My 2000 stratus dash lights are out. Anything that would dim wont come on when I turn on the headlights. Seems pretty simple, bad dimmer switch. Just put a new one in and same problem. Weird thing is the fuse is good but the circuit is shorted. If I pull the fuse both contacts in the fuse slot are hot. all other fuses and fuse slots are fine. The fuse cover says the odometer is on the same circuit, it is working fine. It even works when I pull the fuse. Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Steve

 

Turns out it is the BCM Body Control Module, which is mounted on the fuse panel. It controls things like the dimmer switch, headlight switch, wiper switch, and even the tranny. I now only have 2nd gear. I am looking for a used one for an autostick.

 

The BCM does not have to be from an autostick. I put one in from a regular v6, the autostick and everything else works perfectly. I went to a junkyard where you pull your own parts and got it for 10 bucks. I also went from 138,000 miles to 106,000. It runs like it has 20,000 on it. Hope this helps anyone having the same problem.

 

I had a similar issue with a 2000 Cirrus. It started when I installed a cd changer without disconnecting the battery first. I assumed that it was a switch issue as well so I replaced that. No joy. It stumped me for a few weeks until I replaced the battery. Once the battery had been disconnected the lights started working again. What I assume happened was that the BCM has a setting for the dash lights that I somehow changed while fiddling with the radio ( which has dimmed lights ). When the battery was disconnected the setting reverted to factory defaults. That gave me the dash lights back. 2 lessons learned. First, when the factory says disconnect the battery, they might have a reason. Second, when a puzzling electrical issue appears on one of these cars, disconnect the battery, get a cup of coffee, reconnect and see if it fixed it.