[bosoxbrant]

Hi all, relatively new here...first post anyway. So I have a 2015 200S, love the car but have encountered an issue. All of a sudden one morning, I go out to my car and the center console with the UConnect system, heater/AC controls, etc. is not functioning. I can still adjust the temp of the heater/AC and run the front/rear defrost (obviously the shifter works as well as parking brake) but I am unable to adjust where the heat/AC flows, no radio or display on the UConnect (although I have noticed at night that the display will very briefly flash). I also seem to have developed a draw somewhere in the car because my battery will be completely dead after a couple of days so I unhook by negative battery cable for now so I don't get stuck somewhere again. The last thing that is happening is my odometer is flashing. No check engine lights or codes that I have found..I'm just stumped. I called the dealer close by and they won't take a look because my car has over 100k miles on it.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. So far I have checked all fuses in the engine compartment to see if there is a draw coming from there (none are). I haven't checked interior fuses because I don't know how to disable the interior light from coming on so that doesn't throw things off. I have the 4 cyl engine if that makes any difference.

Thank you in advance!

 

[200_S_AWD]

Welcome to the forum. That area between the touchscreen & center console is called the ICS or Integrated Center Stack. There is a ground (G911A/G914A) in the console that might be in trouble? There may be fault codes in the radio or BCM (if the radio can respond)? Does the power outlet by the passenger's feet work?
It takes a more capable scan tool to read body codes than an OBDII engine code reader.

Any blinking odometer display? The battery draw may be related to modules staying awake overnight?
Let us know what you need from us or what you can find out.

Grounds:

Possible fault codes?:

 

[bosoxbrant]

Thank you so much for this. To answer your question; yes, the power outlet in the passenger foot area does work. The only accessory I have plugged in is a phone charging unit that cradles my phone. Maybe I should unplug that and go with a more standard charger for the time being. I will check the console micro switches to see if they have been damaged at all. Yes, the odometer does flash. When I hook the battery up it is fine until I turn the car off. Upon restart (and until I unhook the battery due to the draw, usually overnight) it begins flashing.

 

[200_S_AWD]

A blinking odometer indicates a 'loss of communication' between the BCM (body control module) & one or more modules (probably the radio)?
If the radio can talk to the scan tool, it may revive. If not, consider an exchange or send this one out for repair.
A dealer service department may be best able to diagnose this if it comes down to a radio failure. You can have them stop at that point, pay the diagnostic fee & do the work yourself or have them continue & complete the service.

 

[Powerslavepa]

When you disconnect the battery, or the car or a module loses power, the Odometer may blink. That is an indication, as said, that a module or modules have lost communications with the ECU or another module. However, more than likely it's the Body Control Module that's doing it because it lost comms with a module.

Unfortunately, only the DEALER can fix it. Happened to my son after replacing the battery in his jeep, and he had to pay the dealer $90 to reprogram everything.

When a battery gets weak, the final cranking before killing it will kill power to all the car's modules. Then, when you get power back, the ODO is blinking.

Also, when you disconnect the battery, you need to connect a jumper pack, or battery tender onto the terminals before you remove them from the battery posts. With some cars, like the 200, because of where the battery is, you need to use the jumper post in the engine bay, and the other lead to a chassis ground.

There is no reason for this to happen, as Mopar are the only cars I see it happen on. It's done on purpose, so you have to go to a dealer for service, and it HAS to be a Chrysler/Dodge/Jeep/FCA/Stellantis whatever the...they are, because it's THEIR software. Also, you being told that they won't look at it because it's over 100,000 miles is ridiculous; was that a FCA dealer that told you that?

 

[ggoose]

The alphaOBD app has the ability to perform a 'proxi alignment' to resync all of the computer/control modules. My 2014 does not need this routine so I have not used it but a number of minivan owners have reported success performing it.

 

[200_S_AWD]

The PROXI is something found on the UF, PF & KL vehicles. It is an electrical network used only on Fiat-based designs to 'match' modules to each-other. The BCM is the Gateway. You won't see it on the previous generation 200 (JS).
Both generations use the CAN bus for module communication.

 

[bosoxbrant]

When you disconnect the battery, or the car or a module loses power, the Odometer may blink. That is an indication, as said, that a module or modules have lost communications with the ECU or another module. However, more than likely it's the Body Control Module that's doing it because it lost comms with a module.

Unfortunately, only the DEALER can fix it. Happened to my son after replacing the battery in his jeep, and he had to pay the dealer $90 to reprogram everything.

When a battery gets weak, the final cranking before killing it will kill power to all the car's modules. Then, when you get power back, the ODO is blinking.

Also, when you disconnect the battery, you need to connect a jumper pack, or battery tender onto the terminals before you remove them from the battery posts. With some cars, like the 200, because of where the battery is, you need to use the jumper post in the engine bay, and the other lead to a chassis ground.

There is no reason for this to happen, as Mopar are the only cars I see it happen on. It's done on purpose, so you have to go to a dealer for service, and it HAS to be a Chrysler/Dodge/Jeep/FCA/Stellantis whatever the...they are, because it's THEIR software. Also, you being told that they won't look at it because it's over 100,000 miles is ridiculous; was that a FCA dealer that told you that?

Thank you so much for this. I had read and heard that this might be the case and it just sucks. Not sure if it had anything to do with anything but the previous night we had some severe thunderstorms…not totally uncommon but I wonder if there was a parallel to this happening right after that. Just strange how it went from functioning perfectly with never an issue to the next morning…nothing.

As far as the dealership, what they told me is that they won’t work on cars that are either 20 years or older or have in excess of 100,000 miles due to the liability of them doing further damage (old brittle hoses breaking and things like that). Part of me understands but part of me thinks it is bs and a bad way to do business.

 

[Powerslavepa]

There are no hoses or brittle parts, they're hooking up their diagnostic equipment to the OBDII port to fix a programming error. That explanation is a cop-out, they won't be touching anything but the OBDII port.

 

[bosoxbrant]

There are no hoses or brittle parts, they're hooking up their diagnostic equipment to the OBDII port to fix a programming error. That explanation is a cop-out, they won't be touching anything but the OBDII port.

Yeah...It's more of a "blanket" type policy, no matter what the issue is. I mean you know how the dealership is...you can tell them that you need a proxi configuration and they will want to do a complete diagnostic just to make more money before saying, "Oh guess what...all you needed was a proxi configuration"...

 

[200_S_AWD]

Find another dealer. Ask if they can perform a PROXI under the Diagnostic charge (usually 1 hr labor)?
No parts should be needed.
The policy at many dealers is similar. The Diagnostic charge IS the Minimum charge.

 

[bosoxbrant]

Find another dealer. Ask if they can perform a PROXI under the Diagnostic charge (usually 1 hr labor)?
No parts should be needed.
The policy at many dealers is similar. The Diagnostic charge IS the Minimum charge.

Yeah, there is another dealer I will most likely take it to but it is about 20 miles out of the way where this other one is literally down the street from my house LOL! I've been doing some reading and it also seems that I can do the PROXI myself with an OBDLink EX adapter ad the ALFAOBD software. Might be a good thing to have regardless.

 

[200_S_AWD]

If you want to buy the tool to do it, it may pay for itself eventually.

 

[bosoxbrant]

If you want to buy the tool to do it, it may pay for itself eventually.

Thank you again for all your help on this! I really appreciate it.