Chrysler Repair: 04 pacifica:fog/windows/locks/wipers/headlights


Question
QUESTION: Roland, You visited this subject back in 2011-10-23. Fog lights blinking, no power windows, no door locks, no wipers, no headlights. car runs and drives just fine.
Blizzard07 wrote: had the same problem, dealer said it was the IPM, Inteligent power module for $850.
My daughters car has the same issues, exactly, so I'm trying to find out if it was the IPM or something else?
I've looked and circuit tested all the grounds and thought, as you did, that it was a power-up rely. I've swapped all of them around to no avail.
My local dealer claims to have never seen this problem so I hesitate to let him look for at my expense.
Thanks for listening!
Ken.

ANSWER: Hi Ken,
If all these problems began at the same time frame then I would suspect the BCM as it has a role in every one of those circuits to one degree or another. You could inspect closely fuses 3, 4, 31, 48 for open or for a cracked internal wire. Try substituting other fuses for these from the power box or new.  There are two ground wires for the bcm (pin 3 for the #1 plug (black 6-pin) and pin 19 for the number 2 plug (black/green 34-pin)) and these go to a common ground at the bottom edge of the door opening close to the front corner of the opening, so check that multi-wire ground point to be sure the screw is tight.
I doubt this is an ipm problem.
Let me know if any of this bear fruit.
Sorry for the delay but I just found your question in the "pool" to which Kevin had referred it.
Roland

If you have checked all the fuses and verified them, but if all these issues began at once. then I would suspect the BCM itself. One possibility is that a water leak around the windshield above the bcm and got some water on its plugs so you might try removing the plugs and checking for the presence of moisture. Electrical contact cleaner spray should evaporate such moisture. If the problems occurred independently in time then each can be investigated individually.

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QUESTION: Roland,
I've looked but never found a "ground" wire by the door post in the cab. Maybe it's behind the parking brake brackets??
What I need to learn is what powers the run relay #18 and does that then power relay #57?  Are they linked or not.
I was using a test light, and as i suspected, the rely was not getting a solid voltage signal. The test light was dim on 1 of the hot terminals (don't remember which one with all the clicking and blinking lights distracting me). As i was testing, the signal turned good.  Did the amp draw from the testlight (bulb) draw enough to close a weak circuit? I did swap around the relays before to no avail.
 I think the relay pins 30 and 85 should have battery power.  Question is, from where?
Thanks!
Ken.

ANSWER: Hi Ken,
The ground point I listed for the BCM is not on the door post but rather under the door sill, close to the post.
The run relay is powered directly off the battery lead inside the integrated power module. It should be "hot" on pins 30 and 85, and it is activated by the IPM grounding of pin 86 and it then sends along power on pin 87 to many circuits but little if any of those relate to your problems. I don't see a relay 57 or even a fuse 57. I doubt the run relay is involved in any of these issues. I added a paragraph to my earlier answer.
Roland

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Chrysler Repair: 04 pacifica:fog/windows/locks/wipers/headlights
2004 Pacifica  
QUESTION: Roland,
After checking everything I could think of, I hotwired (actually grounded ) relay #57. This was the one clicking, along with # 56 and blinking the fog lights like strobes. It's labled the Accessery relay. On the bottom right in the pic.
Under all those fuses and relays is a computer board.
 I suspected that the relay was not getting a good ground signal, so i added one and everything works. Problem is the relay doesn't shut off when you turn the key off as I have added an "unswitched" ground.  I tried to tie into another "switched" ground but it would not hold the relay in.
So for now I'm adding a manual switch to disconnect the ground, and in initial testing everything is working OK.
Ken.

Answer
Hi Ken,
Thanks for the update.
There are only a couple of ground wires coming out of the plugs on the underside of the IPM just where you described the intermittent. On the gray plug directly under the accessory relay there is a ground on pin 14, while the green plug under the horn relay has a ground wire on pin 12. They go to separate ground points at the left of the radiator on the front panel.
So you might want to check out those wires as the cause of your problem.
What is curious to me is the numbering of the relays. The earliest manual I have for the Pacific is August 2004 for the 2005 model year.  While the layout of the IPM is shown to be like that in your photo I don't see numbers given for the relays, only for the fuses and even those only go up to #50. The one in the corner is the accessory relay but it doesn't appear to have any function for the windows or door locks but the problem may be caused by the ground wiring nearby. I had assumed the issue was related to the bcm because so many systems were impacted.
Roland