More Electrical Issues
 

I just bought a used 2001 sebring sedan and car runs great. It just has a few things wrong with it and hope someone here can shed a little light on the matter.

The most important one is that the illumination lights in the dash don't work all the time, but they will eventually come on after 5-30 minutes most of the time. Sometime if I hit a bump they will either turn themselves on or off depending on their state at the time, but not always. All the other lights work and the dimmer switch works as it dims the light for the gear display reading on the dash.

Second thing; the sunroof won't open.

Third; rear drivers side window won't go down.

Finally, the rear speakers don't work.

Any help would be appreciated!

Oh, and I forgot to mention, but the AC works initially, but then after a few minutes it stops blowing cold air. Then I notice that system changes from blowing air out the vents to the floor, or at least attempts to. Sometimes it will come back and start working.

Its kinda like the dash illuminated back ground lights that come and go when they want!

Search the forum here for "inverter". It seems to be a fairly common problem with the dash lights. That guy up in Canada is "Mr. Whizard". Search the web for his page.

Window problem could be a bad switch or a bad motor or a broken wire in the harness that leads to the door.

A/C problem could be low refrigerant and/or a bad control head on the dash.

Get yourself a good volt-ohm meter and start tracing down these problems one by one.

Keep an eye out on eBay for a shop manual. It contains a complete wiring diagram which occupies many pages. Make sure you don't get a manual for a coupe. It's totally different.

Will the Dodge Stratus sedan or the Sebring convert instrument panel work in my Sebring sedan. I noticed that there are a couple places that sell refurbished instrument panels and that they say that Sebring convertibles are the same as the sedans. I took one out and compared it, but they are black face gauges.

Some Sebrings had black faced gauges, The Limited models had white faced gauges. Logic would dictate that they should be interchangeable with the Dodge but if the Dodge didn't have some features like fog lamps there could be some differences. Convertible should work.
Also, I'm not certain but I think the odometer number is stored in the panel itself (I could be wrong about that) so that could be an issue. Probably the people that sell refurbished parts could answer that for you.

I had a look at the dash from the convert and the stratus, which turned out to be a sebring sedan after all, but both have black non-eli glow instrument panels and looks to be the same, but unfortunately for me neither one are for the auto stick transmission which I have! Darn, I was hoping that I could sway out the panels, but not with either panels from the aforementioned vehicles.

I'm not that crazy about the white gauges to begin with.

Update.

I've replaced the head unit for the AC\heater and topped the AC with freeon, but no change in the AC. Although, it doesn't freak out anymore by all of a suddenly change from blowing out the vents to the floor or through the defrost vents.

It blew cold when i was charging it, but days later when I went to turn on the AC it blew warm. :(

I got a replacement inverter from glohut and will check to see if I can fix it myself. I also ordered a replacement instrument cluster for my car as well off ebay. Hopefully it doesn't have the same problem mine has, I will use the replacement while I break\fix my original panel.

Well, I got my inverter and installed it and now my original instrument cluster works great.

Also, I noticed that my AC will blow cold when the car is cold or cooled down, but after the car warms up it stops. Any ideas?

Now, on to the rest of the issues.

After 13 years I'd be surprised if the A/C hadn't lost some refrigerant. Unfortunately, there's no real way to be sure of the level of charge in there other than sucking it all out and re-installing the proper amount.
There are some aftermarket kits that claim to be able to tell if the charge is correct and to allow you to add the right amount. You might try one of those.
If it won't hold a charge, then you'll have to figure out where the leak is and fix that.

I don't think there is a leak as it will blow cold initially for about 30 minutes each time the car has been off for a while or over night.

Oh, the AC works out the defrost great all day long.

Control head problem. See the other thread. Like I said there, my junkyard control head gave out after a couple of years and I bought a brand new one from a dealer and it's been working fine ever since.
The defrost mode is the "fail safe" mode for the computer. It figures that "defrost" is the one mode to go to when it loses an input signal.

Ok, I took the head unit apart and cleaned it up and the AC works great!

Replaced the rear drivers side motor and it is now going up and down great.

Also, found that someone didn't reconnect the wiring harness to the sunroof switch. That was easy, but how did it get this way. I have a feeling that this car has been in a wreck with some of the other tail tell signs.

Only thing left is the rear speakers. I did realize that there is a device under the passenger seat that has to do with the stereo system, but not sure exactly what it is. This might be the issue, but not sure.

That device under the seat is an amplifier for the premium (Infinity) sound system. If yours is an aftermarket stereo in the dash then there's no telling how they dealt with that part of the system. Most likely they wired it out completely. I doubt that there is any aftermarket stereo that will work properly with that amplifier.
If yours still has the factory stereo, then it might be working properly but just needs to have the wiring checked. If they forgit to re-connect the sunroof switch they might have missed a connector for the rear speakers as well.

I would be very interested in hearing about your rear speakers issue. I am going to post my own question about mine as well. There are several head units for the 2001 Sebring. Mine has two seven wire plugs, a PCI and antenna wire. The amp under the seat has two plugs in it. All six sets of speaker wires seem to go through this tiny little amp (amazing.) It is not fun getting it out and unhooking the wires. I finally just took the seat out. I was hoping there would be a consistent set of issues like this so the problem would be easier to target.


Wraiththe.

It still has the original cassette 3 band equalizer stereo and the amp under the passenger seat. I pulled the interior apart and was able to trace the wires from the rear speakers to the amp and checked the for continuity and they are good.

So, I beleive it may be in the stereo itself as the knob for the volume doesn't work that well. Sometimes when I turn it down the volume goes up, go figure.

I'd like to keep the original stereo, partially do to the fact I am frugal(cheap) and I have a cassette adapter that will allow me to plug in my iPhone.

I will see if I can find a replacement and let you know.

Keep an eye peeled for a replacement on eBay. They come up every once in a while. You might also find a repair facility locally. Nowadays, people tend not to repair stereos but to throw them away and buy new, but there may be somebody near you who knows how to weild a soldering iron.

I would like to add, that if the unit has a CD changer controller, it is very easy to get a harness that will plug into it and allow you to use your iPhone directly plugged into it... you will get the best sound possible that way.