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Comments
Since I have posted my issues I have seen numerous other people posting with the EXACT same problems. I traded in my vehicle to Carmax, which is where I purchased it from. They had ample documentation of my problem, although frankly, I don't think they believed me that it was real since it was intermittent. I had also taken it to the local Chyrsler dealer, who claimed "we've never seen this problem before". I know this this is far from the truth. My car issues got so severe that it was literally dangerous to drive. When the dash board disco got very bad, the entire electrical system would fail.
The two people I know personally that had the exact same problem did find some temporary solutions. One, the electronics that controlled the driver seat were shorting out causing global electronic issues. The second individual had their transmission replaced. Both descriptions to the symptoms were exactly the same to my original post. Numerous people on the internet have suggested that the solder on the printed circuit board is defective, which may cause these electrical problems. I have also seen postings regarding the electronic sliding doors not functioning properly (in conjunction with other electrical issues) , I also had this problem on the driver's side passenger door.
Since you have only had the vehicle 6 days I would seriously advise looking up the "Lemon Laws" for your state. If you can get your money back, I would. Sorry I don't have a more optimistic solution for you. You could try asking the poster of message 439 (report these issues to NHTSA.gov) if they got any resolution when they appealed directly to Chrysler.
I know precious little about Dodge/Chrysler vans.
I've owned three Chrysler vehicles, a '99 Voyager, replaced the transmission; a'99 Intrepid with a 2.7 engine, replaced pretty much everything related to the engine and transmission, including the BCM and PCM alternator and starter and power steering pump reservoir. All within 3K miles. I put an'04 engine back in it.
This '04 Chrysler T & C is my third and final Chrysler vehicle.
The electrical system is a nightmare, in my view, because they don't use stop switches, instead relying on current surges to sense when a motor has reached full travel.
The motors used to control blend doors(6) on this T & C air conditioning, all are identical, having a motor about the diameter of a quarter and about one inch long. This motor along with six reduction gears control the blend doors. apparently one of the motors stalled on one of the rear A/C blend door and caused the wiring to catch fire at the plug on my T& C.
A DRBIII is essential in troubleshooting the electrical system. other scanners are not sensitive enough to detect the minute voltage surges in the Chrysler systems.
Major components such as the control head for the three zone A/C with climate control, the BCM and PCM have to be programmed with the VIN of the particular vehicel you're working with. This is supposed to prevent theft, but I think it is just a moneymaker for the CO. The dealer ordered the wiring harness for the rear A/C on the T & C and by VIN and still got the wrong one.
I have ten Cadillacs, Two Wind Stars an Econoline Van and a Toyota Solara that I bought with damage to the Lt. front that required replacement of the engine room wiring harness. I have had more electrical problems with the the Intrepid and this T & C than with all the other vehicles combined.
Good Luck,
Since then the problems have escalated and my solution has been to jiggle the battery cable and electrical harness. This will usually result in temporary correction of the problem for 2 to 8 weeks. If those 2 procedures do not bring relief, I strike the computer box with my hand 2 to 3 times. Call me cheap, but I will not spend a small fortune on labor that may not solve the problem. I will just have to pray that when it finally dies, I will be able to get to the side of the road and call auto salvage.
One side note: My mechanic has a Dodge van. A few weeks ago he left a meeting and it would not start. Van had a new battery and cables. He raised the hood, hit on the computer, started the van and drove home. I have had advice from many people. Each one has a different answerfrom oxygen sensors to relay switches under dash and many others.
Charged us $100 bucks to find nothing wrong, then the day we picked it up, about 2 hours later the exact same thing happened to us. So the car went right back over while it was happening and left it with the dealer. They ran some tests and said they found out what it was and they had to replace something in the dashboard and then pulled it all apart and now are saying that wasn't the issue and they can't find anything wrong with it!?
I noticed many people are having similar issues with their electrical systems and was hoping someone might have a suggestion or solution (besides telling the dealer to $@#$ off!)
Thanks in advance for any help!
I hope everyone who has a T & C has an extra car and also bought an extended warrantee (after the 3 yr 36 month runs out) because you will be in the shop often.
Service engine light on always
instrument cluster would go go dead and occasionally work
when starting, it starts and then stalls. repeat 3 times and the car goes completely dead.
Let sit for awhile and van starts as normal.
If you have had these same issues,
DO NOT replace the starter
DO NOT replace the ECM
DO NOT replace the Battery
The problem is the circuit board behind the instrument cluster. It is a $670 part through Chrysler, forget about it. If yours is like mine, you can disassemble the dashboard to gain access to the instrument cluster. Remove the circuit board(12 screws) and find a reputable electronics repair business who can solder. Another option is to look for one in a salvage yard, ~$30 bucks in my local yard.Just make sure the salvage van wasn't in a front end crash, that can crack the solder on the circuit board. Thats all it takes. By the way, you can remove the instrument cluster completely from the car and the van will run perfectly. Just be careful driving without the speedometer or fuel gauge.
I have a 99 T&C Limited with 125K miles. 3.8L.
So for the past year it has done this off and on. Sometimes the gauges would go out while I was driving it, but after a few minutes come back on. Never really more than just being a headache and not being very reliable or dependable when I have young children to drive around. Last week I went to start it and it did the same thing again after not doing it for months. I did not let it die completely. After a few hours, still did not stay started. After a day, the same thing. The next the same. After a few days, I checked it and it was completely dead. Finally, when I went to try it again it was making this clicking sound and the interior lights were blinking like it was the battery. I had it jumped and it started without a problem. The next morning it was dead again with the same clicking sound. I had it charged and it ran all day. The only thing different was my gauge was out completely now where before it would only go out when I was driving. When I started driving it, it started sputtering some and jumping. I couldn't remember how much gas was in it since it had been a week almost. I stopped and got gas and it seemed to stop some. Then this morning while I drove a couple of miles it was just not acting right. I could feel it hesitating and sputtering a little, then it just cut off on me again. I thought it was dead, but it started back. I have not drove it anymore today. Before I could at least somewhat trust driving it because if it was fine for the first time that day, it usually would be alright all day. Now, it seems as if it's getting worse. When I had to have it jumped twice, I did check my battery, starter, and alternator, and all of those were fine.
I came across this post, with the same problems and model as my van. I cannot spend almost $1000 getting this fixed, but at least now knowing what it is, is some relief. But, now my concern is it getting worse. I am just hoping it is nothing else now. Does it still sound like the circuit board? If I bought one from a salvage yard, would I need to go to an electrical shop to replace it, or could almost any shop do that? Sorry for this being so long, but I've had so many cars and am just so frustrated that someone sold this van to me when I'm almost certain they knew what was going on. I really hope it's not anything else now.
Have you still this problem or may be you fix it??
I asked because I have exactly the same problem (T&C 2008 ).
"I have a Chrysler 2008 T&C. The thing is possessed. The horn goes on and stays on, the wipers kick on and the lights kick on all by themselves. Happens when I am driving it, making it dangerous to drive. It has also happened by me just hit the unlock button on the keyfab! I saw a few similar posts but didn't see any solid fixes... Please help, dealer can't figure it out!"
this week car would not start battery completly flat
charged it up started fine
next day flat agin
put battery charger on and alarm sounded hit open on key fob and alarm went off
charged all night not enough to turn over
removed battery charged agian (battery is charged) now when fitted to car absolutly nothing works no interior lights or anything its like the battery is not connected
is there a main fuse or something
is there a security anti theft i activated some how
any suggestions welcome ....please
I have been having a problem with my 2004 Grand Caravan. Any insight or suggestions that you may have are greatly appreciated.
The Problem:
- My head lights (and other lights) flicker. It's bad enough that at night I occasionally get people flashing their high-beams at me.
- This isn't an on/off left/right issue based on high beam/low beam usage etc that I have read about other people having problems with
- Here, the head lights are both still on but quickly go normal-dim-normal-dim etc. If I had to guess I'd say somewhere in the 5-15 cycles per second range.
- When this happens the dash lights flicker the same way. So too will the other interior lights if turned on
- One sure fire trigger for this is the left/right indicator signal. If I'm driving down the highway and signal to change lanes the flickering goes crazy. Once the turn signal is off, the flickering slowly decays/dies down. But this will still happen on it's own without using the signal.
- I can also get the flicker if I bring the RPMs up to 2000 to 3000 when parked in the driveway.
I bought the van used in 2007 and quickly experienced this problem. The dealer that I got it from replaced the alternator and cleaned up the fuse box connectors and the problem was fixed for a year or so and then it came back. Has anyone else experienced this? Is it an alternator problem/ voltage regulator problem ... are they that flakey? Or is the root cause something else that happens to putting too much of a load on the alternator and cooking it? I really do not want to be replacing the alternator every year or 2.
What I have done so far:
- cleaned the battery terminals
- removed and cleaned (contact cleaner etc) all relays and fuses from the block next to the battery
- removed and cleaned (contact cleaner etc) all wiring harness connectors to the under side of the fuse block
- removed and cleaned (contact cleaner etc) and "tweaked" the pins of the BCM on the front side of the fuse block
- inspected wiring where I could (certainly not 100%)
- removed head lights, cleaned contacts
- removed tail lights, clean contacts ... one interesting point here is that when I did this I found that while the tail light lenses look identical from the exterior, the inside was different. The drivers side has bulbs with square sockets (3057 bulbs) where as the passenger side has bulbs (and associated mounts) with round sockets (2057/1057). I was extremely surprised by this. I can only assume that the prior owner wrecked the passenger side tail light and picked up some cheap aftermarket one.
Still no luck.
Thanks,
Matt
To help narrow down the problem, can you ohm-out (check the continuity of) of the return from the headlights back to the negative terminal of the battery? That should read much less then 1 ohm. A similar test would be to back-probe the return pin at the connector to the headlight bulb with a voltmeter, and measure the voltage there when the headlights are on. It should be, at most a fraction of a volt. Anything more, and that's indicative of a higher than expected resistance in the return path.
Mini Van Dad
It makes no difference if the A/c is on or off.
Holding the trip odometer button in while shutting down the engine (and holding it until the diagnostics start up) gives a code of 400E. Then the gauges reset. When I restart things are normal but soon it all starts over again.
This has been going on for a year and the mechanics can't figure it out.
It would allow the car to start, then it shut down. So I would say there is a auto shut down error code being activated somewhere, perhaps by low-voltage.
Wait for a sunny week end and check every single ground connection you can find. Remove the bolt and sand the terminal and chassis connection. Check the ones on the motor mounts too. Be sure to disconnect the battery first! Doesn't cost anything except some time and while you're doing all this I bet you find other things too.
I can repair dash board problems similar to this:
The symptoms are intermittent starting problems.
It will not start for no reason whatsoever, then start fine a while later.
Sometimes it will start then die, start then die, and then not start.
When it won't start, there is no power to the starter and the dash gauges do not work, but the headlights work fine.
Please feel free to give my email address out to anyone who may need help with their board.
Hope to hear from you soon
Len