2013 300C - Dead Uconnect and multiple other problems
 

So, we have owned this car since new. A bit of history that may be relevant. The car is five years old has approximately 90,000 miles on it.
1. The car was delivered to us from the dealer with a trunk full of water. During the remaining five years the trunk has opened by itself on numerous occasions. We routinely lock the doors to prevent this from happening, but it's seems clear that during transport, the trunk must have opened and the spare tire well filled with water. (The fact that the dealer took the exhorbitant delivery fee and when this was pointed out to them, showed COMPLETE indifference is another matter).
2. The power distribution fuse box for many of the areas we've had problems with is located in the spare tire well and was almost certainly immerse in water for at least three weeks (that's how long it took me to look in the spare tire well to be sure there was a spare).
3. The car has had NUMEROUS issues, some of which were fixed on warranty - I won't list them here.
4. NOW - the Uconnect screen went completely dead under the following circumstances and can not restart, rendering the HVAC system, Nav, radio etc unavailable.
5. Here's the symptoms.
A. As noted screen was dead on startup. This was the morning after a 10 hour trip during which everything functioned normally.
B. Since we had to return home, we drove without the screen, the blower fan was on FULL (I pulled the fuse).
C. The following functions are dead:
- no HVAC controls via screen
- all HVAC control "hard" buttons under the screen are dead (no illumination)
- Trac control switch does not function (no light) and no display in EVIC if wheels made to spin intentionally.
- front windows do not go up or down - no function
- EVIC display works, but has reverted to US units from metric, all else seems to be normal
D. During the nine hour drive home, after the screen failed, the following symptoms occurred:
- "hard" HVAC buttons under display would light up intermittently
- Driver's door lights on window etc controls flickered intermittently (not at the same time as HVAC buttons)
- Screen would periodically and VERY briefly flash the "Beats" startup logo for less than a second (also not at the same time as HVAC or driver door buttons)

What I've done so far:
Symptoms seem to suggest that the Uconnect screen and the head MAY be OK, and the problem is related to the wiring. Since the trunk well had water in it for some time, I started there - all seemed remarkably clean considering.
- I got to the fuse box (I'd previously done the obvious things, checked fuses, checked fuse contact for dioding, swapped relays, wiggled wires, disconnected battery overnight - NO JOY).
- I have a "Bluedriver" OBD tool which I ran. It popped two codes (B259E-01 and U0415) that are related to the trunk lid issue and the ABS system - unrelated to the dead screen.
- We live hours from the nearest dealer so our local mechanic (pretty competent with other work on our two RAM trucks) has the car now, not sure about his progress, if any.

SO. Any suggestions for things to try are welcome. We live, as I noted, two hours from the nearest dealer (who have done work on this vehicle - and are NOT the selling dealer). My experience with them is mixed, generally OK but some pretty bone headed moves (changing the oil and charging me for a problem in which the oil P sensor was obviously dead - car was on warranty). My experience with both dealers has not been good enough that I'm prepared to drop this car on them and open my cheque book. It may come to that - I pray not.

Unless your local indie mechanic stumbles onto a quick cheep fix you almost gotta end up at dealer service, given the nature of the problem/s. It don't sound cheap.

When you consider the number and nature of problems with the car and the local dealers it's hard to see you as a repeat Chrysler customer. That business with water in the trunk probably jinxed you from the start. At 90k my advice is to get out as cheaply as you can and move on to a car you like with a better set of dealers in your area.

I have been fortunate in both car and dealerships and fully intend to have another of these most satisfactory cars.

Hey, thanks for the reply. The problems listed are barely half the issues with this car, most of which were fixed on warranty, except the blind spot warning. I think the sensor in the rear quarter panel is gone - and it's not cheap to replace so - I use mirrors.

We've had a long string of Chrysler cars and Dodge trucks with few serious issues. This car has been a problem from day 1. We live in the snow belt, so an AWD car is important. Our 300C has the 5.7 and AWD, which is lo longer an available combination and since we are pretty much always on the highway it's a combo we love. My guess is we would get the best trade-in at a Chrysler dealer, but I've gotten addicted to the V8. Unless you go to $100K + Audi's or Mercs, a V8 with AWD is not available.

So - maybe its back to the Subaru dealer. We had an Outback with the flat 6 that hit nearly 300K km - and not one serious problem. My complaints with that car were poor fuel economy, short front seat cushions (not comfy), and limited range - barely able to get 400 Km (250 miles) on a full tank. I understand the new flat 6 are better so this PM we're going to visit the dealer. We may even have to look at Toyota (not a brand I like - way too bland), but I'm sick of fighting with this POS.

So... an update on the dead Uconnect. If you can't be bothered to read through the entire three- good for you. However, this is too weird to let it pass.

The short strokes are the Uconnect screen in our 300C AWD died - no nav, radio, door locks, windows. I tried everything I could think of - no bad fuses, no obvious damage to wires, relays were switched to no avail. After a week, took the car to the dealer. It was there THREE weeks. I give them full marks for the effort. Turns out the whole problem was because the blind spot monitors (apparently both) were fried. I know they weren't working and had shut them off - two years ago. Seems like they somehow managed to crash pretty much all the system in the car. So - if this happens to you, don't rule out the monitors. They are in a ****ty place - right behind the back wheels, and they fill with mud, road salt and muck - not the bst environment for an electronic component. Only $4700, and the dealer (I am grateful to them) ate a lot of the bill including a new BCM they replaced as well as a tone of time.