My Truck Wants To Catch Fire

When I turn my headlights on my truck burns up the Alt.. It grounds out bad and has major issues.Dash lights dont work ether. Where should I start pro's

 

I'd start with a test light.
Then pull the head light relay.
Next pull BOTH fuses for the Head Lights (Left and Right)
Then clip your test light to battery +.
Next test pin 1 of the Headlight Relay.
It should NOT light up the test light.

If you don't have a test. We can try a different way.

 

oh contrare
Start with a fire extinguisher
Just kidding, short in the lighting somewhere? back tracing for a short like TnShooter says

 

Someones wires got chewed on by a critter.

 

Should I be replacing relays. If they are bad will they let power go through them

 

Tomorrow Im gonna work on this but something is grounding out. My dash guages drop to ZERO when I start.I think it my be groundingnout. Tomorrow AM im looking for loose wires. Its so bad that it will fry a brand new ALT/.... any ideas to save me right before 300,000 this week will be great