Driver interior door switch won't open door

[drviperdds]

Driver interior door switch won\'t open door

Does anyone ever had this problem before. I know that the switch is good b/c I tried with the other side. Also there is NO wire breakage in the door loom. This leaves me with the question of only the entry module by the driver side of the radio is bad or the door latch motor itself is bad, but I can open the door from the outside. JonB told me that the entry module rarely goes bad. Anyone have any thoughts about this? Thanks in advance.

 

[Paul Bolce]

Re: Driver interior door switch won\'t open door

I had a similiar problem after driving the car for a while,then parking it to get a burger. It had been sitting for several weeks in the early winter before the drive so the battery may have been a little low. When I got back in the car to leave my driver door would not open from the inside. I pulled the manual door release to get out, opened the hood and disconnected the battery for about five minutes, put it all back together and the door release operated normally.

 

[Randy]

Re: Driver interior door switch won\'t open door

I'd re-check the door-to-chassis wiring harness, still. Of course, I don't know how you check for parted wires, but you sometimes have to pull on each one fairly hard to find the breaks.

I've had 12 wires total go out on mine (before I got tired of splicing wires and just replaced the whole harness), and, as I recall, at least two of them didn't come loose when I pulled on them - the insulation was holding them together although the conductor had parted (and was intermittent). I had to pull on each one fairly hard to find those that had parted.

 

[Matt M PA]

Re: Driver interior door switch won\'t open door

Randy...how difficult was that harness to change? And, do you remember about how much the harness cost?

 

[Randy]

Re: Driver interior door switch won\'t open door

Randy...how difficult was that harness to change? And, do you remember about how much the harness cost?

Its not that difficult - depending on your level of comfort doing such things. Budget a couple of hours, as you have to completely pull the old one out before you can put the new one in, so you'll want to be sure you remember the routing of the harness, as it is very important, and *not* necessarily intuitive. If you are sufficiently anal/meticulous, you might consider making some notes of its routing - as the route under the electric window is critical. Also, there are two connectors that are identical that go to the door latch solenoid area - you'll need to make sure you know which goes where before you unplug them.

Cost is like gold - over $400 for the thing (no, thats not a typo), and even THAT was with a club discount at the local dealer (20% off?, don't recall the level of the discount). I believe Chuck in this forum can perhaps provide one for a good price, perhaps even better.

One thing to consider is the remaining availability of such items, since the Gen II is not the current model. I replaced the dash skin on my previous Gen I (1995) in 1999 or so (3 years after end of production), and there were only 14 such dash skins remaining in the Dodge parts tracking system nationwide!. So, I bought the replacement harness and just put it in my cabinet, knowing I would need it eventually. When I replaced my 12th wire, I vowed that the next break was going to cause me to replace the harness. About 6 months later, wire 13 broke (inside door handle). So, it took me about 3 hours to replace, and that was with other people around and talking, etc, so you could probably do it in an hour or so if nothing was distracting you.

 

[Matt M PA]

Re: Driver interior door switch won\'t open door

Thanks Randy...there is little I am afraid of tackling with the car, so I may think about getting one and putting it away.

I was wondering more about part cost...thanks again.

One more thing. Is this $400 harness the whole deal, or do you need one for each side? (Come to think of it...I never remember hearing a problem with the passenger side)

 

[Batboy]

Re: Driver interior door switch won\'t open door

Matt,

Same thing here. I would lay money it is your harness in the hinge area. I took mine to a Viper tech. I did not want to tackle mine as it happened shortly after I bought the car. He "repaired" instead of replaced the harness and only charged me for labor. Total bill was less than $200. After chatting with him you probably can tackle it yourself, but that's a call you need to make.

 

[Randy]

Re: Driver interior door switch won\'t open door

One more thing. Is this $400 harness the whole deal, or do you need one for each side? (Come to think of it...I never remember hearing a problem with the passenger side)

No, believe it or not, thats the cost for the driver's side harness ONLY. The reason you probably don't have problems with the passenger side is possibly because it gets opened and closed probably 1/10th as much as the driver's side.

Randy

 

[Matt M PA]

Re: Driver interior door switch won\'t open door

Thanks guys....I have restored enough cars to be fairly fearless in working on the Viper. I have already fixed a couple wires that broke and lengthened them.

I wondered about cost as I am getting married in September, made settlement on our house last December...and need to add on some garage space. Buxs will be tight for a bit.