94 Dodge GC No left side lighting & limping tranny

We're having some 'issues' with the electrical in our 94 Dodge GC'van, 3.3L, V-6, 3 speed automatic with OD. Everything was working great until about a month ago, when I turned the headlights on. We've checked the fuses. They all seem fine, but we've got no dash lights, no lighter, no ashtray light, no horn, no electronic driver's seat adjustments and now no tail lights! OOPS! That's a problem, especially since it gets dark earlier now. We've also noticed that if I have the radio on when I turn the headlights on, the radio volume and digital display decrease. And most of the time, when we turn the headlights on, we hear a 'chattering' sound coming from the headlight button control box area of the dash. When we shut the headlights off, the 'chatter' stops. The cruise control and all the gauges seem to work fine, although the cruise sometimes stops working, intermittently. :banghead: Anyone got any ideas?

AND, to top this off, the tranny downshifted for me yesterday, but never came out of 2nd gear while trying to drive highway speeds. I drove 15 miles on a 4 lane highway at 50 mph or LESS, to get home. I'm sure people thought I was crazy! :screwy: The tranny did this a few weeks ago while I was doing some in-town driving too. At that time I shut the engine off, waited about a minute, then started it again. (OOPS! Forgot to tell hubby about that one.) :nono: Drove it home without a problem, but yesterday, even though I turned the engine off for a minute, it never shifted out of 2nd gear. The tranny fluid level is fine and the filter and fluid were just replaced in July, about 1500 miles ago.

Any ideas on any of these issues would be greatly appreciated!

Twila

The lights sound like a short in or near the heahlight switch. The transmission sounds like it is going bad.