Originally Posted by
onehundred80
Is it possible that the problem goes away until the car gets wet and then the problem reoccurs?
If so I would say it is water in the trunk which is affecting the security/locking module.
Look down the back of the foam under the mat on the passenger side of the trunk and see if any water is visible.
Ta-da! We have a winner.
Without actually seeing the car, you fine folks managed to diagnose it. The Chrysler people, who had the car TWICE managed to miss the whole "water in the trunk" thing. Which, now that I think about it, makes me a little skeptical of their claim that they're "100% certain" it was the vacuum pump -- since in order to get at the pump they'd have come face to face with the small puddle in the foam liner.
Ok, so clearly I have one of those "special" SRTs with the leak problem. So what now?
My planned course of action is:
0) Avoid returning to the dealer. They re-enabled the siren, so I'm back to square one with them and I think they have enough of my cash for the time being.
1) Try to clean/dry the area as much as possible. I'll probably have to remove the foam to get at the pump, so I may as well see if there's any water in that area and clean it up if necessary.
2) Remove the vacuum pump and check it for obvious signs of corrosion or failure. (Speaking of which, does anyone know what sort of current and where I need to apply it to test it when it's outside of the car?)
3) Try to disconnect pin 18 of the security module (which I understand to be in the same area as the pump, yes?) That might stop it from sounding the alarm.
4) Remove the spoiler, try to seal it. Tips on that?
5) Try to figure out how to seal the gas tank gasket (or rather, figure out if that's the issue *then* try to figure out how to fix it?)
Does that look reasonable? I really appreciate the help y'all have offered so far and I'd be happy to hear any tips, suggestions, etc. to get this fixed.