Chrysler Repair: Convert: door locks, false alarm, int. lights flakey, circuit board traces, door latch

Question
!998 Sebring JXI convertable possible open/short situation.

When making a right hand turn the door locks cycle along with the interior mirrow lights.

This happens most often when the temperatures are below 60F outside.

Just last night the alarm started flashing when the temperature dropped below 60F. I recycled the door lock/alarm system several times but the system set off three more times until I decided not to lock the car.
I am of the belief that there is a crack on one of the circuit board traces and that contraction due to low temperatures is opening or shorting a circuit on the lock/alarm system. Can you help me troubleshoot this issue. Where physically are the circuit boards that control these functions?
Remember this is also set off when the car turns right and the car flexes.

Thanks much.
Dave Harris
540-721-0267


Answer
Hi Dave,
I have a suspicion that the problem is not with the circuit boards or wires for the door lock/theft alarm system but rather with the door latch adjustment on one or both of the doors. Part of the automatic door lock and the vehicle theft alarm is a pushbutton switch at the rear of the door frame which is actuated by the inner face of the door when it is closed and comes into opposition to the pushbutton. If the switch isn't positively pressed, then it will close electrically (ground) the sensor wire from the body computer which houses all these electronics and cause the locks to cycle, the alarm to sound if you are in the process of setting the alarm, and the interior lights to come on. The mechanical solution may either be to move the door latch striker plate inboard (loosen screws and adjust) so that the door closes more tightly, or shim the pushbutton switch outboard, or both. It could be either door is responsible but you will probably notice that one door or the other has more in and out free play when latched so that is the one I would try first. Of course when you go around a right corner the body flexes which would cause the driver door to move outward from its resting position and thus allow the pushbutton to ground as if the door were now ajar.
It is doubtful that the circuit board is involved at all. It could be a failing wire in the hinge area of the harness that connects door electricals to the interior wiring, but this symptom really smacks of a spontaneously ajar door due to body flexing and a loose latch adjustment.
Please let me know how you make out with this approach.
Roland