Wiring problems of the 2004 Dodge Durango

Vehicle was parked on a residential side street for approximately 5 hours when it caught fire under the hood. The entire front end and dash was destroyed. The fire department stated it appeared to be an obvious electrical problem, so they did not need to investigate further. They had to remove the interior roof because the wiring had started burning along the edges of the roof interior. The vehicle was up-to-date on factory recalls, and despite this, it still burned. I did not receive a warning, the instrument panel was clear, and the 2004 Durango only had about 75500 miles as of 4/2013. I was the sole owner.

My well-maintained 2004 Dodge Durango slt began doing something bizarre a few months ago at about 120,000 miles. This has 4. 7l v8 and the awd-4hi-4lo 2-speed transfer case. The "service 4wd" and the traction control light began flashing, and it felt like the transfer case was stuck in 4hi with the tires grabbing on a turn. The selector knob on the dash would not function. I brought the truck to my mechanic who checked the function of the transfer case motor, inspected the motor and wiring, and changed the transfer case fluid again. I called my local Chrysler dealer and they advised that they would need to change the transfer case motor. The motor costs $1190 plus two hours labor and two quarts of atf+4 fluid. I brought the truck back to my mechanic and he said there is nothing wrong with the motor or the transfer case or the dash selector knob. He said he believes this is a control module or programming issue. I got a third opinion at my local lee myles. They concurred that there is nothing wrong with the transfer case motor and there must be some issue with the computer, programming, or one or more of the control modules. The truck continues to do the same thing. The malfunction condition exists approximately 65% of the time. I can't afford to bring to the dealer now and spend over $1300 for a repair that I do not think will correct the problem. I have read on many message boards that this seems to be a very common issue with 2004-2006 Durangos and changing the motor, or the switch does not help the situation. I also notice that at times when I open the doors or unlock the doors with the key fob, I can hear the transfer case motor cycling. This seems to be an electrical or programming issue. It is very difficult to turn the wheels at low speeds when the malfunction condition exists and I fear this is straining the transmission.

Purchased new 2004 Durango limited 5. 7 hemi: after 3 1/2 years and the warranty expiration, when driving in city traffic or highway and it starts raining the engine starts to hesitate violently, to the point it will stop. This occurs if the SUV is parked in the rain and the engine is started. I have to wait for a few minutes then the engine will start, but have another heart attack as I drive down the road. . I have had fuse panel, engine wiring, ecm checked and no one can find any problems? the engine recently started missing and my scanner showed p0308 : I removed the spark plug, checked the coil,wiring,injector,spark plug . . All ok and erased the code: the engine has about 79,000 miles on it and is properly maintained and garaged at night. . A stalling engine in inclement weather is a very very dangerous thing that Dodge/Chrysler seems to be ignoring. . The fact is evident that there are hundreds of Dodge customers with the same dangerous problem I feel we should not be partners to Dodge/Chrysler's defective dangerous vehicles and intervention by our federal government based on the number of complaints should be implemented immediately.

The contact owns a 2004 Dodge Durango. While the vehicle was parked in a public parking lot, it erupted into flames. There were no prior warnings or injuries. The fire and police departments were called to the scene and a report was filed. The fire department marshall stated that the cause of the failure was electrical due to defective wiring within the instrument panel. The vehicle was destroyed and towed to the contact's residence. The contact was concerned of the safety risk involved. The failure and current mileages were 80,000.

Veh problem on 1/1/08 -- 2004 Dodge Durango. . Read more...

On Wednesday the 6th of December I was driving my Dodge Durango and noticed that the dome light was coming on and would not turn off intermittently that day my wife took the truck to the bank ,while she was there she smelled something burning. This got her attention and she looked at the gauges and noticed that all of the gauges were reading zero,the tow/haul light was on and then the wipers came on by themselves. A short time later smoke started blowing out of the vents. She quickly got out of the bank line and parked it. She called me so I drove down to check it over. As soon as I opened the door I noticed a strong odor of burnt wiring. I gave it a quick look over and found the turn signals and stop lights were also not working. Later that night we were able to drive it back to my shop(with the wipers still going)I checked on alldata for service bulletins to help me diagnose the problem and found recall c43 which seemed to be a match for our symptoms. I pulled the cluster to check for burnt wiring but did not find any. Further investigation revealed a strong burnt smell from the cluster. I called Dodge customer service to see if c43 applied to my vehicle and they said that it did not,because it was built 2 months after the recall date. I asked if they could offer any assistance but they flatly refused because I had pulled the gauges myself even though I am a certified mechanic with 11 years of experience. I have not corrected the problem yet but I will probably replace the cluster next week.

: the contact stated the vehicle caught on fire in the driveway without warning. The fire department extinguished the fire and a report was filed. The dealer determined the cause of the fire was the wiring harness.

Numerous electrical problems with 2004 Dodge Durango. Within in 3 months of purchasing vehicle, 4 wheel drive began turning itself on without warning. This caused problems turning. Vehicle was taken back to benders in clovis numerous times before computer was reprogrammed, solving the problem. In January, 2006 the check engine light came on. Benders tested the vehicle and said that the computer wasn't receiving any input and it needed to be replaced. Had to drive the vehicle for almost a month before they would change out the computer. Problem seems to be resolved now, but I feel that there is a problem with the wiring in this vehicle to cause so many failures.

Vehicle stalls without warning.

While driving transmission light and engine light appeared on the dashboard and remained on. Consumer drove the vehicle to dealer for inspection, and mechanic determined that the wires needed to be replaced. Consumer informed the mechanic that this problem still occurred, and had not been resolved. New electric harness were replaced due to metled wires. 2 recalls found by the consumer: one on wiring under the dash, and the other on accelerator cable. Consumer made 10 visits to the dealer.

When driving at an undetermined speed, the transmission light appeared on the dashboard. The consumer took the vehicle to the dealership for inspection, however, the mechanic could not duplicate the problem. After the fifth visit to the service dealer (desoto mall), the transmission light had not come back on. The shifting light had come on and the consumer had taken the vehicle to the service dealer (central maine Dodge) and after three visits to them, they found melted wires and a bad sensor. The wires had holes in them. Chrysler would do nothing to help resolve this problem. A transmission sensor was placed in the vehicle. (the shift indicator stayed on intermittently along with all of the other lights & the transmission range sensor rationality wires were damaged and melted on the catalytic converter) also the engine had come on and the vehicle jumped forward.

The contact owns a 2004 Dodge Durango. The contact has experienced several failures with this vehicle from the date of purchase. In rainy weather conditions, the instrument panel completely fails, the headlights blink on and off, the windshield wipers do not work, and the gear shifter will not shift into gear. The vehicle was taken to the dealer and they found water in the junction box, which caused corrosion to the wiring system. They also found a small crack in the windshield, which allowed water to leak into the junction box. The vehicle is being repaired at the cost of $3,800. The contact called the manufacturer and was informed that no compensation would be provided because the vehicle was not under recall. The failure mileage was 12,000 and current mileage was 71,000.

Following the throttle casing recall on my Dodge Durango 2004 slt 4. 7 l a few days after I purchased the vehicle, my engine light came on. . . No prob per the dealer. Following week I noticed that gas mileage was below 10mpg's which was abnormal but dealer stated that it would get better. A few days later while accelerating on interstate 80 the engine started bucking and chugging and the engine light came on and started blinking. . . . . I pulled to the shoulder and turned off vehicle. I got the vehicle to the dealer and they found from the computer that the cylinders were misfiring. They pulled the plugs out of the block and noted rust and corrosion along with oxidation covering the sparkplugs and the extension tubes holding the spark plugs. They found that water was getting into the firing area of the sparkplug . However, it was said to me by the warranty manager from the northeast business center for Chrysler that he had my photos sent to detroit and that engineers were now designing a deflector shield for these Durangos which would somehow keep water from getting to places it should not be. As a certified safety professional, #9937, I investigate fatalities and injuries regularly. It is my job to try to arrive at the root cause of accidents and incidents. In this case, a service manager from corigliano Dodge, believe other vehicles may have this problem and that it could be related. . . That is the water not being kept way from the innerds of the engine. . . Could be related to the throttle cable getting water in it and when subject to freezing temps, it could stick causing an accident. Water in an engine here got the throttle to stick when mixed with cold temperatures. It got my engine cylinders to misfire and what about steering or electrical fires. Chrysler must have some oversight from your agency on this and please contact me so I can email digital photos to you that I took that day in the corigliano Dodge of boonton , NJ shop.

1. Year: 2004, model/type: Dodge/durango (two wheel drive, hemi, v8) purchased date/location: Jun 2003/augusta Dodge dealer, augusta, GA. 30907 2. Defeated electronic and/or wiring causing a high safety risk while driving or to drive. Issue: vehicle defeated electronic/wiring causes the remote keyless entry (key), the over head console (compass, temperature, Mini-trip computer), and the heater/ac to becomes inoperative. The defeated systems, which first occurred three weeks after the purchase date and random afterwards until now, are as follow: while driving with heater/ac unit on or off, all three areas identified in the issue above becomes inoperative or shuts off. Then suddenly, the vehicle (heater/ac) blower unit starts blowing, on high, hot air (20 minutes duration until now). Vehicle have to be manually open by key and alarm turn off by turning the ignition (which will start the default blower to blow high hot air). Note: vehicle was taken to the augusta Dodge service department twice with the first visit four months after the purchase date and again to the lipsence Dodge, woodbridge, va in June 2005, (703) 494-1900/492-3619 (pocs: mr. Pete, service manager), however, the problem/defeat couldn't be identify because of the random occurrence. As of 20 July 2005, I returned my vehicle back to lipsence Dodge because the defeated problem is continuos and now causing a high safety risk for myself and others. 3. I reported this problem (three times) to the Dodge/chylser customer assistance at 1800-992-1997 (ref# 1372540) and never received any call after being told. I'm not getting any assistance but reminded that my warranty had ran out and it's on me. I request this safety issue/vehicle defeat be investigated. I hope no one else is experiencing this after getting a loan to purchase a vehicle for $41,000. 00 and owe around $31,000. 000 and be ditched by the product maker (Dodge/chysler). Jerome w. Lacy sr.