Just on a hunch, next time it goes dead, before trying switches, doors, etc., put a charger on the battery and see if one of the reading lamps come on.
I went outside the other night, and one of my reading lamps was on. APparently it had been on for quite some time. I tried to turn it off by pushing in on the lens to toggle the switch. No Go there. I opened and shut all the doors, no good. I turned the inside lights on and off at the stalk. Still possessed. Finally, I took the overhead console loose, unplugged it and took it inside for a few hours to let it cool completely.
When I reinstalled it hours later, no problem.
Don't ask me what I did. The reading/map lamps use the Chrysler standard of switching grounds. This saves a lot of isolation in circuits that have either/or branches in their logic, such as interior/map, or manually switched/door switched interior/map lights.
My best guess is a ground integrity glitch.
Since the lamps are auto on when ignition goes off, or auto dimmed on exit, or on with door, or on with stalk switch.... That leaves a lot of real estate when it comes to tracking down the culprit.
I am putting my money on heat causing something to flex and simulate a situation that the PCM interprets to be a light on signal. Why it affected only one of the reading/map lamps is beyond me. If I hadn't caught it, it would have shown up as a dead battery; a situation that happened once on my 2002 PT, with no explanation and no repeat performance.
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