Chrysler Repair: Electrical: Radio/Sunroof: 06 Town and Country

Question
Name: Seth David Rubenstein
Email:
Subject: Electrical: Radio/Sunroof
Greetings - We have a 2006 Town & Country and we're experiencing some electrical issues (not sure if they might be related. First we noticed the radio went dead, next the sunroof - but we don't know if they went out at the same time, since we haven't used the sunroof in a while (winter). We took it to the dealer who just called to tell us it'll be 200+ dollars just to try and find out what's wrong... Frankly, we just don't know if we can trust the service department and I'd rather pay a good local expert with high integrity to diagnose and repair it. Can you help us? Who should we contact - phone number, etc.? Thanks so much!

Answer
Hi Seth,
Those two items the are 'out' share one thing in common, the 'accessory relay' located in the power box under the hood (2nd relay, inboard side of the box, just behind the starter motor relay) powers both.
That relay also powers the power windows and the rear wiper. So check those other items and if they too are 'out' then I would suggest that you replace that relay. If those are OK then I would check fuse #5 and #11 that are just to the rear of the accessory relay to be sure those are not blown or have a subtle crack in their wires. The relay gets the power it sends out directly off the battery so that the relay and those 2 fuses are the primary suspects.
Both items share a common grounding point by the left rear corner of the van just in front of the lift gate opening, so that is another possibility of that being loose (it is needed for the sunroof and the radio amp located at the rear if you have the deluxe radio).
So I would encourage you to look at the main power box under the hood and check out what I described rather than to go to any shop.
Please read the PS below and respond to it.
Thanks,
Roland