@@WatchWesWork it's a shrink tube lined with hot glue on the inside. While shrinking, the hot glue melts until it's pressed out at the ends of the tube. No further sealing requiered.
@@adamdnewman nope. The glue seals perfect and makes the shrink tube at least IP68 watertight. It also lasts for decades. You are not getting this result with an external sealant. But i think Wes used shrinks with liners and choosed the additional sealant as the shrink didn't cover all of the crimping.
Found rat droppings in my engine yesterday.... Rats in the garage. I cleared out some stuff, & turned my Rat Terrier loose in the garage. He found/nailed two rats after 10 minutes. Good dogee.
That Weller heat gun was purpose built for heat shrink tubing and it is still the best for that job. Heats quick and has just the right amount of hot air force job. Not cheap, but worth every penny. Say hi to Mrs. Wes, kiddo and pup. Thanks for the video.
I have to admit... half of the reason why I tune in is to hear the signature sarcastic commentary Wes never fails to provide. It has me chuckling long after the video ends... 🤣🤣🤣
1) My first car was from the “drive it in, tow it out” school. Except that was how it got home from school. 2) I learned from my dad that you never buy a car engineered or built in Italy unless you have a mechanic living in your house. I’ve put Chrysler products in that bucket.
Wes, you have to be one of the best mechanics in the world. Doesn't matter what you work on, fix it or not in some cases. You always figure out what the issue is, and aren't afraid to attempt anything. Good job my friend.
I recently discovered your channel, and watching you find nearly every problem with a test light and a wiring diagram has helped me immeasurably with the old Suzuki Samurai project that I have.
I am doing my 99% percent of mechanical repairs on my own just because of these 2 channels that helped me getting to courage to start doing it on my own. I am not the fastest by far but i also don’t have a garage or all these fancy tools but i am happy of myself when i do any mechanical work on my own
Glad you made this episode. My neighbor has a 2013 Compass and the same exact problem exists. I had no idea here to look for the relay box. And guess what? It's location is not even talked about in the owners little glove box manual either. So, I'll thank you and YT for an easy reference.
If it were me it would just be ten minutes of me poking around going; "Hmm... ...that's interesting, ....wasn't expecting that, ...but how can that be, ... surely that can't be right, ....oh, the multimeter wasn't turned on. That explains things." 😊
I feel your pain Wes. I had a 2016 Nissan Rogue that wouldn’t start. Nissan copied Chrysler and put a very similar fuse box and almost the same spot. The entire fusebox was dripping green crust. Nissan doesn’t sell but the entire wiring harness at thousands so I soldered about 30 wires up on a known good junkyard unit. What piles cars are nowadays. I feel like they quality control test them in a climate controlled dry road environment and say “Yep ship thousands of them to the rust belt.” Well done as usual man!
Wish I had you on my electrical field repair team in the Air Force. Your process of elimination skills are 5 star as a technician. Really good job sir! Count your blessings that it was not somewhere between the left landing gear and the tail section. Hi from Texas
It is simple really. Step one is assume nothing. You find out all the conditions that must exist and verify each one. Just start with the easiest one and go from there. He checked the more inaccessible things last. But you check everything until you find the fault. The trap many fall into is being certain of things. Until you've looked you can't know. It has to be this or it can't be that. It is what it is.
I just help fix a '97 Thunderbird that "had some water in it." Well, "some" is an understatement. There are five (5) of these wonderful splices (some to some, some to one) in the rocker panel tunnel that lives under the driver door threshold. Among other things, this powered the door unlock/lock keypad/keyless entry, door locks, mirrors, seats and for added flavor, the CD changer in the trunk. Using some techniques I learned from Wes, piercing probes, a considerable amount of German/Scottish stubbornness and adult language, we got all of it working. Fun fact: it was only the battery power splices that were toast - and they were powder. The ground and ACC/ON splices were fine. I can only think that the water and current caused some galvanic action that corroded the living crap out of them.
Back in the day I bought a new, base model K-car. Loved it for the first 5 years or so. About the time the Hall Effect Sensor exited the stage, I began to have intermitent ignition shut downs. It was amazing how many intermittent issues on that car would never happened had they simply applied some dielectric grease into the myriad goofy-shaped connection plugs in, or near, the brain-box on that puppy. I actually put about 270k on that little gem, but the last 150k weren’t fun at all.😊
Hi Wes just finished watching video you’re a magician fixing electrical wires and explaining it love you’re work and as always you and you’re families be safe 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
Thanks for that Wes. Easily one of my favorite channels. Your ease at diagnosing and repairing electrical problems is so fascinating to watch. The broad range of machines and vehicles that come through your shop is always a treat to watch as well. Thanks for the good content and keep it up man. I appreciate all that you do, above the rust belt 👌
My wife bought me that Weller heat gun for Xmas a year or tw ago, awesome tool for all this kind of work. I've even used it for a couple smd electronics repairs in a pinch (since that's not something I do often, I'd never be able to justify a hot air rework station etc). One of which was my nicer fluke logging multimeter, when an infrared component for the banana jack safeties failed, rendering the whole thing unusable. That alone paid for the Weller
Breaking down the circuit is always the best route the more you can break the circuit down being the more splices and connectors in the circuit the easier it can be to find the issue good video @Watch Wes Work
Your talent amazes me Wes! I was an army tank mechanic in the Vietnam war. On tanks all wiring is black with little aluminum tags on it. Well you can guess what happens after they've been worked on a couple of times to those aluminum tabs. Low voltage circuit tester and a lot of luck if you wanted to solve an electrical problem. Most of them were diesels. What I drove was an m88 track recovery vehicle which is 12 cylinder 24 spark plug for magnetos and gasoline.
Had a 2010 Patriot, about the worst vehicle purchase ever made. The transmission grenaded at 53000 miles, the fuse box mess Chrysler put in this thing failed twice within 73000 miles. The things would chew through wheel bearings, replaced 6 of them over the course of 68000 miles.
Another excellent, efficient diagnosis and repair, salted liberally with wit, cynicism and wisdom! Always a pleasure to see you battling the forces of entropy and stupidity! TEAM WES!
Generic Chrysler Product might be the best description of those cars I've ever seen. I'd never sat in a brand new car that felt 10 years old till I drove one. Probably the nicest 2007 car you could buy in 2017 though.
Great videos as always Wes. Whatever happened to a simple columb mounted start switch with ignition lock? These cars today just shine nice and break horribly expensive.
(engineers): They have made I.C.E. engines as fuel efficient as they can! (Chrysler): wait, if we make them run 50% of the time thats 50% fuel efficiency!
When I worked at a chrysler dealership that car platform was notorious for having green wires in that wheel well. It got to the point where I wouldn't even diag anything, just uncover that harness and find the green wires.
What i learned; when you want to have real fun... Don't ask Wes for ideas on fun things to do... you might end up troubleshooting some crazy wiring problem!!! Father had a Dakota 90s (whatever) and they put the wiring harness to the column in with some super heavy duty gauge. Well it snapped due to use of the never to be moved tilt wheel. I finally got sick of "the trick" to start it an pulled it all apart, recovered the plug, stripped the wire.. SOLDERED in on and put it back. worked like a charm. Why do they put plugs and connectors in that "will fail" like that!?!?
CHRYSLER Corporate Headquarters Recommends You Start Learning Engine Repair This was one of several platforms that were complete garbage before the paint was dry.
I think that you had already checked to see if the repair fixed it BEFORE you put all that 'stuff' back into place!!!! Another good video Wes, thanks!!!
The Wes-man, making us all better mechanics...Thanks again Back in my early days as a carpenter/remodeler, a customer used the term "mechanic" when referencing me and all other tradesmen. I really appreciated that distinction and found it to be accurate and honorable. Today in my state of semi-retired, soon to be 70's, there's no project or repair I won't diagnose or embrace without this attitude. Wood or metal, soldering irons or chisels, everything we touch brings a lesson, an opportunity to make things better, and make ourselves better in the process.
It almost looks like thats an intentional fail point to generate dealer service income. It's nice to know you outsmarted them pretty quick though . I really hate farm trailer/truck electrical problems,where a mouse sneezing a mile away can be the difference between a wire moving and it works or doesn't. It's funny you say about that wheel liner and building the vehicle round it, I work on several machines from different manufactures. The first build component is a long 2" diameter hydraulic hose they tie from the factory roof above the assembly line and build the machines round it.I'm sure they build the whole new machine in less time than it takes us to pull those lines and replace them ! Thanks for the video. I Hope you are all having a great Easter weekend, Take care .
Owned a Patriot for 11 years. Not a bad vehicle but had electrical issues for much of its life! Mostly wiring harness issues, yes broken wires! One time the dealer was convinced it was a gauge cluster problem, which they changed but turned out to be another broken wire in the front left wheel well. The dealer ate over $3000 dollars for his poor diagnosis and I paid $150 for him to fix a broken wire! I will never have a keep product again!
Fortunately you have a master’s degree in automotive engineering, so you know much more about automotive design and engineering than those lowly Chrysler engineers.
I'm over in the UK. That Weller heat gun brought back memories of 1987 when I was a field service engineer - back then the 'Weller was the go too heat gun - great to see your gun looks exactly the same as a 1987 version and still blowing hot
I've owned 3 Dodge vehicles (a 1996 Caravan, 2005 Dodge Dakota V-8 pick up and a 2007 Dodge Ram 2500 Heavy duty with a 5.9 Cummins diesel engine) all purchased new. EVERY ONE had major transmission problems. After that last one and all the hassles I got from Dodge to fix them I vowed never to own another. I did love that Cummins engine though. El Mirage, Arizona
Always interesting how much of a vehicle you have to take apart to find and fix problems. But than none of the manufactures think about repairs down the road when they are designing them. That is not THEIR problem(s)... Thumbs Up!
A design engineer thought the splice would be an excellent idea. Engineers don't troubleshoot and repair problems!!! Good job Wes, I like watching your videos--always have the solution...
My bottle of liquid electrical tape is 15 years old and still good.. My secret? Every time I use it, I dump a bunch of toluene or xylene solvent in and mix it around to thin in out, then crank the cap down good and tight and turn it upside down to coat the inside and then store it normally (no need to store it upside down, you just want to get some goop into the gaps around the cap to slow down the solvent evaporation). Every time I use it some solvent has evaporated and it has thickened up a bit, but I just keep adding extra solvent afterwards and the same can has literally lasted 15 years.. I also inherited a can of this black tar-like "aerospace gasket maker" from the 1960s or thereabouts that is literally the best sealant I have ever used and it also has the property of thickening up over time.. Luckily this stuff just uses alcohol as a thinner, but I did the same trick to keep the old can viable.. Then I learned that Loctite bought the company years ago and is still making this stuff under its own name and I bought a big white plastic can of it and yes, it is the same stuff.. And then I promptly misplaced it- I was so excited to be able to get this stuff, used it once, put it away and have no idea where it went, but I still have the original 1960s tin.. One day I'll find that Loctite can and it will be pretty much solid and I'll just rejuvenate it with alcohol...
I am retired now but had an auto repair business for 40years, before that I worked for Chrysler as a field engineer AKA service tech in the field going to problems the field techs couldn't find, Chrysler quality control and engineering went out the door when the Aspen, Volare platform came out in the 70s. There were 26 different service recalls on that platform and many where electrical, I left Chrysler for Gm then opened our own shop in 80 never looked back.
I had a similar issue on my old 2004 Impala LTZ, and a friend who had a same generation Impala. Not a starting issue, but similar electrical issue. The radio turned on, but there was no power to the factory amp, which controlled the radio, door chime, etc. So the car produced no radio audio or warning audio, even though everything else seemed to function completely normal. Turns out, GM had a split behind the passenger seat, under all the trim and upholstery. The harness was prone to collecting moisture because the factory water diverters were basically cardboard, so water would ingress and get sucked up by the carpet padding, so the harness/carpet would stay damp FOREVER. I live in CNY, and I did this during the winter, so it was basically all iced over. But it was the same deal. Giant harness that ran from from the front to the rear, and the split in the orange wire was right behind the passenger seat, where it turned into two orange wires. Pull the seat belt and floor trim, find the giant harness, lots of gooey tape to unravel to find the orange wire. Snip, strip, and re-tape a giant harness, and it was good as new! Too bad I had already gone to the junkyard and bought a used factory amplifier and radio, which obviously did nothing.
I get paid for what I do, Wes gets paid for what he knows. That would have driven me crazy for months. Great job Wes. Probably the best diagnostic guy I have watched.
Wes the Wizard tracks down and slays yet another electrical gremlin! You've got more patience and tenacity on the matter than most. I've watched many otherwise decent automobiles go-to salvage because of wiring issues. You rescued another one. Great job.
My friend's dad worked for Chrysler and they always had the new cars before they sold. When the compass came out it was the slowest thing any of us drove before. That's says alot since we all had cars from the 90s in highschool
Had the same exact code on a Caravan. Turns out the pin for the ASD relay was too loose and contact wasn't good, it would blow out the fuse to the injectors, which also sent 12V to the PCM, hence the code. Only real remedy was changing the TIPM, and since this was our delivery van, we went with the external relay with two inline fuse holders route. (One 25 A for the coils, one 20A for the injectors). Has worked ever since.
Treat yourself to a Weller Heat Gun - amzn.to/3ZSn5GV
I recommend using shrink tubes with liner (hot glue), those are waterproof.
@@stefankaufmann8257 Like the stuff I used in the video?
@@WatchWesWork it's a shrink tube lined with hot glue on the inside. While shrinking, the hot glue melts until it's pressed out at the ends of the tube. No further sealing requiered.
@@stefankaufmann8257 Wes's method seams to last long and resist water intrusion longer
@@adamdnewman nope.
The glue seals perfect and makes the shrink tube at least IP68 watertight. It also lasts for decades. You are not getting this result with an external sealant.
But i think Wes used shrinks with liners and choosed the additional sealant as the shrink didn't cover all of the crimping.
Wow, Wes is so confident in his work he doesn’t even try to crank it before putting on tape and reinstalling everything.
LIke a BOSS!
Yeah. If I do that, it's a 99.9999975% chance the fix won't work and I'd have to tear it all back apart.
Wouldn't be the first time I've gotten burned though!
😂
Yeah, i may have sent a jumper to the bob on that relay and tested it before taking anything apart
Wes chasing down wiring issues reminds me of Max going after mice. Relentless pursuit.
Yes, it's the way he looks at the car...."It's in there somewhere" 👍
Found rat droppings in my engine yesterday.... Rats in the garage. I cleared out some stuff, & turned my Rat Terrier loose in the garage. He found/nailed two rats after 10 minutes. Good dogee.
Said it before and I'll say it again...I'm a qualified electrician and watching these car wiring fault finding vids brings me out in a cold sweat. 😂
I always thought you were a great mechanic, but anyone who can get a Jeep running is another level, bloody legend.💪
Those arent jeeps.. theyre plastic barbie cars..
Fiat fiasco ftw
@@disarm2k10 Indeed those are Fiats now Stellantis disguised as Jeeps.
I don't know....is he a mechanic....or an electrician? Well, apparently both actually....and damned good at both.
Wes is both a mechanic and a technician.
That Weller heat gun was purpose built for heat shrink tubing and it is still the best for that job. Heats quick and has just the right amount of hot air force job. Not cheap, but worth every penny. Say hi to Mrs. Wes, kiddo and pup. Thanks for the video.
Love watching you and SMA chase down wiring issues. Gives me so much confidence to do it…. Then I try it and realize I suck at wiring.
Eric O is always saying if I can do it you can do it......not true in my case I give up much too soon
@@edwardsilva895 Rainman Ray is good as well. Also Scanner Danner.
@@aleastwood1698 You have forgotten the master Ivan Pine Hollow Auto Diagnostics.
Your love of Chryslers is touching!
Stockholm syndrome.
Thank you - another great video. No BS, no showboating and no gimmicks just good common sense, intelligent diagnosis and repair - great work.
I have to admit... half of the reason why I tune in is to hear the signature sarcastic commentary Wes never fails to provide. It has me chuckling long after the video ends... 🤣🤣🤣
King of the dry/sarcastic humor.
What I want to know is, where does Chrysler find enough 40 year old sets of Christmas tree lights to provide wiring for their vehicles???
From that recycling box in front of the post office...
😆😆😆😆
I think it's possibly Mexico. Many wiring harnesses are made in Mexico. Or maybe, like you suggest, they just use old Christmas tree lights.
Problem is Italian specs, Chinese wire and Mexican assembly
Garage sales. Flea markets.
1) My first car was from the “drive it in, tow it out” school. Except that was how it got home from school. 2) I learned from my dad that you never buy a car engineered or built in Italy unless you have a mechanic living in your house. I’ve put Chrysler products in that bucket.
Wes, you have to be one of the best mechanics in the world. Doesn't matter what you work on, fix it or not in some cases. You always figure out what the issue is, and aren't afraid to attempt anything. Good job my friend.
The compliments don't come much gushier than THAT!
But we don't get to see the out-takes.
@@wb8nbs I think we do see the out takes.
He nearly squashed himself against the hoist a few months ago.
I recently discovered your channel, and watching you find nearly every problem with a test light and a wiring diagram has helped me immeasurably with the old Suzuki Samurai project that I have.
These were throw away Jeep's these and the compass were 4 banger nightmares and seen them falling apart under 60k.
Wes, if it wasn't for you and EricO I'd never have the confidence to do these kind of things. You guys make it look easy.
What you said, but add Pine Hollow Auto Diagnostics and Rainman Ray's!
I don't know if they still teach it in school but they use to. You need the Basics, ohms law, watts law.
I am doing my 99% percent of mechanical repairs on my own just because of these 2 channels that helped me getting to courage to start doing it on my own. I am not the fastest by far but i also don’t have a garage or all these fancy tools but i am happy of myself when i do any mechanical work on my own
Those guys made make me not want to ever buy another Stellantis or GM vehicle.
Yes me too. And I will absolutely never buy one of these GM/ products as well.
Glad you made this episode. My neighbor has a 2013 Compass and the same exact problem exists. I had no idea here to look for the relay box. And guess what? It's location is not even talked about in the owners little glove box manual either. So, I'll thank you and YT for an easy reference.
Wes your video editing has reached a whole 'nother level! Well done dude.
If you say so.
@@WatchWesWork I do.
If it were me it would just be ten minutes of me poking around going;
"Hmm...
...that's interesting,
....wasn't expecting that,
...but how can that be,
... surely that can't be right,
....oh, the multimeter wasn't turned on. That explains things." 😊
You’re a better person than I am. My audio would be mostly bleeped out. 😮
@@thomas316Even better when you lock in previous measurement and go throught same process
Nice, some almost instant satisfaction! That's something my current projects would need, instead of the usual "one days work turns into months...".
I feel your pain Wes. I had a 2016 Nissan Rogue that wouldn’t start. Nissan copied Chrysler and put a very similar fuse box and almost the same spot. The entire fusebox was dripping green crust. Nissan doesn’t sell but the entire wiring harness at thousands so I soldered about 30 wires up on a known good junkyard unit. What piles cars are nowadays. I feel like they quality control test them in a climate controlled dry road environment and say “Yep ship thousands of them to the rust belt.” Well done as usual man!
With all the crazy stuff going on in this world it’s good to watch Wes work.
Wish I had you on my electrical field repair team in the Air Force. Your process of elimination skills are 5 star as a technician. Really good job sir! Count your blessings that it was not somewhere between the left landing gear and the tail section. Hi from Texas
USAF 81-85! I get it 😁
It is simple really. Step one is assume nothing. You find out all the conditions that must exist and verify each one. Just start with the easiest one and go from there. He checked the more inaccessible things last. But you check everything until you find the fault. The trap many fall into is being certain of things. Until you've looked you can't know. It has to be this or it can't be that. It is what it is.
I just help fix a '97 Thunderbird that "had some water in it." Well, "some" is an understatement. There are five (5) of these wonderful splices (some to some, some to one) in the rocker panel tunnel that lives under the driver door threshold. Among other things, this powered the door unlock/lock keypad/keyless entry, door locks, mirrors, seats and for added flavor, the CD changer in the trunk. Using some techniques I learned from Wes, piercing probes, a considerable amount of German/Scottish stubbornness and adult language, we got all of it working.
Fun fact: it was only the battery power splices that were toast - and they were powder. The ground and ACC/ON splices were fine. I can only think that the water and current caused some galvanic action that corroded the living crap out of them.
Had one of those "Jeep" Patriots and it was always the crank sensor that went out. Great job!
Mentally challenging is the first thing that comes to my mind. I don’t know how you stay motivated Wes. My mind would be overloaded!
Back in the day I bought a new, base model K-car. Loved it for the first 5 years or so.
About the time the Hall Effect Sensor exited the stage, I began to have intermitent ignition shut downs.
It was amazing how many intermittent issues on that car would never happened had they simply applied some dielectric grease into the myriad goofy-shaped connection plugs in, or near, the brain-box on that puppy.
I actually put about 270k on that little gem, but the last 150k weren’t fun at all.😊
The simplest thing can cause the biggest headaches. Great job, and thanks for sharing.
Hi Wes just finished watching video you’re a magician fixing electrical wires and explaining it love you’re work and as always you and you’re families be safe 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
Watch Wes wire! You are such a patient and through guy! Very impressive mechanic!
Short, sweet and to the point! I love it when a plan comes together! Also when we actually get closure. 😉👍🔧
That fix will probably outlast the rest of the vehicle. Nice work as always Wes!
You’re brave for wrapping all of the wires back together then seeing if the car will start lol. Great work as always Wes 😊
Ata boy, good find. Wes, makes you feel all warm and fuzzy when that one bad connection is found.
Apparently the "go anywhere, do anything" slogan for Heeps means go to a repair shop and get repaired. Nice catch Wes. Thanks for posting.
All because of a corroded 18g piece of wire. I hate electrical gremlins.
It's a Jeep,but not like a real Jeep.
Yes, "real" Heeps have rubber ducks on the dashboard.
Jeep died in '01 when they killed the cherokee
@@rbhe357 AMC used to produce Jeeps in the 1970s - and they produced Gremlins at the same time!!
An excellent example of a "2017 leave the keys in the ignition in the bad part of town".
Thanks for that Wes. Easily one of my favorite channels. Your ease at diagnosing and repairing electrical problems is so fascinating to watch. The broad range of machines and vehicles that come through your shop is always a treat to watch as well. Thanks for the good content and keep it up man. I appreciate all that you do, above the rust belt 👌
Wes is the type of tech you feel confident about when you take your vehicle to him, few and far between.
Ten minutes is not nearly enough of a weekly dose of Wes! But I’ll take it. I hope you and yours have a Happy Easter.
Wesley, Eric O. would have been proud of you and so am I. Nothin' to it, just do it!
Nice work! That could have been a whole lot worse! You are a lucky man in Chrysler land!
I know you like it when the fix is so straightforward. It sure beats those rusted out garbage trucks.
Brilliant Wes what a weird place for that to have failed great job mate 👍🔧🔧🔧👌
My wife bought me that Weller heat gun for Xmas a year or tw ago, awesome tool for all this kind of work. I've even used it for a couple smd electronics repairs in a pinch (since that's not something I do often, I'd never be able to justify a hot air rework station etc). One of which was my nicer fluke logging multimeter, when an infrared component for the banana jack safeties failed, rendering the whole thing unusable. That alone paid for the Weller
Nothing like a quick and relatively easy fix for that car. Awesome job, thank you for sharing
when you put it back together before testing i was thinking disaster, glad i was wrong.
Best way to start the morning, Thanks Wes.
U are a genius
Keep up the good work
Breaking down the circuit is always the best route the more you can break the circuit down being the more splices and connectors in the circuit the easier it can be to find the issue good video @Watch Wes Work
Your talent amazes me Wes! I was an army tank mechanic in the Vietnam war. On tanks all wiring is black with little aluminum tags on it. Well you can guess what happens after they've been worked on a couple of times to those aluminum tabs. Low voltage circuit tester and a lot of luck if you wanted to solve an electrical problem. Most of them were diesels. What I drove was an m88 track recovery vehicle which is 12 cylinder 24 spark plug for magnetos and gasoline.
"My [Chrysler product] is faulty."
"They make them that way, sir."
Love it when you diagnose a problem and its fixed. BOO YAH! Great video Wes thumbs up.
Always just the greatest channel and content creator! 😊
Had a 2010 Patriot, about the worst vehicle purchase ever made. The transmission grenaded at 53000 miles, the fuse box mess Chrysler put in this thing failed twice within 73000 miles. The things would chew through wheel bearings, replaced 6 of them over the course of 68000 miles.
Pretty ballsy move to put it all back together before testing if it will fire up.
Another excellent, efficient diagnosis and repair, salted liberally with wit, cynicism and wisdom! Always a pleasure to see you battling the forces of entropy and stupidity! TEAM WES!
Its called planned obsolescence... No Mfgrs want their products to last more than 3 years an 50 k. Love the content and quality of your work
This is why I don’t want a new vehicle
Generic Chrysler Product might be the best description of those cars I've ever seen. I'd never sat in a brand new car that felt 10 years old till I drove one.
Probably the nicest 2007 car you could buy in 2017 though.
Great videos as always Wes. Whatever happened to a simple columb mounted start switch with ignition lock? These cars today just shine nice and break horribly expensive.
Built in obselesence.
@@LesReeves 100% correct.
Pro tip: I add some acetone to the liquid electrical tape when it starts drying up. I'll only do it once or twice before buying a new can.
I thought not starting was standard equipment on Chrysler products
You thought right kind sir
(engineers): They have made I.C.E. engines as fuel efficient as they can! (Chrysler): wait, if we make them run 50% of the time thats 50% fuel efficiency!
When I worked at a chrysler dealership that car platform was notorious for having green wires in that wheel well. It got to the point where I wouldn't even diag anything, just uncover that harness and find the green wires.
Just Empty Every Pocket.
What i learned; when you want to have real fun... Don't ask Wes for ideas on fun things to do... you might end up troubleshooting some crazy wiring problem!!!
Father had a Dakota 90s (whatever) and they put the wiring harness to the column in with some super heavy duty gauge. Well it snapped due to use of the never to be moved tilt wheel. I finally got sick of "the trick" to start it an pulled it all apart, recovered the plug, stripped the wire.. SOLDERED in on and put it back. worked like a charm. Why do they put plugs and connectors in that "will fail" like that!?!?
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This was one of several platforms that were complete garbage before the paint was dry.
LMAO! That's awesome!
LOL
Belvidere IL built!!! The good old days when we ran 3 shifts…now it’s all gone with the wind
Love seeing diags done the right way, great job Wes!
I think that you had already checked to see if the repair fixed it BEFORE you put all that 'stuff' back into place!!!! Another good video Wes, thanks!!!
Freightliners Chrysler history still lives on in this exact way
Who else gives a thumbs up before watching Wes Work. Another brilliant video…..what else !🇬🇧
The Wes-man, making us all better mechanics...Thanks again
Back in my early days as a carpenter/remodeler, a customer used the term "mechanic" when referencing me and all other tradesmen. I really appreciated that distinction and found it to be accurate and honorable. Today in my state of semi-retired, soon to be 70's, there's no project or repair I won't diagnose or embrace without this attitude.
Wood or metal, soldering irons or chisels, everything we touch brings a lesson, an
opportunity to make things better, and make ourselves better in the process.
I like that Wes put it all back together before trying to see if it was fixed.
It’s nice to see someone hood with electrical diagnostic skills
It almost looks like thats an intentional fail point to generate dealer service income. It's nice to know you outsmarted them pretty quick though . I really hate farm trailer/truck electrical problems,where a mouse sneezing a mile away can be the difference between a wire moving and it works or doesn't. It's funny you say about that wheel liner and building the vehicle round it, I work on several machines from different manufactures. The first build component is a long 2" diameter hydraulic hose they tie from the factory roof above the assembly line and build the machines round it.I'm sure they build the whole new machine in less time than it takes us to pull those lines and replace them ! Thanks for the video. I Hope you are all having a great Easter weekend, Take care .
great little Easter video, gives Wes time for family at Easter. You can rely on Wes to hunt down a wiring fault, great job
Owned a Patriot for 11 years. Not a bad vehicle but had electrical issues for much of its life! Mostly wiring harness issues, yes broken wires! One time the dealer was convinced it was a gauge cluster problem, which they changed but turned out to be another broken wire in the front left wheel well. The dealer ate over $3000 dollars for his poor diagnosis and I paid $150 for him to fix a broken wire! I will never have a keep product again!
The old broken solder trick 99. Great find and fix bro. Safe travels
You're wrong Wes....they start with the heater core and build the car around that! None the less, great job!
Fortunately you have a master’s degree in automotive engineering, so you know much more about automotive design and engineering than those lowly Chrysler engineers.
Is that sarcasm? I do have a degree in automotive engineering...
I'm over in the UK. That Weller heat gun brought back memories of 1987 when I was a field service engineer - back then the 'Weller was the go too heat gun - great to see your gun looks exactly the same as a 1987 version and still blowing hot
I've owned 3 Dodge vehicles (a 1996 Caravan, 2005 Dodge Dakota V-8 pick up and a 2007 Dodge Ram 2500 Heavy duty with a 5.9 Cummins diesel engine) all purchased new. EVERY ONE had major transmission problems. After that last one and all the hassles I got from Dodge to fix them I vowed never to own another. I did love that Cummins engine though.
El Mirage, Arizona
Wes, how in the world? You are a saint… I love how you problem solve bite by bite. I just watched you solve one of my biggest fears.
Always interesting how much of a vehicle you have to take apart to find and fix problems. But than none of the manufactures think about repairs down the road when they are designing them. That is not THEIR problem(s)... Thumbs Up!
A design engineer thought the splice would be an excellent idea. Engineers don't troubleshoot and repair problems!!! Good job Wes, I like watching your videos--always have the solution...
You’re good at what you do Wes especially when it comes to electrical. Chrysler and their electrical gremlins nice 👍
Good Job Wes! Its always the freking wires. Thanks for sharing . And yes, I thought you had big ones for taping before cranking.
Wes: I always enjoy your videos, no matter how simple or short. I hope that you and yours are all healthy and happy.
My bottle of liquid electrical tape is 15 years old and still good.. My secret? Every time I use it, I dump a bunch of toluene or xylene solvent in and mix it around to thin in out, then crank the cap down good and tight and turn it upside down to coat the inside and then store it normally (no need to store it upside down, you just want to get some goop into the gaps around the cap to slow down the solvent evaporation). Every time I use it some solvent has evaporated and it has thickened up a bit, but I just keep adding extra solvent afterwards and the same can has literally lasted 15 years.. I also inherited a can of this black tar-like "aerospace gasket maker" from the 1960s or thereabouts that is literally the best sealant I have ever used and it also has the property of thickening up over time.. Luckily this stuff just uses alcohol as a thinner, but I did the same trick to keep the old can viable.. Then I learned that Loctite bought the company years ago and is still making this stuff under its own name and I bought a big white plastic can of it and yes, it is the same stuff.. And then I promptly misplaced it- I was so excited to be able to get this stuff, used it once, put it away and have no idea where it went, but I still have the original 1960s tin.. One day I'll find that Loctite can and it will be pretty much solid and I'll just rejuvenate it with alcohol...
I am retired now but had an auto repair business for 40years, before that I worked for Chrysler as a field engineer AKA service tech in the field going to problems the field techs couldn't find, Chrysler quality control and engineering went out the door when the Aspen, Volare platform came out in the 70s. There were 26 different service recalls on that platform and many where electrical, I left Chrysler for Gm then opened our own shop in 80 never looked back.
Jeep Patriot . Had a 2015 the only thing I replaced was crank sensor, drove it 205,000 miles, my kid is still driving it!
Yes. I noticed that either through a boss move or the talent of a Thelma Schoonmaker, no test necessary until everything is buttoned up. Bold!
Great diagnosis! Just like South Main Auto does in his crusty vehicles he works on. Happy Easter! From Sandwich town.
$2:00 parts and $60.00 in electrical tape!
Great fix, Great video
Jeep Patriot, one of the best vehicles ever made!
For mechanics.
I had a similar issue on my old 2004 Impala LTZ, and a friend who had a same generation Impala. Not a starting issue, but similar electrical issue.
The radio turned on, but there was no power to the factory amp, which controlled the radio, door chime, etc. So the car produced no radio audio or warning audio, even though everything else seemed to function completely normal.
Turns out, GM had a split behind the passenger seat, under all the trim and upholstery. The harness was prone to collecting moisture because the factory water diverters were basically cardboard, so water would ingress and get sucked up by the carpet padding, so the harness/carpet would stay damp FOREVER. I live in CNY, and I did this during the winter, so it was basically all iced over. But it was the same deal. Giant harness that ran from from the front to the rear, and the split in the orange wire was right behind the passenger seat, where it turned into two orange wires. Pull the seat belt and floor trim, find the giant harness, lots of gooey tape to unravel to find the orange wire. Snip, strip, and re-tape a giant harness, and it was good as new!
Too bad I had already gone to the junkyard and bought a used factory amplifier and radio, which obviously did nothing.
I get paid for what I do, Wes gets paid for what he knows. That would have driven me crazy for months. Great job Wes. Probably the best diagnostic guy I have watched.
Wes the Wizard tracks down and slays yet another electrical gremlin! You've got more patience and tenacity on the matter than most. I've watched many otherwise decent automobiles go-to salvage because of wiring issues. You rescued another one. Great job.
My friend's dad worked for Chrysler and they always had the new cars before they sold. When the compass came out it was the slowest thing any of us drove before. That's says alot since we all had cars from the 90s in highschool
That kind of analysis is admirable.
Had the same exact code on a Caravan. Turns out the pin for the ASD relay was too loose and contact wasn't good, it would blow out the fuse to the injectors, which also sent 12V to the PCM, hence the code. Only real remedy was changing the TIPM, and since this was our delivery van, we went with the external relay with two inline fuse holders route. (One 25 A for the coils, one 20A for the injectors). Has worked ever since.
Wes is the Bob Ross of digicals not many UA-camr’s has his patience when it comes to wiring diagnostics
Wes and Eric O from South Main Auto-the 2 best wire chasers on youtube !!
Wes, you're troubleshooting skills are first rate.