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wipers and rear lights not working

8K views 16 replies 4 participants last post by  richd 
#1 ·
okay, so it's not a charger, it's a magnum, but you guys seem to know your stuff here. :nerd2:

so my '06 magnum had some weird electrical things happening and i'm still needing some resolution. here's the run-down:

my wife was driving and the wipers suddenly came on without any reason. i ended up pulling a relay and they stopped. replaced the relay, everything seemed fine.

about a week later, i was driving and the horn suddenly came on and would not stop. i pulled another relay it stopped, but the wipers also stopped.

replaced that relay, horn still blowing, so i pulled it for the night.

somewhere in here, something seemed to be draining the battery.

jump-started it and pulled the horn fuse so i could at least drive to work, but still no wipers and now (or at least now i noticed) no rear running lights (no tail lights, parking lights, license plate lights) but brake lights and back-up lights do work. gah!

found a blown fuse in the rear set (#18 20A). replaced it. still don't have rear lights or wipers...

any thoughts? thanks folks, your help is much appreciated!! :beerchug:
 
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#2 ·
Sounds like your front Power Distribution Center is cross-circuiting. Everything you describe is routed through there.

Did this start happening after a trip through the car wash, driving through standing water or on heavily rain soaked roads?

I had a similar issue on my wife's 2005 Grand Caravan after a trip through the car wash. The undercarriage wash sprayed up under the front distribution center lid and soaked everything resulting in cross circuiting and power drain when off.

I had to take everything apart and dry it in a warm oven before reassembling and reinstalling.
 
#7 · (Edited)
no, it's a replacement battery, relatively new too.

so i pulled the front power distribution center and it looked pretty dry and pretty clean. the contacts looked clean and the wire bundles and plugs that lead to the pdc looked clean and in good condition.
same problems still exist.

i don't know where to go next... what about the wiper switch, horn pad, or steering column control module? any thoughts?
 
#8 ·
The lights that are out (all the rear lights you mentioned) are powered through fuse #8 (15amp) in the fuse block under the hood (Integrated Power Module). Couldn't hurt to check that.

If the connector on the steering column behind the clockspring isn't well seated, it could be causing a problem activating the controls around the steering mechanism (wipers, turn signals, horn, steering wheel controls). If the telescoping steering column is full extended (pulled closest to the driver), try retracting it a bit. (The connector in question is the black connector in the 5th picture of step 3 in this thread: http://www.lxforums.com/board/showt...e-Shifter-Wiring-Harness-Install-Step-by-Step.)
 
#10 · (Edited)
sorry i haven't been back to the post for awhile, too busy at work to get to the car till today.
so i actually found a front pdc at a local wrecking yard and swapped it. still same symptoms (no tail-lights, but brake lights work, horn always on, wipers don't work). so i'm pretty certain that the front pdc is not my issue.

the battery isn't the original, but it's not brand new either. could this potentially be the problem? i mean, could it cause some things to not work, but all other things to consistently work?

all of the fuses in the front and rear pdc's look good. are there other fuses i don't know about?

i've moved the steering column up/down/in/out and to no effect. is the steering column still suspect? should i go ahead and pull the steering wheel and check out those connections?

thanks for all your help and insight guys!!

ps - could this possibly be an ignition switch issue?
 
#11 ·
It's starting to sound like an FCM issue.

First thing I would do is re-boot the entire system. Disconnect the battery for a couple of minutes and then reconnect.

Verify that the battery is putting out at least 12 volts when cold and the system is powered on (not starting, ACC only).

If power is good and the re-boot didn't change anything, then the FCM is next to be checked.
 
#12 ·
i've done the disconnect the battery many times because if i leave it connected for more than a couple hours the battery is fully drained.
after allowing the battery to charge and sit disconnected, even for several days, the battery puts out 12 volts when disconnect and 11 volts when connected and key turned to acc.

the front control module - is that the metal box attached to the front of the power distribution center? if i replace this, do you know if it's plug-n-play, or do i need to go to a dealership to flash/program it?
 
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