My Durango's windshield wipers and power windows stopped working

Question: My 2003 Durango's front and rear windshield wipers and the power windows stopped working. Everything else works, including the radio, lights, heater, A/C, turn signals, etc. I checked the fuses and they're all good. A friend suggested it could be the ignition switch.

Answer:The ignition switch is a good guess, but you have to go through the motions first. Looking at the schematic, I see a common power supply to both circuits. It all starts at the Power Distribution Center, a black box with a cover located under the hood on the left side, near the master cylinder. If you remove the cover you'll find fuse #17. It's a big 50amp fuse. Hopefully, you have a 12volt test light handy. Connect the clip end of the test light to a good ground (anything metal bolted to the engine or chassis) and touch the pointy end to either side of the fuse. If it lights up on both sides, the fuse is good. If it only lights on one side, the fuse is bad. If it doesn't light at all, either you didn't ground the test light well or there's a break in a major circuit coming from the battery. Fuse #17 feeds power to the ignition switch. When the ignition switch is turned to the run or accessory position, power is sent to fuse #5 (20amp) to help power the wipers, and circuit breaker #28 (25amp) to run the power windows. You'll find this fuse and that circuit breaker in the fuse block on the left side of the instrument panel. It's facing the driver's door and has an access panel. Do the same procedure with the test light on the breaker and the fuse while the ignition switch is in the run position. If both have no power at all, it's a good chance the problem is the ignition switch. But you really have to access the switch at the base of the steering column to confirm the power coming in from the fuse under the hood, but not going out to the wipers and windows. It could be a poor connection somewhere in between.




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There is a recall on that...same problem with my 2003 Durango. Go to the dealer and have it fixed.  
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