The headlights do work, so I'm at least getting power to the switch. The dimmer also works so I have brights and dims. Yep, I know to pull the switch out for the fogs! LOL It's not like just pushing the button on the dash of my Silverado. Anyway, the dimmer for the interior lights also works. The tails, dash, and park lights are the ones that aren't working. I called O'Reilly this morning. They don't have a headlight switch in stock and have to get one from Little Rock, so it will be tomorrow before it gets here to Springfield Mo. for me to even find out if it's the culprit.

One thing that I remembered this morning that I had forgotten about was that a couple of years ago I had a similar problem with it. No tails, but everything else worked. Found out after I started messing with it, and started switching some bulbs around in the tail lights, that the whole tail light assembly on both sides were bad. When I started digging around on the internet about this, it seems to be a common problem on the Durango, Caravan, and Dakota since they all share the same tail light assembly. Is the Dodge wiring system that bad? It seems that every single Chrysler product that I've had first hand knowledge of has been eaten up with electrical gremlins.

The bandits at Central Dodge wanted an arm and leg for new ones, so I bought a set of the "tuner" looking ones off of eBay for around $40 or so. I haven't had any more problems with it until now. I'm wondering if they may have gone bad and are causing this problem, but the only thing about that theory is the dash and park lamps. If they are on the same circuit, maybe, but who knows?

This thing is about to drive me nuts trying to figure out. If it weren't for my wife needing this vehicle, I'd take the damn thing some where and leave the keys in it hoping for somebody to steal it so that I could collect the insurance and put her in a GM vehicle. She loves this truck though, and I hate it, so what do you do other than try to fix it. Thanks for the help. I hope to get this fixed within the next day without having to spend a fortune on it, but it seems when you say Dodge they always want to know how deep your pockets are! ...Joe

 

There is no issues with the wiring.


Still sounds like a ground to me. Check for power and ground at the harness for your tail lights!

 

Couldn't find a bad ground. Changed the headlight switch today with no change. PITA. Called the dealer and asked for a CTM. They said they had one in stock, so I went and picked it up. I don't know if the kid at the counter knew any more than I do about it though. He said they called it an alarm module, and it was the only one they had listed, so I just hope that this is the right part. It was $287 before tax. Part number is 56049073AK. I want to make sure that this is the right part before I even open the box as they have a no return policy of course. Don't know why this kid called it an alarm module. Is that the correct name or what? I'm more confused now that what I was. Why can't Dodge stick with ONE name for a part, unless I don't have the right one. Anybody know about this? Thanks in advance. ...Joe

 

I changed the CTM out with the one that I bought from the dealer. Problem solved! Everything but the keyless entry and panic button works again. I can live without those if need be as long as all the lights and everything else works. I hope that my experience with this will help someone else that has this same problem.

I have decided to post how to do this since I had to figure out how it was put together in order to take it apart and fix it. Maybe it will make someone else's life a little bit easier if they know exactly how to do this. Many thanks again for all the replies and pointing me in the right direction to get this fixed, since I had no idea what was wrong. The dealership would have raped me on this repair! It was fairly simple to change, and all I'm out is the cost of the part.

The CTM isn't that hard to change. Pull the piece of trim out of the door jamb, it just pops off, then there are two screws that hold the kick panel. One screw under the carpet at the front, and one that is under the door jamb trim that you'll see as soon as you pull the piece of trim off. Then the kick panel pulls right off. The CTM has 3 plugs. Unplug it, remove the 3 screws holding it to the kick panel then reverse procedure to install new part. Maybe this should be added to the FAQ section since it seems to be a fairly common problem on this model? Anyway, thanks again! ....Joe

 

if you want the remotes to work (keyless entry, panic, ect) just have the dealer program the ctm to your truck and have them program it to your remotes too.

i would suggest getting it programmed too as you may find that certain features are not active in it which could become a pain.

also the CTM does control the factory alarm iirc so maybe that is why they call it an alarm module? idk

 

Inputted in the FAQ.

 

hydra, as people need them i have been putting excerpts from the 02 pdf manual up online for access, if i can figure out how to share a 'folder' with those in it, do you want to add it to the faq?

 

Thanks for putting this in the FAQ. Maybe it will help someone else out since this seems to be a common problem on this model. ...Joe

 

Just post a link to it in this thread.

 

http://www.mediafire.com/?sharekey=c...b5ba589d1986ba

there ya go, that is my current collection of PDFs pertaining to the durango

o yea, as i add more files to that folder they will show up under that link for dl