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I got one of the systems available on E-Bay. It has four sensors, the control brain unit and the digital display that has the colored bars, left and right, and the actual digital distance display, plus it emits various tones depending on distance.
It took me about an hour to install the whole system. My kit even had the special drill included for the bumper holes that house the sensors. The kit was around $27 plus shipping and handling, making the total $53.
I installed the display over the rear liftgate, in front of a plastic trim piece. Simply used the selfl sticking tape on it to adhere it to the roof liner. Ran all wiring under the plastic interior trim panels and put the electronic control unit into a little pocket that is visible when the liner inside the covered storage compartment is lifted. For the sensor wires I used an existing hole from under the spare tire, through the trunk floor. Simply remove the black sealer from the hole to run the wires through then, re-seal.
System works well, a bit over sensitive. It picks up just about anything behind the car, including some tall grasses. The colored bars, the distance readout and the varying sounds combine to give plenty of warning.
Here is a cut and paste from some of the messages in another forum:
DRB III scan tool is required to make the change and it takes a few seconds
They connect the hand held computer under the driver's dash, set the country code to Canada and it is done. Just make sure your parking brake isn't set or it will look like it didn't work. Once the parking brake is disengaged they'll come on. Yes it is a great feature, one DC should make standard. Can't think of a reason when being seen would be bad.
pretty cool... got my DRL's turned on this morning... rolled into the service breezeway and 5 minutes later I drove out. errr... and didn't cost a pretty penny.
if you want to do this in the US there are a few things you need to know...
This is possible regardless of headlamp type, whether or not you have auto lights and post/pre august production.
This is controlled by the body control module... not a DRL module. some dealers seem to think that you need some other module if your car was delivered in the US.
This option is turned on by switching to the canada country code... there are no additional steps needed. really, it's that easy.
All gauge settings remain in US units... not km or liters or any of that! this one surprised me a little bit.
The lights used are the 'brights' but, they do not burn at full brightness in this mode. since it is a gas discharge, the fire just burns a bit cooler. they are slightly dimmer for daytime so you don't blind people in their rear view mirrors. they seem to be just right coming down the road. pictures... soon.
Your gauges, radio display are at full brightness and the tail lights / all parking lights don't come on.
When you hit the turn signal, the DRL on that side goes out... this really makes your turn intention clear. Nice feature. I am going to get mine done next week.
My wife and I test drove a 2004 Pacifica with 25,000 miles on it. It seemed like a great vehicle... But there was one huge problem, rust on both the driver and passenger seat rails. The rails that the seats slide back/forth on where both heavily rusted. I guess I didn't check the rear seat rails for the same problem. As anybody else seen something like that? There was no rust underneat the vehicle, only inside.
I have a similar problem. I have a 2004 Pacifica and have had it for 1 year and 5 months. Within the last month, I've noticed that when I'm decelerating, the engine goes "clunk" as if something dropped.
My husband told me not to worry about it, but it did something similar, as if it's changing gears, when we were driving about 60 miles per hour.
Are there an reported transmission problems? Anyone else have this problem?
I called my dealership yesterday and asked to have this done but was told that they could only do it on "fleet" vehicles that are manufactured in Canada. Is this true? Is your car a "fleet" vehicle? Thanks.
Well let me first say it has been a very long time since my last post(s). The reason for this was because the law firm I hired to represent me in my lawsuit against Daimler Chrysler advised me not to post anything regarding my opinion of my Pacifica or related maintenance problems after filing the lawsuit to avoid any potential issues. However, now that the lawsuit has been settled I am free to discuss “some” aspects of my ownership experience for you.
The first thing I want to say is that I purchased my 2004 (AWD w/navigation) in June of 2003 with 3 miles on the odometer. I was a bit apprehensive at first because of the “less than stellar” reputation of Chrysler in the past. However, after doing a bunch of research about improving quality at Chrysler and reading the numerous positive articles about the Pacifica when it first came out, I decided to take the plunge. The first 2500 miles flew by without incident and I could not offer enough praise about the car (not to mention, since I had one of the first few, that I received dozens of compliments at gas stations, stop lights, etc)!
About the time I was nearing my first oil change the car began to experience what became a non-stop string of problems which would, in one form or another, plague me until the vehicle was finally repurchased by Chrysler the first week of May 2005...yes...you read the year correctly...2005!
Rather than go into detail, I will just say that my vehicle experienced just about every issue brought up on this board from the grinding wheel bearings to the fading A/C controls! The only issue I believe I was spared, thankfully, was the infamous stalling engine problem. In fact, since owning the car, it never went more than 30 days without requiring some type of repair or the often-elusive diagnosis of a yet another new problem. By the time it was turned in it had been the shop for a total of 40+ days! I will say the fine folks at Enterprise Car Rental became almost like family to me!
In the 30 days leading up to the much anticipated drop off I was still dealing with problems in the form of the ever-so-fun “jumping gas gauge” issue which caused a warning bell each time the needle would drop down telling me my fuel was low before jumping right back up again. At times my car sounded like a bell ringing contest for hours before the problem would disappear for 2-3 days at a time only to come back again during a relaxing conversation or favorite song! I was going to have the "gas gauge" issue addressed, but when Chrysler said it would cost $250 for a software upgrade (which I would have to pay since the warranty had expired) I told them I was not going to pay for a damn thing since they shouldn’t have put faulty software in the car to begin with!
Now that my car is once again Chrysler’s problem, I will offer fourth my observations on this experience:
1- Chrysler did not do a good job at bringing their own factory trained technicians up to speed on this vehicle before it came out.
2- Chrysler is WAY below the industry in identifying problems in a timely manner and coming up with true fixes instead of just “suggestions" or temporary repairs.
3- Once a fix has been identified, the time required to order and obtain parts is a joke which often forces owners to wait 1-2 weeks for the necessary components to fix a particular problem.
4- Chrysler Customer Service (on the corporate side) is a joke and took forever to respond to my pleas for help. I gave Chrysler 30 days to respond to the initial letter I wrote to them complaining about my numerous issues or I would file a lawsuit. 30 days came and went. Finally 60+ days later (and 30+ days AFTER filing the lawsuit) I was finally contacted to discuss my concerns at which point I simply advised them to speak to my lawyer.
Just so you all know, due to the laws in my state, I did not wish to obtain a replacement Pacifica under the Lemon Law. My only request to them from the beginning was to take the vehicle off my hands. For this reason my lawyer chose to file a “breach of warranty” lawsuit. Once Chrysler saw I hired a lawyer they dragged their feet for over a year before initially offering 3 separate settlements which were a joke (small cash offers which still required me to keep the car and yet absolved them off all responsibility).
Finally, 17 months after the lawsuit was filed and less than a week before the trial was scheduled to begin, they made a serious offer which I initially rejected (based on the fact that I had been dealing with this mess 17 months). They came back with another serious offer which took back the car, paid off my loan, paid my legal expenses, and put some money in my pocket to use as a down payment on a replacement vehicle. Needless to say, I accepted the last offer and my nightmare ended a few weeks ago.
The reason I have decided to post this experience here is to offer hope and advice to those who may be dealing with the same issues and frustration. If your car experiences a ton of problems before the warranty even runs out, imagine the expenses you will forced to pay once you are out warranty and have to pay for both the repairs and, if necessary, a rental car while the dealer tries to diagnose the problem and then has to order parts!
Although I am sure there are many satisfied Chrysler owners out there, the true mark of any company is what they do for the customer when problems arise. From this standpoint I can tell you this is why I will never own another Daimler-Chrysler product and will be more than happy to tell my friends and family why I wouldn’t recommend any vehicle built by them.
I wish all current Chrysler (Pacifica) owners out there the best of luck and hopefully you have not experienced nearly as many issues as myself or some of the other folks I have read about on this board.
I replaced the air filter w/ a K & N model last night. Easy install and fits perfectly. Today, however, my wife is getting a warning indicator.....not sure which one.
After having a bad experience three days ago with my 2005 Pacifica, I sought out this board for similar experiences.
I thought mine, at first, was maybe vapor lock. While driving on the Interstate at 70mph and going around a somewhat sharp left hand curve, the engine completely shut down, the car was on, but no gas, no steering, and I was able to make it to the shoulder. After stopping, it started back up and I got off the next exit, but after another left hand turn, it quit again. I also noticed that the fuel gauage had gone from half a tank to empty.
So as I coasted into the gas station, I proceeded to "fill up" but it would only take about 14 gallons.
Since then, no problems - until today. I tried to re-create the problem, going around a left hand curve somewhat fast and it died again. And again, after stopping it started again. I thought it might also be a transmission sensor.
But I do notice issues with power and also experienced the accelerator being stuck to the floor about a month ago while on the interstate - a wonderful experience.
This is not a safe vehicle. And calls to Chrysler and a dealership, they act like they have never heard any of this before.
Will continue my search here on the board, but any feedback somone has would be appreciated.
Damn, I figured that having a 2005 eliminated the stalling problem.
Sorry, I can provide no help in this issue, other than being very frustrated with today's electronics driven cars. Unfortunately the Pacifica is not an isolated case when it comes to the car/engine shutting off in the midlle of regular driving. My Saturn did the same a few weeks ago and was traced to a crank sensor going bad gradually. Some of the most respected//expensive cars of today are all having problems with stalling and other electronic hickups. I am sure that my problem of the Pacifica engine cutting off 1100 PRM below its redline, under only special circumstances, is also software driven.
What's really needed is someone clamping down on the unrestricted use of software and programming in vital areas of automobiles. Good luck for that. For the manufactureres it is much cheaper to produce such circuitries and I do not see us going back to the older, reliable systems. It is very dangerous to loose power in the middle of the road, not only for the fear of being run over but, for loosing control of the automobile as the steering tends to loose power and becomes very difficult to control in tight, turning situations.
Good luck and please let us know if/when you solve your problem.
did you forget to plug back in the sensor? its the plug you had to remove to slide the air box cover open. Stupid design if you ask me ... this is the worst car I have ever (well besides a Jaguar XJS) had to get to the air box.
that would cause an warning indicator.
I have the K&N filter installed for almost 1.5 years with no problems. just cleaned mine last month. presto good as new :-)
I have been reading all of these Pacifica forums, I own an '04 Pacifica with 23,000 miles on it , and I have never seen a comment like yours.........
I would guess that some water found it's way onto those seat rails, (flooding?), and that would be about the only way that could ever happen.........I would say this is a unique situation, hands down.................
Have the dealer check the torque settings on "bolts" on the front end, the clunk you hear happened to me since the car was new, I took it in and they took care of it easily.
It really doesn't have anything to do with your transmission, the"clunk" occurs under a shifting load, as in braking to a stop..............
It's not unique to the one she looked at. Ours looks hideous. I haven't had the time yet to try to pull the seat off the rails to explore fixes, but it really bothers me every time I look down there.
Lat night, we lost all of our low-beam lights. Brights still work fine. I tested function using Auto and Manual light settings with no luck. Also tried shutting off engine and letting system recycle...still no luck. :confuse:
Anyone out there ever experience this problem or know of the location of fuses 9if any) for the headlights? The main fuse block does not contain any...as far as I can tell by reading the Chrysler code-speak printed on the fuse map inside the cover. :lemon:
My 2004 PAC is in the shop right now for the wet passenger side floor. Found a tech directive for this, Bomber, it is 23-010-04A Sept 04. It says this bulletin applies to KJ vehicles that are Right Hand Drive, but maybe can help you and me. Title is: A/C water leaks onto passenger front floor. Solution involves sealing the opening for the evaporator hose/drain tube with RTV sealer. Applies to several models, other than the Pacifica.
"Water may enter the passenger compartment between the HVAC housing and the bulkhead. A foam seal is used to seal the heater housing to the bulkhead. Condensation from the A.C. evaporator can run along the evaporator drain tube and enter the passenger compartment if the seal between the HVAC housing and the bulkhead is not sealed properly. This will result in wet passenger compartment carpet when the air conditioning is operating."
I have just purchased a 2005 Pacifica Touring.......love it...........however it has now blown 3 modules that control the windows, door locks, heated seats, mirrors and passenger seat adjustment. The module has been replaced 3 times but continues to blow within 24 hours of being repaired, has anyone experienced the same. Less than 1500 miles on the clock so far!
Has anyone else noticed that your dash is sinking in in the middle? Mine did and they said there was a service bulletin on it. They clipped and taped it , which is not a very good fix, it is loose and rattles when you are on a bumpy road which is everywhere where I live. My Pacifica is a 2004.
deltoid4 - thanks for the post on your long battle. I wish I had your tenacity and capability for followup. If I did I probably could have been rid of my Poc (not a typo) by now. My dealer was probably a little more responsive than yours with some of the same problems we shared.
I've decided since I have 64000 on it, I'll just let it run itself into the ground, assuming I can keep it running. It continues to fall apart -- heating/air display fades out, Chrysler designed and installed Sirius Radio displays wrong information, FM reception continues to get worse and of course, none of the road thumps were ever fixed - it is the most annoying vehicle I've ever owned.
I am pleased to hear that at least one person escaped Poc ownership and received what sounds like a reasonable settlement for all their problems. Cheers
My dash was dipping in the middle where the speaker is. Their is a little lip that connects the two parts of the dash, and in the middle the part with the speaker is lower than the other part. The rest of the dash is the opposite is you follow it from the outside. Their is a bulletin for this, however the fix is to clip it, and I saw no difference when this was done. It really rattles at the spot when you are on a bumpy rode, which is everywhere I live. Hope this helps. I know it is a little confusing.
Hi gare, I own a 2004 Pac and have interior rust on both the driver and passenger side seat rails and surrounding metal--I'm attributing this to the problem I had with water pooling inside the vehicle on front floorboards (this seems to be a problem with some of the Pacs). I've had the leaking fixed, but the rust is still there--my suggestion--Run and don't look back. I want to love my Pacifica, but my 2004 has so many problems, and has been in the shop so many times for so many "big" problems, that I am extremely frustrated. I wouldn't wish what I've been through on anybody!
I would like to know what that bulletin is, as this is the ONLY problem I have had with my 2004 Pacifica that wasn't corrected the first time I took it in.
I purchased it new in January 2004, I took it in once for the dashboard rattle , and the rattle is still there, it seems to be better in the hot Houston summer, and it does seem to diminish as the car reaches operating temperature..............
jkae, any info would be appreciated............. :confuse:
I have an '04 Pacifica. I get really annoyed at the fact that the navigation system cannot be fully used while driving. There are many times I (passenger) could use it while my husband is driving. I know the screen isn't in the perfect place for the passenger to use, but it is possible - the controls are at least reachable. My dad has a Lexus, and he found a way around it (it was posted on the club lexus forum). I've been unable to find out if such a setting exists for the Chryslers. Does anyone know??
I have a 2005 AWD. My PAC has 27.5K on it. Since purchasing it, all the dealer had to do is to replace the PTO unit to stop the clicking noise. I have not been back to the dealer since for any repairs, and I have put almost 8k miles (combo Highway and street) on it in the last 3 months. None of the issues I have seen on the forum, have cropped up. I had the dealer change the country code to Canada for the driving lights function, and I put in a K&N filter. I noticed that my gas mileage has been increasing on the highway and at some interesting speeds, I still get no less than 20 mph overall on 400 mile trips, using typically 3/4 of a tank. Anyone have ant lowest highway Gas mileage inputs?
My PAC did not come with a NAV unit, so I purchased a Garmin 320 unit and it works great. You can use it while driving but it does present a warning about the risks associated with that. However placing it within reach or having the passenger use it works.
The navigation system provides a subset of functions when the car is moving in excess of 5 MPH. This is a FEATURE, not a DEFECT. The IN-MOTION menu allows you to find a limited number of services (e.g. gas, hotel, restaurant) and you can make changes to the routing method.
What are you trying to do that cannot wait until the car is safely stopped? The last thing that I want my wife and kids to do while driving in the fast lane on I-70 is check out where the nearest movie theater is!
Lauren I'm convinced that these posts are mostly people who have had problems, however, they are a VERY small percentage of owners. The majority of owners, like me, have had very few, if any problems, and these people don't post much. If you based your purchase decision on forums, you probably wouldn't buy anything. There are problems with all vehicles.
Honestly, I was hesitant about the Pac. I have been researching the web and this forum. I just wanna know what to expect or what problem I might encounter. A week ago I bought my 04 Pac awd w/ all the options except the 19" rims. It had 17k I already put 1k on it and I can say I'm one happy/proud owner. Knock on wood! The only complain I have is the fog light is aimed right below the bumper, I know HID is bright enough but why put a fog light if its not lighting anything. :confuse:
There are two adjustment screws accessible from the front of the fog light -- one on the top with the other at the bottom. To adjust the light upward, all you have to do is tighten the top screw. Hope it's helpful!
Bought 05/05: has been in shop 15 days out of 45. PTO went over MMday weekend, Real seal leakage/ Water Leaking into Driver Rug, Tran cooling lines burst over 4th, and now a bushing issue on control arm/sway bar. I have encountered about 4 of the TSB's out there already. TSB 23-045-04 affects the front or rear spash shield, TSB - 03-005-04 refers to the Rear Axle Seal Weepage, The biggy... 02-007-004 the Low Speed rattle Clunk for the front suspension lower control arms, and the PTU was the 02-11-04. The Water leakage was TSB 23-010-04A. The very first day, we had the erroneous tire pressure warning lamp - TSB 22-001-04. So... In a nutshell, we have had some major issues, more of a dissappointment actually. I must have bought a car that produced on a Friday pm, or a Monday am after a busy weekend. BUT>>>> I still love the Pacifica's and we are in the process of trading ours out for a new one... So... I hope that this one will do better by us. Chrysler has been good about helping as the Dealership. They have been bending over backwards to please us. After all, it is not their fault that the car came to them this way. I have searched this site previously, and it has been very helpful, so I hope that my TSB listings help someone else. Go into your Service department after you have done your homework, it definitly saves time and aggrivationif you suspect what is wrong and come to them with the TSB in hand....Have a good day!
With the temperature in the 95 to 100 range it's about all my A/C can due to keep it cool in the car. Has anyone having this problem? Maybe it's undersized for this car. Had 4 people in car for 7 hour drive from Nashville to N/W Ohio and ran all out all the time. Out side temp 98 deg. My Pac is black. That dosn't help.
I've had the a/c serviced once and supposedly repaired on my 2005. The a/c is still blowing warm after a recharge. I am calling Monday to get it in again. You should get a $10 instant read thermometer and hold it in the vent and note the air temp on any given day while driving (hence keeping the rpms up enough to let the compressor work to its fullest extent). Then make an appt. to get it checked armed with your own real life stats. The a/c in my new 2005 RAM freezes me out in no time no matter what the temperature outside is! Oh and the truck is black too. No excuse for a funky warm blowing a/c. :mad: I'm thinking the air from the vents should be at least 10-15 or more degrees colder than the outside air temp. .
No problems with Houston weather (hot as hell) , mine is white (that helps), but I tell you , I have no problem at all with the Pac's a/c, I had a lot more gripes with my Honda Civic's a/c, and that is one of the reasons I skipped Honda this time.
You may have a problem with your individual unit, my outside temperature routinely reads 103-107 deg. , and that's with me parking inside a garage. Within 7 minutes, everything is ok.............
I was all excited to think that Chrysler was going to cooperate and replace my car of 50 days, that has been in the shop for 34% of the time. Think NOT! I am now in the process of LL, UCC and Shaken FAith Doctorine. Gee.. maybe by the time my lease is up, I may actually have a decision. Has anyone ever gone up against Chrysler for the Lemon law and Sucessfully won???? My car meets all criteria for the LL and well... looking for advise.
We had a 2004 Pacifica that was in the shop 40+ days in nine months. Yes, we sued Chrysler under the Lemon Law in California and got back every penny we paid for the car (minus the LoJack - which is considered after-market.) We had no problems with the lawsuit - Chrysler did not even fight us or try to get us to take another Pacifica. There were no dollars subtracted for depreciation because we had our first problem with the car at about 250 miles. Plus they had to pay our legal fees.
If you are in California, I can give you a great referral for an attorney.
Just cruised by this site because my daughter is considering going from an Audi A4 to a Pacifica [just had a 2nd baby, and needs more room, plus her hubby is 6'7" and he has no knee room in the Audi]. Anyway, I noted the stalling issue. I had a similar problem with the wife's 00 Eldo. Not the same mfg. I know, but the dealer fixed it instantly, when I told him the symptoms. He replaced crank shaft sensors, whatever the heck they are or do. No more problem with stalling. Maybe it would apply to the Pacifica as well. Just my .02. :shades:
Just got my Pacifica out of shop. The passenger side blowing 60 Deg air & the driver side blowing 70 Deg. They replaced the evaporter Now you can freeze meat inside. My what a differance. BBGGULDE you my want to check your evaporater. They said this has been a problem lately.
I just bought a used 05 with rear DVD - no headphones, no remote. I checked today on Ebay and there are no postings for pacifica headphones or remote.
Any ideas? The dealer wants over $100 for one set of headphones alone. Does Radio Shack sell something that will work? Do I have to have the remote to be able to access all the settings (like listening to the radio while the kids watch their movie)?
bigmike5: unfortunately stalling problems are quite common on today's cars. Too many electronic components and software in too many vital areas of the engine managment. Just look at your PC; every time it hungs up, it is the equivalent of a potential stall for a car engine.
I had stalling problems with my low milage 3.5 L Olds Intrique and also on my Saturn SW2. In both instances it was the crank sensor, that I replaced myself for pennies. Yet, from what I hear from my shop-owner/mechanic Brother In Law, all kinds of expensive European and Japanese cars stall regularly on the roads, as well. Welcome to the age of computers!
I'm REALLY going to call this morning. I'm not the daily driver and I think the wifey doesn't want to part with the car for them to do more work on it. I will mention the evaporator when I call. I'll have to look too and see if they put in any of that tracer dye since I've already had a cooling problem and they found low coolant (not much but more than usual, don't recall the amount). Thanks
Hey gang, my 05 Pac AWD Limited (Goldie) has been in the shop for the clicking noises as well. I had about 10K on the odometer before the problem surfaced, so after reviewing info on this site, I found TSB's on that issue and other noteworthy items, made an appointment with the service dept and took my car over there.
Goldie was in the shop for 2 solid weeks! My service tech frightened me when I called him and he mentioned that they had the tranny out of my car and were waiting on parts?? I don't know if that was exactly the case, but I do know that he mentioned something about replacing the PTU and that they ordered some additional parts for the sway bar problem. I dropped her back off at the dealeship again today and he "promised" me that I should get the vehicle back today? That's what they said last time and had it for 2 weeks! Although I must say, I had a rental Grand Cherokee and it was pretty comfy!
As far as the A/C is concerned, for those of you who are experiencing problems, does your PAC have tinted windows? That could make a world of difference as well, hence I have seen many Pacs that do not have the rear glass tinted. Otherwise, my A/C gets uncontrollably cold after running for awhile. I thought about contacting Chrysler as well on this to see if they could do anything, but I'm just waiting to get the vehicle back to see if the problem has been corrected. My service advisor mentioned that due to the inclement weather this past winter, they are getting a lot of Pac's with the sway bar/bushing issue and the possible cause could be attributed to the salts and stuff used to keep the roads deiced? That is another concern for me because if that's the case, I'll be replacing those things every year?
Don't get me wrong, I LOVE GOLDIE! She gets lots of looks and a heaping TON of complements, however I am a little concerned with reliability at this point. Maybe I could even get Chrysler to move me into a 2006 model if the problem persists. Anyone know of any changes made on the 2006 models? How about a HEMI!!! :-)
We are having the same problem. Our car is down 14 days as I write this. The dealers says that a fuel pump, made during a specific 3 month period is bad and they are trying to rebuild it. Others are having the same troubles. Our car stalls with ans empty tank then restarts showing a 1/2 tank?
The car is not safe to drive, especially if it fails while driving!
How can we drive a car that stalls while it's running? Anyone have an idea on that? You are heading down the highway at 50MPH and the car stalls. It's real problem.
"My service advisor mentioned that due to the inclement weather this past winter, they are getting a lot of Pac's with the sway bar/bushing issue and the possible cause could be attributed to the salts and stuff used to keep the roads deiced?"
From my own personal experience this has nothing to do with inclement weather. We don't live in the snow, we just have your normal rainy seasons, and Chrysler bought back our car for this and many other sundry problems that went wrong with our car. We had the PTU replaced, lower control arms replaced, bushings, things tightened and lubed...the list goes on for the front end clicking noise. Even after the lower control arms were replaced, the problems never went away. Funny that I see that many people had problems starting around 10k miles. Our front end problem started around 8k, but there were many other problems that started early on.
I too really enjoyed this car, but could not deal with the weekly visits to the service department. My thought was if this many things went wrong now while it was still covered under the warranty, what were we in for when the warranty was up. Yes you can buy an extended warranty, but from my recent experience with our extended warranty on our other car, the dealership must diagnose the problem before the extended warranty will pick it up. This could take many hours of labor out of your pocket before they figure it out. Then you must hope that the problem is covered on your warranty to get reimbursed for all those hours of trying to diagnose the problem.
In my opinion, Chrysler has a great design with this car. Too bad they don't bother enough about fixing existing problems that are know problems nationwide or pay more attention to quality assurance. (Our control arms were on national back order before they were replaced and still did not fix the problem. This front end clicking/popping noise is a problem with many Pac's.) This could possibly eleviate a lot of their buy backs and have a lot more long time happy customers. I know from this experience that I will not purchase another Chrysler product again.
No, it's not about luck. No way. All the Pacificas I drove (2 brand new and 3 slightly used) exhibited that rattle/clunk from the front suspension when driving between 10-30Km/h on minor bumps. It sounds like a bad bushing (shocks or control arms or whatever).
I am disgusted because of this. My Pacifica is a dream car (never had other problems) but that rattle pissed me off every time I drove it. Fortunately my wife is the daily driver. She, like most people on the road, doesn't hear it and doesn't care.
Even if I love it, I wouldn't buy it again. Why in the world spend my life hearing about Chrysler front end engineers incompetence at every parking lot bump ?!? My brain cannot understand how they can fail at such a simple thing (a damn play in the suspension) after creating the nicest vehicle on the planet ?!? I mean technically too, not only looks. You are right, they loose incredible amounts of money by missing the last step. Perfection.
Ah ... by the way ... my dealer's assistant service manager says that only god is perfect !!! When looking at my Pacifica I agree with her.
Comments
It took me about an hour to install the whole system. My kit even had the special drill included for the bumper holes that house the sensors. The kit was around $27 plus shipping and handling, making the total $53.
I installed the display over the rear liftgate, in front of a plastic trim piece. Simply used the selfl sticking tape on it to adhere it to the roof liner. Ran all wiring under the plastic interior trim panels and put the electronic control unit into a little pocket that is visible when the liner inside the covered storage compartment is lifted. For the sensor wires I used an existing hole from under the spare tire, through the trunk floor. Simply remove the black sealer from the hole to run the wires through then, re-seal.
System works well, a bit over sensitive. It picks up just about anything behind the car, including some tall grasses. The colored bars, the distance readout and the varying sounds combine to give plenty of warning.
Just wondering what needed to be done to fix your problem with the climate control display fading in and out? I've got the same problem here.
Thanks for any advice you can provide!
DRB III scan tool is required to make the change and it takes a few seconds
They connect the hand held computer under the driver's dash, set the country code to Canada and it is done. Just make sure your parking brake isn't set or it will look like it didn't work. Once the parking brake is disengaged they'll come on.
Yes it is a great feature, one DC should make standard. Can't think of a reason when being seen would be bad.
pretty cool... got my DRL's turned on this morning... rolled into the service breezeway and 5 minutes later I drove out. errr... and didn't cost a pretty penny.
if you want to do this in the US there are a few things you need to know...
This is possible regardless of headlamp type, whether or not you have auto lights and post/pre august production.
This is controlled by the body control module... not a DRL module. some dealers seem to think that you need some other module if your car was delivered in the US.
This option is turned on by switching to the canada country code... there are no additional steps needed. really, it's that easy.
All gauge settings remain in US units... not km or liters or any of that! this one surprised me a little bit.
The lights used are the 'brights' but, they do not burn at full brightness in this mode. since it is a gas discharge, the fire just burns a bit cooler.
Your gauges, radio display are at full brightness and the tail lights / all parking lights don't come on.
When you hit the turn signal, the DRL on that side goes out... this really makes your turn intention clear. Nice feature. I am going to get mine done next week.
Thanks!
Neill
My husband told me not to worry about it, but it did something similar, as if it's changing gears, when we were driving about 60 miles per hour.
Are there an reported transmission problems? Anyone else have this problem?
Thanks
Kim
The first thing I want to say is that I purchased my 2004 (AWD w/navigation) in June of 2003 with 3 miles on the odometer. I was a bit apprehensive at first because of the “less than stellar” reputation of Chrysler in the past. However, after doing a bunch of research about improving quality at Chrysler and reading the numerous positive articles about the Pacifica when it first came out, I decided to take the plunge. The first 2500 miles flew by without incident and I could not offer enough praise about the car (not to mention, since I had one of the first few, that I received dozens of compliments at gas stations, stop lights, etc)!
About the time I was nearing my first oil change the car began to experience what became a non-stop string of problems which would, in one form or another, plague me until the vehicle was finally repurchased by Chrysler the first week of May 2005...yes...you read the year correctly...2005!
Rather than go into detail, I will just say that my vehicle experienced just about every issue brought up on this board from the grinding wheel bearings to the fading A/C controls! The only issue I believe I was spared, thankfully, was the infamous stalling engine problem. In fact, since owning the car, it never went more than 30 days without requiring some type of repair or the often-elusive diagnosis of a yet another new problem. By the time it was turned in it had been the shop for a total of 40+ days! I will say the fine folks at Enterprise Car Rental became almost like family to me!
In the 30 days leading up to the much anticipated drop off I was still dealing with problems in the form of the ever-so-fun “jumping gas gauge” issue which caused a warning bell each time the needle would drop down telling me my fuel was low before jumping right back up again. At times my car sounded like a bell ringing contest for hours before the problem would disappear for 2-3 days at a time only to come back again during a relaxing conversation or favorite song! I was going to have the "gas gauge" issue addressed, but when Chrysler said it would cost $250 for a software upgrade (which I would have to pay since the warranty had expired) I told them I was not going to pay for a damn thing since they shouldn’t have put faulty software in the car to begin with!
Now that my car is once again Chrysler’s problem, I will offer fourth my observations on this experience:
1- Chrysler did not do a good job at bringing their own factory trained technicians up to speed on this vehicle before it came out.
2- Chrysler is WAY below the industry in identifying problems in a timely manner and coming up with true fixes instead of just “suggestions" or temporary repairs.
3- Once a fix has been identified, the time required to order and obtain parts is a joke which often forces owners to wait 1-2 weeks for the necessary components to fix a particular problem.
4- Chrysler Customer Service (on the corporate side) is a joke and took forever to respond to my pleas for help. I gave Chrysler 30 days to respond to the initial letter I wrote to them complaining about my numerous issues or I would file a lawsuit. 30 days came and went. Finally 60+ days later (and 30+ days AFTER filing the lawsuit) I was finally contacted to discuss my concerns at which point I simply advised them to speak to my lawyer.
Just so you all know, due to the laws in my state, I did not wish to obtain a replacement Pacifica under the Lemon Law. My only request to them from the beginning was to take the vehicle off my hands. For this reason my lawyer chose to file a “breach of warranty” lawsuit. Once Chrysler saw I hired a lawyer they dragged their feet for over a year before initially offering 3 separate settlements which were a joke (small cash offers which still required me to keep the car and yet absolved them off all responsibility).
Finally, 17 months after the lawsuit was filed and less than a week before the trial was scheduled to begin, they made a serious offer which I initially rejected (based on the fact that I had been dealing with this mess 17 months). They came back with another serious offer which took back the car, paid off my loan, paid my legal expenses, and put some money in my pocket to use as a down payment on a replacement vehicle. Needless to say, I accepted the last offer and my nightmare ended a few weeks ago.
The reason I have decided to post this experience here is to offer hope and advice to those who may be dealing with the same issues and frustration. If your car experiences a ton of problems before the warranty even runs out, imagine the expenses you will forced to pay once you are out warranty and have to pay for both the repairs and, if necessary, a rental car while the dealer tries to diagnose the problem and then has to order parts!
Although I am sure there are many satisfied Chrysler owners out there, the true mark of any company is what they do for the customer when problems arise. From this standpoint I can tell you this is why I will never own another Daimler-Chrysler product and will be more than happy to tell my friends and family why I wouldn’t recommend any vehicle built by them.
I wish all current Chrysler (Pacifica) owners out there the best of luck and hopefully you have not experienced nearly as many issues as myself or some of the other folks I have read about on this board.
Sincerely,
A relieved former Pacifica owner
Any ideas?
I thought mine, at first, was maybe vapor lock. While driving on the Interstate at 70mph and going around a somewhat sharp left hand curve, the engine completely shut down, the car was on, but no gas, no steering, and I was able to make it to the shoulder. After stopping, it started back up and I got off the next exit, but after another left hand turn, it quit again. I also noticed that the fuel gauage had gone from half a tank to empty.
So as I coasted into the gas station, I proceeded to "fill up" but it would only take about 14 gallons.
Since then, no problems - until today. I tried to re-create the problem, going around a left hand curve somewhat fast and it died again. And again, after stopping it started again. I thought it might also be a transmission sensor.
But I do notice issues with power and also experienced the accelerator being stuck to the floor about a month ago while on the interstate - a wonderful experience.
This is not a safe vehicle. And calls to Chrysler and a dealership, they act like they have never heard any of this before.
Will continue my search here on the board, but any feedback somone has would be appreciated.
Sorry, I can provide no help in this issue, other than being very frustrated with today's electronics driven cars. Unfortunately the Pacifica is not an isolated case when it comes to the car/engine shutting off in the midlle of regular driving. My Saturn did the same a few weeks ago and was traced to a crank sensor going bad gradually. Some of the most respected//expensive cars of today are all having problems with stalling and other electronic hickups. I am sure that my problem of the Pacifica engine cutting off 1100 PRM below its redline, under only special circumstances, is also software driven.
What's really needed is someone clamping down on the unrestricted use of software and programming in vital areas of automobiles. Good luck for that. For the manufactureres it is much cheaper to produce such circuitries and I do not see us going back to the older, reliable systems. It is very dangerous to loose power in the middle of the road, not only for the fear of being run over but, for loosing control of the automobile as the steering tends to loose power and becomes very difficult to control in tight, turning situations.
Good luck and please let us know if/when you solve your problem.
that would cause an warning indicator.
I have the K&N filter installed for almost 1.5 years with no problems. just cleaned mine last month. presto good as new :-)
I would guess that some water found it's way onto those seat rails, (flooding?), and that would be about the only way that could ever happen.........I would say this is a unique situation, hands down.................
Go find another one..............
It really doesn't have anything to do with your transmission, the"clunk" occurs under a shifting load, as in braking to a stop..............
Anyone out there ever experience this problem or know of the location of fuses 9if any) for the headlights? The main fuse block does not contain any...as far as I can tell by reading the Chrysler code-speak printed on the fuse map inside the cover. :lemon:
THIS LINK and have your VIN number ready.
Found a tech directive for this, Bomber, it is 23-010-04A Sept 04. It says this bulletin applies to KJ vehicles that are Right Hand Drive, but maybe can help you and me. Title is: A/C water leaks onto passenger front floor. Solution involves sealing the opening for the evaporator hose/drain tube with RTV sealer.
Applies to several models, other than the Pacifica.
"Water may enter the passenger compartment between the HVAC housing and the bulkhead. A foam seal is used to seal the heater housing to the bulkhead. Condensation from the A.C. evaporator can run along the evaporator drain tube and enter the passenger compartment if the seal between the HVAC housing and the bulkhead is not sealed properly. This will result in wet passenger compartment carpet when the air conditioning is operating."
Hope this helps.
I've decided since I have 64000 on it, I'll just let it run itself into the ground, assuming I can keep it running. It continues to fall apart -- heating/air display fades out, Chrysler designed and installed Sirius Radio displays wrong information, FM reception continues to get worse and of course, none of the road thumps were ever fixed - it is the most annoying vehicle I've ever owned.
I am pleased to hear that at least one person escaped Poc ownership and received what sounds like a reasonable settlement for all their problems. Cheers
Thanks!
I purchased it new in January 2004, I took it in once for the dashboard rattle , and the rattle is still there, it seems to be better in the hot Houston summer, and it does seem to diminish as the car reaches operating temperature..............
jkae, any info would be appreciated............. :confuse:
What are you trying to do that cannot wait until the car is safely stopped? The last thing that I want my wife and kids to do while driving in the fast lane on I-70 is check out where the nearest movie theater is!
I'm convinced that these posts are mostly people who have had problems, however, they are a VERY small percentage of owners.
The majority of owners, like me, have had very few, if any problems, and these people don't post much.
If you based your purchase decision on forums, you probably wouldn't buy anything. There are problems with all vehicles.
I have searched this site previously, and it has been very helpful, so I hope that my TSB listings help someone else.
Go into your Service department after you have done your homework, it definitly saves time and aggrivationif you suspect what is wrong and come to them with the TSB in hand....Have a good day!
You may have a problem with your individual unit, my outside temperature routinely reads 103-107 deg. , and that's with me parking inside a garage. Within 7 minutes, everything is ok.............
My car meets all criteria for the LL and well... looking for advise.
If you are in California, I can give you a great referral for an attorney.
BBGGULDE you my want to check your evaporater. They said this has been a problem lately.
Any ideas? The dealer wants over $100 for one set of headphones alone. Does Radio Shack sell something that will work? Do I have to have the remote to be able to access all the settings (like listening to the radio while the kids watch their movie)?
I had stalling problems with my low milage 3.5 L Olds Intrique and also on my Saturn SW2. In both instances it was the crank sensor, that I replaced myself for pennies. Yet, from what I hear from my shop-owner/mechanic Brother In Law, all kinds of expensive European and Japanese cars stall regularly on the roads, as well. Welcome to the age of computers!
Thanks
Goldie was in the shop for 2 solid weeks! My service tech frightened me when I called him and he mentioned that they had the tranny out of my car and were waiting on parts?? I don't know if that was exactly the case, but I do know that he mentioned something about replacing the PTU and that they ordered some additional parts for the sway bar problem. I dropped her back off at the dealeship again today and he "promised" me that I should get the vehicle back today? That's what they said last time and had it for 2 weeks! Although I must say, I had a rental Grand Cherokee and it was pretty comfy!
As far as the A/C is concerned, for those of you who are experiencing problems, does your PAC have tinted windows? That could make a world of difference as well, hence I have seen many Pacs that do not have the rear glass tinted. Otherwise, my A/C gets uncontrollably cold after running for awhile. I thought about contacting Chrysler as well on this to see if they could do anything, but I'm just waiting to get the vehicle back to see if the problem has been corrected. My service advisor mentioned that due to the inclement weather this past winter, they are getting a lot of Pac's with the sway bar/bushing issue and the possible cause could be attributed to the salts and stuff used to keep the roads deiced? That is another concern for me because if that's the case, I'll be replacing those things every year?
Don't get me wrong, I LOVE GOLDIE! She gets lots of looks and a heaping TON of complements, however I am a little concerned with reliability at this point. Maybe I could even get Chrysler to move me into a 2006 model if the problem persists. Anyone know of any changes made on the 2006 models? How about a HEMI!!! :-)
Thanks!
IngeniousGuy
The car is not safe to drive, especially if it fails while driving!
How can we drive a car that stalls while it's running? Anyone have an idea on that? You are heading down the highway at 50MPH and the car stalls. It's real problem.
From my own personal experience this has nothing to do with inclement weather. We don't live in the snow, we just have your normal rainy seasons, and Chrysler bought back our car for this and many other sundry problems that went wrong with our car. We had the PTU replaced, lower control arms replaced, bushings, things tightened and lubed...the list goes on for the front end clicking noise. Even after the lower control arms were replaced, the problems never went away. Funny that I see that many people had problems starting around 10k miles. Our front end problem started around 8k, but there were many other problems that started early on.
I too really enjoyed this car, but could not deal with the weekly visits to the service department. My thought was if this many things went wrong now while it was still covered under the warranty, what were we in for when the warranty was up. Yes you can buy an extended warranty, but from my recent experience with our extended warranty on our other car, the dealership must diagnose the problem before the extended warranty will pick it up. This could take many hours of labor out of your pocket before they figure it out. Then you must hope that the problem is covered on your warranty to get reimbursed for all those hours of trying to diagnose the problem.
In my opinion, Chrysler has a great design with this car. Too bad they don't bother enough about fixing existing problems that are know problems nationwide or pay more attention to quality assurance. (Our control arms were on national back order before they were replaced and still did not fix the problem. This front end clicking/popping noise is a problem with many Pac's.) This could possibly eleviate a lot of their buy backs and have a lot more long time happy customers. I know from this experience that I will not purchase another Chrysler product again.
Hope you have better luck with yours!
I am disgusted because of this. My Pacifica is a dream car (never had other problems) but that rattle pissed me off every time I drove it. Fortunately my wife is the daily driver. She, like most people on the road, doesn't hear it and doesn't care.
Even if I love it, I wouldn't buy it again. Why in the world spend my life hearing about Chrysler front end engineers incompetence at every parking lot bump ?!? My brain cannot understand how they can fail at such a simple thing (a damn play in the suspension) after creating the nicest vehicle on the planet ?!? I mean technically too, not only looks. You are right, they loose incredible amounts of money by missing the last step. Perfection.
Ah ... by the way ... my dealer's assistant service manager says that only god is perfect !!! When looking at my Pacifica I agree with her.