Hi to all,
I have a '96 dodge diesel and through a series of unfortunate events we had a stuck door buzzer (long story - no need to ask - it was dumb .

Nonetheless, the truck needed to get back work so my thought was to unplug the door buzzer @ the fuse box and fix it later. With the fuse cover removed looking to left side of the box - I identified what I thought was the actual buzzer - turns out I pulled the wrong module. See attached jpeg.

On the left side of the fuse pannel there's a small silver cylinder shapped can (smaller then your thumb) with 3 prongs - at the time (after the door buzzer was stuck on for 15 minutes) the cylinder was very hot and appeared to be vibrating in a buzzer mode. With some effort I pulled the cylinder unit out. At this point I realized the actual buzzer is the rectangled shapped black box just below.

Bottom line: Took a step back and was able the repair and reinstall door buzzer button fixing the original issue - however I was unable the reinstall the removed silver cylinder - a difficult angle to reach. However I was able to remove the cylinder's cover and then plug the module back in.

All appeares to work normal - but the protective shield/cover remains off this silver cylinder module. My owner's manual makes no mention of this module only shows it in a scanned photo I attached - my questions:

What is this cylinder?
Is it important to be covered/protected?
Why was it so HOT when I orginally touched it?
Any suggestions on how to reinstall it with the shield/cover on it?

Any help will be appreciated.

Thanks, Mike

 

That would be the timer delay/relay for the little halo ring that lights up at night around your key. It won't hurt anything else to have it unplugged, and it is normal for them to get hot when the door is left open for long periods. I suppose Dodge figured no one would leave the doors open for long(but haven't we all?) and even so, most wouldn't need to touch it, right? But I have always wondered why it was designed that way. Anyways, good luck, sounds like you got your original problem fixed, and eventually I'm sure you will get the timer back in too with a little patience, eh? :-)

 

Hi 92DuallyCTD,

Thanks for the response - I'll sleep better knowing what it is. And thanks for the encouragement - once the truck returns home I'll make a second run at getting the timmer back in it's original spot. Mike