Electrical Issues. Help?
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Amateur
Joined: Nov 2010
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From: TN
Electrical Issues. Help?
First time poster, just found this forum. Hope you guys can be of some help to me.
I have an '03 durango with the 4.7 It's 4WD. I purchased it used in 07. The A/C quit on me, and although I do most all of my own maintenance, I don't have the equipment/experience to deal with A/C so I took it to a local shop. (I try to stay away from stealerships as much as possible) The bearings had gone out on my compressor, so the replaced the compressor and I sent my wife to pick up the vehicle.
I got in and noticed right away that the A/C was only cold intermittantly, and at random times, so I took it back to the shop. They said that the coolant temp sensor was bad and the electric fan wasn't coming on, so they replaced the sensor (free of charge) and now the air is cold.
The problem is they broke the "everything".
Before the coolant temp sensor was replaced everything worked great except the A/C. I'll list the issues that were immediately noticeable once they replaced the coolant temp sensor. (the shop after "diagnosing" for a few days said "sorry, we can't fix it, guess you'll have to take it to the dealership", but I won't go into that here)
The engine surges, it is more noticeable when the A/C compressor kicks in, but it surges all the time.
At an idle (if I can call it that with all the surging going on) if I give it some gas and then let off it almost stalls before it goes back to surging.
The gauges all are off on their readings, the fuel guage reads low, the coolant temperature guage barely comes off of "C", all the readings on the overhead display are incorrect, etc. . .
There is a stutter prior to every shift, it doesn't feel like it is slipping, but more like 5 quick shakes, a very short pause, then a clean shift. *edit* It started throwing a code about the trans pressure sensor, but that started with all these other problems as well */edit*
The cruise control doesn't work, the light doesn't even come on when I press the cruise on/off button.
The CD player won't eject.
Everything else seems to be ok.
Here are the things that have been done in trying to fix the issue.
The shop that broke it replaces most of the sensors
2 more coolant temp sensors
TPS
IAC
and a couple others that I can't think of at the moment. Still having the same issue.
They said they thought it might be PCM related. I ended up taking it to the stealership and they flashed the PCM for me for $100. Still having ALL of the above related issues.
The dealership wanted another $100 just to try to diagnose the issue, and they told me up front that they were going to have to put on all MOPAR branded sensors etc before they could do anything else. Honestly I don't have the $$ right now to let them do that, and I can't believe that ALL my sensors went bad at the same time.
I have seen some posts around the web saying that replacing the PCM "could" help fix my issues, I guess I'm looking for more opinions. If I have to I have to, but I'd rather not have to fork out that kind of $$ unless I don't have a choice. It's the wife's kidhauler so I've got to get it going for her soon.
Aparently I wrote a book with my first post. Thanks for reading and any help/advice/input is appreciated.
Lombard
I have an '03 durango with the 4.7 It's 4WD. I purchased it used in 07. The A/C quit on me, and although I do most all of my own maintenance, I don't have the equipment/experience to deal with A/C so I took it to a local shop. (I try to stay away from stealerships as much as possible) The bearings had gone out on my compressor, so the replaced the compressor and I sent my wife to pick up the vehicle.
I got in and noticed right away that the A/C was only cold intermittantly, and at random times, so I took it back to the shop. They said that the coolant temp sensor was bad and the electric fan wasn't coming on, so they replaced the sensor (free of charge) and now the air is cold.
The problem is they broke the "everything".
Before the coolant temp sensor was replaced everything worked great except the A/C. I'll list the issues that were immediately noticeable once they replaced the coolant temp sensor. (the shop after "diagnosing" for a few days said "sorry, we can't fix it, guess you'll have to take it to the dealership", but I won't go into that here)
The engine surges, it is more noticeable when the A/C compressor kicks in, but it surges all the time.
At an idle (if I can call it that with all the surging going on) if I give it some gas and then let off it almost stalls before it goes back to surging.
The gauges all are off on their readings, the fuel guage reads low, the coolant temperature guage barely comes off of "C", all the readings on the overhead display are incorrect, etc. . .
There is a stutter prior to every shift, it doesn't feel like it is slipping, but more like 5 quick shakes, a very short pause, then a clean shift. *edit* It started throwing a code about the trans pressure sensor, but that started with all these other problems as well */edit*
The cruise control doesn't work, the light doesn't even come on when I press the cruise on/off button.
The CD player won't eject.
Everything else seems to be ok.
Here are the things that have been done in trying to fix the issue.
The shop that broke it replaces most of the sensors
2 more coolant temp sensors
TPS
IAC
and a couple others that I can't think of at the moment. Still having the same issue.
They said they thought it might be PCM related. I ended up taking it to the stealership and they flashed the PCM for me for $100. Still having ALL of the above related issues.
The dealership wanted another $100 just to try to diagnose the issue, and they told me up front that they were going to have to put on all MOPAR branded sensors etc before they could do anything else. Honestly I don't have the $$ right now to let them do that, and I can't believe that ALL my sensors went bad at the same time.
I have seen some posts around the web saying that replacing the PCM "could" help fix my issues, I guess I'm looking for more opinions. If I have to I have to, but I'd rather not have to fork out that kind of $$ unless I don't have a choice. It's the wife's kidhauler so I've got to get it going for her soon.
Aparently I wrote a book with my first post. Thanks for reading and any help/advice/input is appreciated.
Lombard
Last edited by Lombard; Nov 11, 2010 at 03:08 PM.
Champion
Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 4,822
Likes: 4
From: Indiana
Wow, that's a lot of stuff. Didn't read it. My ADD must have kicked in.
Make sure your battery is good UNDER LOAD, Replace (again) your TPS, reset PCM and erase 1/2 of the above because it will be fixed then. We can revisit from there.
IndyD
Make sure your battery is good UNDER LOAD, Replace (again) your TPS, reset PCM and erase 1/2 of the above because it will be fixed then. We can revisit from there.
IndyD
Thread Starter
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Amateur
Joined: Nov 2010
Posts: 39
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From: TN
Thanks for the reply. Ill get the battery load tested and replace the TPS again.
To reset the PCM I have been unhooking the battery for 15 min. Is there a procedure other than that?
To reset the PCM I have been unhooking the battery for 15 min. Is there a procedure other than that?
Thread Starter
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Amateur
Joined: Nov 2010
Posts: 39
Likes: 0
From: TN
OK, the battery was bad under load (never had any issues out of it) so I replaced that and the TPS today. Followed by a reset of the PCM. For about 20 minutes after that I was thinking/hoping that my shifting issues had gone away, but after about 20 minutes they were right back to where they were. Everything else still seems to be the same as well. 
Thanks for the tips, I'm open to any more ideas.
-Lombard
Thanks for the tips, I'm open to any more ideas.-Lombard
THE ULTI-MOD
Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 19,797
Likes: 36
From: Union NJ
iv been thinking you did this already, but if not check the fluid with the trans in nuetral after driving for at leas 15 miles and see if you have enough fluid in it, it causes all sorts of weird shifting problems
After the battery was replaced, were the other problems with the speed control and the radio? You need to have the transmission codes pulled from the tcm. You do have a 45RFE or 545RFE transmission.
