Chrysler Repair: 1994 Chrysler LHS - Electrical Issue, 1994 chrysler lhs, chrysler lhs

Question
Reply to your questions:
Hi Roland,

Thanks so much for your quick response.  I was traveling (not with my car mind you...)  I have replaced the ignition switch and the heater control head and nothing works.  It only happens now when I turn the heater/ac unit on.  As soon as I turn the dial (Auto temp and digital read-out type) the turn signals illuminate to a steady light, the door locks pop, the trunk pops, and everything dims.  I called the dealer and they want $85/hr to look at it. Ugh!

Thanks for any help or assistance!
Dutch

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Followup To
Question -
Hi,  I was hoping you may know something about my 1994 Chrysler LHS.  I was driving a long last week and all of a sudden many lights on the dashboard lit up, both of my turn signals went to a steady bright light, my trunk popped, and my heater slow down a good bit.  If I tried a turn signal it would make a horrible noise.  I also had no high beams.  I parked the car, got back in it a while later, and all was fine.  I drove it about 50 miles with no problems.  The next time I drove it, the same thing happened.  When I trun the heater off the problem goes away.  I checked all the voltages on my alternator and battery and all seems good.  The belt is brand new and tight.  Any ideas to check?

Thanks so much in advance and Happy New Year.

Sincerely,
Dutch
Answer -
Hi Dutch,
I need to look at the wiring diagrams for that car in order to see if I can find a common tie-in for all those systems. Fortunately I bought the shop manual for that very year and model last week from a fellow in Canada, via eBay. It should arrive soon and so I will keep track of your question and look into it as soon as that manual arrives. It sounds crazy to have such diverse systems affected at once so my first thought is that the place where many of these are intermediated may have a short circuit(s): the body computer, which is typically located on the passenger side cowl, above what is called the kick panel (just to the right of the passenger's shin). It has a couple of 25-pin plugs on the top of it and when any water leaks in around the windshield above it that can drip on the plugs and sockets that raises all sorts of gremlins. I don't see a tie to the heater motor but I'll see how that might relate. Was there a lot of rain at the time this happened? Is your heater the standard type or does it have automatic temperature control and a digital readout? More later...
Roland

Answer
Hi Dutch,
Good to hear from you again, and Happy New Year! Two items of "progress" to report, one bad, one good. The bad one is that the "'94 LHS manual (supplement)" arrived from Canada last week but it turned out to be quite a disappointment. It was supplimentary in the skimpiest sense of the term. Although it was said to discuss all sorts of relevant systems it turned out to only supplement a main manual that I don't own. So only 40 pages of very marginally helpful data. The seller was kind enough to give me my money back (and a bit more)!
The good part is that I found in my '94 manual about the 'communications bus' system a page that shows the connectors to the body control module (computer) for the LHS (and similar models in the LH category). As I described earlier it is in fact located where I said it was (under the lower dash and above the passenger side kick panel). It in fact has three 24-pin plugs and an amazing variety of things coming in and going out from it including virtually all the items that you listed as being involved in this problem. For that reason I strongly suspect that either it has experienced some water downfall on the plugs/sockets or some internal electrical breakdown. I believe it is more likely the former and that if you were to remove it or rotate it around from its "pivot hole" and then pull the three plugs (noting their positions of course) that you might very well find some build of dried dirt/corrosion or water either of which could cause short circuits between the pins/sockets of these various components. Virtually everything goes into this module that you have described as acting up so I believe it is the only reason for such a panoply of ills.
Do take a look at those plugs and sockets and see if I am not correct. You can clean away as much dirt as you can on the sockets and plug pins, and then I would get a can of electronic spray cleaner from Radioshack or similar electronic supply house. That stuff, although a liquid, will evaporate and with it also vaporize any moisture.
I am very curious to know what you find.
Roland