Hello everybody,
I just acquired an 02 dodge dakota 4.7L through a series of trades. i needs some minor tinkering, and i plan to sell it. however, I came noticed some issues today, that i do not remember noticing being there when i first looked at the truck a couple weeks ago, but i guess that is besides the point. my issues are: door lock switch does not work; intermittent wipers do not work, headlights/highbeams do not work, dome/dash lights do not work; body codes for wipers shorted, headlights shorted, fog lights shorted, alarm caused by ignition, door disarm switch failure; and 4wd shorted code as well. ALSO, there is this odd clicking coming from the front of the engine bay, accompanied by a static humming of sorts. I cant quite pinpoint exactly where it is originating from, but seems to be coming from the power distribution box - although the noise does not seem to be coming from any particular fuse or relay (pulled each and every one of them individually - interior fuse box too) HOWEVER the 'humming' does seem to be affiliated with the two CTM J-case fuses (the large square ones), when i pull each of those individually the humming lessens, when i pull both it seems to be gone - but the 'clicking' noise remains. i have read in a few places that the CTM's go bad on these, and people experience very similar symptoms. does this seem like a classic CTM case to anybody else?

thanks for the help!
Andrew

 

So another quick update, just for giggles, since i realized the CTM wasnt very hard to access anyway, i figured i would disconnect things at the CTM to see if it had any effect directly on the clicking-humming, so i went and unplugged the bottom-most plug first, and the security light went off, and the clicking and humming stopped. plugged it back in and it didnt start again. turned the key on and everything is working just fine! except my intermittent wipers, which may be another problem. So does it sound like just a bad connection? or could disconnecting/reconnecting it reset something internally in the CTM that sort of 'cleared' those other issues, and it may be a matter of time until it the problem comes back?

PS from the looks of that kick panel, the previous owner/s have been in there before, maybe to do the same thing that i just did?? haha

 

cycling power and/or resetting the connections could certainly bandaid an issue, or be the issue entirely

 

before i did this i also disconnected the battery cables and let them sit for about 30 minutes. connected them again and that did nothing, the security light and the clicking started right up immediately. the problem appears to be directly related to that CTM....why it cleared right up by only disconnecting the bottom connector and plugging it back in, is the question. is it fixed? need a new one? who knows, i guess time will tell.

 

I would say keep an eye on it.

C1 is 26 pin, handles ground, PCI bus, and courtesy lights.

C2 is 16 pin, handles door locks

C3 is 12 pin, handles headlights, fogs, and wipers, and power in.