So even when we purchased the car, there was a slight short in the driver's door- to get the window to roll down, you have to push down on the button until the motor starts whining, then carefully balance the button between down and up while pinching it between two fingers to get it to roll down- it rolls up without a problem.
Then the cluster started to short- needles would drop to zero for a second then come back up. We found that thumping on the center of the dashboard right below the rear view would fix it temporarily. Then one day, I was driving down the road and the needles dropped and my husband thumped it. The needle on the speedometer fell off. Literally. So we replaced the entire cluster after checking the soldering on the new one. Soon as we paid to have the cluster installed, the rest of the electrics started going wonky. The heater quit working, so we replaced some other part. Then the heater wouldn't shut off. So we have to disconnect wiring to get it to be tolerable to drive in warmer temperatures. The plug for the chargers quit working as well. Now the dash won't turn on the rear wiper, and the defrost doesn't work either. And that's with the wiring both connected and not. The door locks on the driver's side won't work automatically anymore, it'll engage the rest of the locks but you have to remember to manually push down the lock on the drivers door.
Frankly, I'm not comfortable using this vehicle any longer, but there's nothing I can do but continue to use it and pray it doesn't kill me or my kids until we can afford to get another one. I believe replacing the entire wiring harness may solve a lot of our problems, but that's an expensive proposition.
So even when we purchased the car, there was a slight short in the driver's door- to get the window to roll down, you have to push down on the button until the motor starts whining, then carefully balance the button between down and up while pinching it between two fingers to get it to roll down- it rolls up without a problem.
Then the cluster started to short- needles would drop to zero for a second then come back up. We found that thumping on the center of the dashboard right below the rear view would fix it temporarily. Then one day, I was driving down the road and the needles dropped and my husband thumped it. The needle on the speedometer fell off. Literally. So we replaced the entire cluster after checking the soldering on the new one. Soon as we paid to have the cluster installed, the rest of the electrics started going wonky. The heater quit working, so we replaced some other part. Then the heater wouldn't shut off. So we have to disconnect wiring to get it to be tolerable to drive in warmer temperatures. The plug for the chargers quit working as well. Now the dash won't turn on the rear wiper, and the defrost doesn't work either. And that's with the wiring both connected and not. The door locks on the driver's side won't work automatically anymore, it'll engage the rest of the locks but you have to remember to manually push down the lock on the drivers door.
Frankly, I'm not comfortable using this vehicle any longer, but there's nothing I can do but continue to use it and pray it doesn't kill me or my kids until we can afford to get another one. I believe replacing the entire wiring harness may solve a lot of our problems, but that's an expensive proposition.
- Chelsea M., Bradford, PA, US