly if the sockets for those fuses are showing a few ohms to a shiny metal surface nearby on the body structure (ground) so as to be able to identify which of the non-functional items/circuits might have caused the fuse in the engine compartment to have blown.
Unfortunately I don't have the wiring diagrams for the truck line. But see what you can find about blown fuses both in the power distribution center and under the dash.
Roland