Dodge Power Distribution Center

[fishindon]

Hooked up my wheel house and did not have right turn signal, brake lights and later left turn signal. Had it to a dealer and was told it is the power distribution center, approximately $540.00 to replace. Might also need the front control module replaced, additional $250.00 or so. Did some checking on the web and found the power distribution center for about half of what was stated to me and that included the front control module.

My truck is a 2003 Dodge Ram 1500, 5.7 Hemi, approximately 60,000 miles.

All the lights, turn signals etc work just fine on the truck, just when a tailer of any sort is plugged in, the trailer lights do not work.

Anyone else run across this problem?

[Jeremy airjer W]

Yup. yours would be #5 or 6 this year.

Of course your always going to find it cheaper somewhere else. If you go out for a steak dinner your looking at at least $25-$30 for a $7 piece of meat that you can buy at the grocery store. There is no difference between an automotive repair shop and any other business. There all there to make money.

[Valv]

Have you tried to have another shop look at it ? It sounds fishy you need all that. If you shorten anything in the wiring harness of a 3rd gen Dodge you have the fuses in the engine compartment. On newer trucks (2006 and up) you have to ask the dealer to reset the control module, they do it by connecting the scanner tool to the truck.

I would get a 2nd and possibly a 3rd opinion before spending any money.

[fishinarc]

I have replaced many of these for lighting issues but that was the lights on the truck only not on a trailer. I have never heard of resetting the module before.

[mikemac]

I guess that I dont understand why the whole power distribution module would be bad. Are we talking about the power distribution box under the hood? Isn't it just a device to hold relays and fuses? Power in / power out. Somebody help me understand why the whole module would need to be replaced. If its a wiring issue why cant you just repair the wiring?

[Valv]

I have replaced many of these for lighting issues but that was the lights on the truck only not on a trailer. I have never heard of resetting the module before.

On Dodge trucks I believe 2006 and up there is no fuses for the trailer connector, it's all computer controlled. If you have a short it will kill the circuit on the system and you will have to go to the dealer to have it reset. After I believe 4 times it got reset you will have to replace the module.

Stupid system ? YES, very !!! You can bypass it, but you need to build a separate electrical system with relays, and requires a little expertise on this.

[fishinarc]

it does house the relays and the fuses but it has circuit board built into it to help the computer or the pcm control different function. It is a very poor design on chryslers behalf.

[fishindon]

Thank you all for your responses. For now I'm just going to let my son pull my fish house. Some day it will be his brother and his anyways.