Eight problems related to wiring have been reported for the 2002 Dodge Dakota. The most recently reported issues are listed below.
Rear door wiring failure causing the wires to short out the instrument cluster, speedometer, door locks, power windows, doom lighting. The wiring failure is due to a poor design and poor quality of materials used on both sides of the read doors wiring system between the b pillar connector and the door. This can be identified by removing the black rubber booth.
2009 the rear door wiring shorted due to faulty design, and shorted the instrument cluster leaving the vehicle without any instruments readings, instruments lights or a way to drive at night. Currently the back doors accessories power doors locks and windows don't work as the problem has been found to be the wiring of the back doors with this feature. The wiring began to rub against each other exposing wires thus creating a short to the instrument cluster and lighting system.
The contact owns a 2002 Dodge Dakota. While driving approximately 30 mph, the heater stopped working in the vehicle. The dealer stated that the heater fan resistors melted and the wiring harness connected to the heater needed to be replaced. The dealer further stated that this was a common failure for this year, make, and model. A year prior to the failure, the heat resistors were replaced. The failure mileage was 100,000 and current mileage was 120,000.
Electrical fire inside dash or under hood. Brake and abs light kept flashing and a/c fan only worked on high gauges began to act defective and fire abrupted from the dash.
When applying left turn signal the four way flashers come on.
The lights on my 2002 Dodge Dakota started flashing and a few days later my lights, dash lights and power door locks stopped working. I have had 3 different auto mechanics look at it and no one can figure out what the problem is. My truck has 40,900 miles on it and no wrecks of any kind. I read about a recall with this problem on Dakota's and the factory states that they are recalling Dakotas with manual transmissions only for this problem. My truck is an automatic.
I have had my Dodge ram quad cab in for service over 15 times for rust, wiring, two recalls, engine lights, bad gas cap, bad steering wheel, and list continues. . . .
This has been a recurring problem since approximately 8,000 miles on the new vehicle. Single owner/reporting complaint. Heater blower fan has stopped working numerous times. The first time the dealer replaced the blower fan itself. The next time the blower motor resistor failed and consumer replaced paying out of pocket. A third time the blower motor resistor failed and again the consumer replaced it paying out of pocket. The fan now operate intermittently and if you wiggle the wiring harness connecting to the blower motor resistor the fan will come on and operate on 3 of the 4 speeds. Close examination of the harness connector reveals that the harness connector is melted as is the wiring at the connector. Contact with two different dealers reveals that this is a known concern and the manufacturer has a repair kit available part# 5017124ab. This is a manufacturer defect and should be a safety concern given that the harness failure can prevent the heater fan from functioning properly and cause immediate visibility concerns as well as potential overheating of the electrical circuit resulting in a fire. Dealers advise this is a frequently seen concern yet no assistance from manufacturer is available.