I own a Dart 2.4 SXT 2015, I am the 2nd owner and the car is great, except for a few electrical issues I've had.
—The first one was when I sent the vehicle for a spark plug change and oil change to the local shop. They gave me the car back with the check engine light on. I told them it wasn't on and they tried to fix it but they couldn't, they told me I needed a new computer. Took it to an electric shop for a second opinion, and they told me they needed to reprogram the steering wheel sensor, so they did what they had to do and the car was like new again. Lesson learned, since that incident, I do all the maintenance required by myself.
—Second electrical problem (maybe someone has posted this before, but since I could not find help anywhere, I had to figure it out, and it might help someone in the future).
The stop light at passenger side would turn off when depressing the brake pedal, and would only blink once if I wanted to signal other drivers that I wanted to go right. Took it to the shop where I got the check engine light fixed, and I was told that they needed to reprogram the whole module or maybe it was damaged and needed to be replaced, which I was skeptical. And again I took it to another shop, where I was told that maybe the stop light was just defective, so I bought the light, and nothing changed, same problem. So I decided to troubleshoot it myself, I stripped the whole car to start tracing the wires from the engine compartment to the trunk, since I wanted to discard the option of buying a new 'computer'. After hours of tracing, I found that the wires in the back seat, close from the fuel pump, one had the insulation damaged (who knows why) and it was being shorted, so I cut the wire, stripped it and reconnect it, and it worked, my stop light works fine after that (by mere luck).
—3rd electrical problem. I went to the gas station (my car always have to have more than ¼ of gas, I never let it run with less than that) and as I finished pumping gas, I started the vehicle, started well, nothing out of the ordinary, but as soon as I press on the gas, the car dies, engine would crank but won't start, no trouble code, no check engine light on. I pushed away from the gas station and started troubleshooting the cursed car, i checked all fuses, battery voltage, engine belt, starter and the whole ignition system inside the engine compartment and everything seemed to be in good conditions, there was only one more thing to check, the fuel pump. I removed the back seat, removed the cover to access the fuel pump, and a wire there was fried, you could smell it as soon as I removed the cover, looks like the twisted position in which the wires and probably the low insulation quality of the wires were the problem, because I check the other 3 wires and the insulation was already exposing some of the wires, I put electrical tape on all 4 wires, repaired the burned one, plugged everything, and the Dart works once again.
Another issues found where the engine temperature, it's crazy how hot it gets inside the engine compartment. I live in the desert where the coolest temperature during summer is 120°f and the car temperature is always a little over the half mark or close to ¾. Radiator fan works fine, radiator got serviced before summer and new oem coolant was added, a transmission oil mini radiator (forgot the right name) was added and another radiador fan with a thermoswitch was added to withstand the heat, ever since then the temperature is always at the half mark, doesn't overheat anymore and even now in winter the temperature remains the same, everytime I turn off the vehicle everything turns off.
That's about it, other than that is a good looking vehicle and has good mpg and decent hp.
—The first one was when I sent the vehicle for a spark plug change and oil change to the local shop. They gave me the car back with the check engine light on. I told them it wasn't on and they tried to fix it but they couldn't, they told me I needed a new computer. Took it to an electric shop for a second opinion, and they told me they needed to reprogram the steering wheel sensor, so they did what they had to do and the car was like new again. Lesson learned, since that incident, I do all the maintenance required by myself.
—Second electrical problem (maybe someone has posted this before, but since I could not find help anywhere, I had to figure it out, and it might help someone in the future).
The stop light at passenger side would turn off when depressing the brake pedal, and would only blink once if I wanted to signal other drivers that I wanted to go right. Took it to the shop where I got the check engine light fixed, and I was told that they needed to reprogram the whole module or maybe it was damaged and needed to be replaced, which I was skeptical. And again I took it to another shop, where I was told that maybe the stop light was just defective, so I bought the light, and nothing changed, same problem. So I decided to troubleshoot it myself, I stripped the whole car to start tracing the wires from the engine compartment to the trunk, since I wanted to discard the option of buying a new 'computer'. After hours of tracing, I found that the wires in the back seat, close from the fuel pump, one had the insulation damaged (who knows why) and it was being shorted, so I cut the wire, stripped it and reconnect it, and it worked, my stop light works fine after that (by mere luck).
—3rd electrical problem. I went to the gas station (my car always have to have more than ¼ of gas, I never let it run with less than that) and as I finished pumping gas, I started the vehicle, started well, nothing out of the ordinary, but as soon as I press on the gas, the car dies, engine would crank but won't start, no trouble code, no check engine light on. I pushed away from the gas station and started troubleshooting the cursed car, i checked all fuses, battery voltage, engine belt, starter and the whole ignition system inside the engine compartment and everything seemed to be in good conditions, there was only one more thing to check, the fuel pump. I removed the back seat, removed the cover to access the fuel pump, and a wire there was fried, you could smell it as soon as I removed the cover, looks like the twisted position in which the wires and probably the low insulation quality of the wires were the problem, because I check the other 3 wires and the insulation was already exposing some of the wires, I put electrical tape on all 4 wires, repaired the burned one, plugged everything, and the Dart works once again.
Another issues found where the engine temperature, it's crazy how hot it gets inside the engine compartment. I live in the desert where the coolest temperature during summer is 120°f and the car temperature is always a little over the half mark or close to ¾. Radiator fan works fine, radiator got serviced before summer and new oem coolant was added, a transmission oil mini radiator (forgot the right name) was added and another radiador fan with a thermoswitch was added to withstand the heat, ever since then the temperature is always at the half mark, doesn't overheat anymore and even now in winter the temperature remains the same, everytime I turn off the vehicle everything turns off.
That's about it, other than that is a good looking vehicle and has good mpg and decent hp.
