2001 Dodge Stratus electrica short at driver side door

THANNON

MEMBER
2001 DODGE STRATUS
4 CYL
FWD
AUTOMATIC
123,000 MILES

My daughter called afew days ago and told me smoke was coming from driver side door while she was driving. Unsure what the cause was, I told her to pull the fuse (10a) for the heated mirror shown on the f block panel. Mirror button appears melted (it was hot) now and non functional. It seem to subside until she got home, didn't drive much over the weekend, then today it started smoking again, now radio doesn't work. Appreciate your help.

Thursday, March 5th, 2009 AT 10:31 PM

4 Replies

ZACKMAN

MECHANIC
4,202 POSTS

If you look at both circuit, you'll see that they both share fuse #5. Surely, when you pulled the fuse for the power mirror circuit, radio quits working.

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Saturday, March 7th, 2009 AT 2:08 AM

THANNON

MEMBER
2 POSTS

Thanks for the response. However, my question was any idea what's causing the short, because it still starts on fire when car is started? Thanks

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Saturday, March 7th, 2009 AT 5:00 PM

ZACKMAN

MECHANIC
4,202 POSTS

As the smoke came out of the driver door, I am under the assumption that the wiring to the power mirror may have touched the metal part of the door, causing it to short circuit and spark, causing the plastic and possibly fabric to catch on fire.

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Saturday, March 7th, 2009 AT 10:29 PM

CARADIODOC

MECHANIC
34,331 POSTS

There was a service bulletin that applied to older models. When the door is open, rain water runs down the edge of the roof and drips into the power mirror switch. Once a little corrosion occurs, a little current flows. The current leaves a trail of carbon behind which conducts more current, and pretty soon you have a melted switch. Just replace it before you go looking for a complicated cause that may not exist.

Replacement switches were supposed to be sealed to prevent this from happening again.

Caradiodoc

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Friday, March 20th, 2009 AT 8:12 PM