Electrical
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Electrical
1998 Dakota - Open door and the radio comes on. Close the door and blower fan goes off. Electric door opener just clicks - relay. Turn the overhead lights on and the blower fan comes on only if door is open.
Any suggestions?
Any suggestions?
Record Breaker
Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 1,970
Likes: 20
From: Clermont, Florida
Call an exorcist..Satan is living in your truck.
Beyond that, check your battery cables and terminal ends and clean the battery posts. Be sure the battery is in good shape, Autozone will do a load test on it for free. Dakota's are very sensitive to low voltage problems.
Also check and clean all the ground connections. Your truck might be different but on mine there is a ground in the fenderwell behind the battery, one in the left front wheel well on the frame, there is one on each side of the engine block in front of each valve cover, and there are ground lug connectors in the kick panels. A lot of electrical systems and components in Dakota's are controlled by switching ground, and if you have a bad ground somewhere, it can really cause problems.
If the battery and grounds are all OK, you might unplug your central timer module for a few minutes and then plug it back in. Some say it will reset this way. The CTM is in the driver's kick panel, it's a thin black box with 3 plugs and about 50 or 60 wires going to it. It controls just about every electrical accessory function on the truck: dash lights, power door locks, keyless entry, radio, blinkers, hazards, parking lights, cruise, wipers just about everything is run into and out of the CTM. CTM failure is kind of a common problem on Dakota's. I have read about someone here who was able to hit or tap on the case of the CTM and get it to work correctly.
If none of this works it may be worth it to pay the dealer to diagnose the problem for you. What you describe really sounds to me like the CTM is toasted. The only way to check the CTM to be sure is at the dealer with the DRB3 scan tool.
Jimmy
Beyond that, check your battery cables and terminal ends and clean the battery posts. Be sure the battery is in good shape, Autozone will do a load test on it for free. Dakota's are very sensitive to low voltage problems.
Also check and clean all the ground connections. Your truck might be different but on mine there is a ground in the fenderwell behind the battery, one in the left front wheel well on the frame, there is one on each side of the engine block in front of each valve cover, and there are ground lug connectors in the kick panels. A lot of electrical systems and components in Dakota's are controlled by switching ground, and if you have a bad ground somewhere, it can really cause problems.
If the battery and grounds are all OK, you might unplug your central timer module for a few minutes and then plug it back in. Some say it will reset this way. The CTM is in the driver's kick panel, it's a thin black box with 3 plugs and about 50 or 60 wires going to it. It controls just about every electrical accessory function on the truck: dash lights, power door locks, keyless entry, radio, blinkers, hazards, parking lights, cruise, wipers just about everything is run into and out of the CTM. CTM failure is kind of a common problem on Dakota's. I have read about someone here who was able to hit or tap on the case of the CTM and get it to work correctly.
If none of this works it may be worth it to pay the dealer to diagnose the problem for you. What you describe really sounds to me like the CTM is toasted. The only way to check the CTM to be sure is at the dealer with the DRB3 scan tool.
Jimmy
