I took my Avenger to Spitzer Dodge 2 weeks ago for some unusual problems after I had some electrical work done on the car. First off, I had no Overdrive. Second, my airbag light was on.
They had the car for 3 hours, trying to diagnose the problem. They got no codes related to either problem, and decided that the tranny controller would need to be replaced. The airbag was pinned down to a connector being unplugged, and the airbag computer "remembering" that there was an open connection. The controller was swapped, but did not solve the problem.
The mechanic told that basically they had no idea what the problem was, and that he wouldn't be able to track it down. He spent a great deal of time trying to persuade me to TRADE THE CAR IN, some more time telling me that I had an aftermarket alarm (duh) and stereo (duhduh), and that the wiring for both of those items was "hacked up pretty badly". Now, I had installed both of those items myself, and I sure as HELL didn't "hack" the wiring. The rep also told me that their shop didn't have the correct wiring and diagnostic books for the Avenger, and had lost their adaptor to plug the diagnostic computer into the Avenger (which has the standard Dodge OBD2 diagnostic connector, and standard Dodge coding).
Well, I took the car home, with no overdrive and the airbag light still on, and it sat for 2 weeks while the problem was discussed on the Avenger forums. One of the posts mentioned that I should check to see if my reverse lights came on, if they didn't, then I likely had a short somewhere in that ground circuit, which is shared with the tranny controller, and of some of the airbag components. Sure enough, the fuse was blown.
None of the mechanics had bothered to check any of the fuses. They had obviously been under the dash, because one of my door pin-switches wiring was seperated. Since that wiring was right next to the fuse box, they could have LOOKED to check the fuses. The fusebox hadn't been touched, there were no fingerprints in the thick layer of dust on the cover.
I'm going to be calling the local rep Monday, I don't appreciate having to pay for a $275 tranny controller when it was an improperly diagnosed FUSE issue all along.