BCM or something else?
I saw a post with someone stating almost exactly my current problem, except the thread has 12 pages and start date was 2008. Hard to read everything. One thing that is super frustrating is when people post incomplete information about the vehicle they are asking about!! "I have a vue" is not enough people!! Please state type, year, etc. before posting the problem! I don't want to read a long post about a car with auto transmission.
Anyway, mine is a 2003 VUE, 2.2L, manual, and 4 cyl. This year, I replaced the starter, the catalytic, alternator and last, the transmission. I just can't afford to get anything else now and I really love the interior and exterior! When the alternator went, my dashboard lights went on and off, steering (which is electric) would fail while driving and would not accelerate. The alternator replacement seemed to fix this. Except, the first day I drove it, the lights flashed on and off, and did not happen again. I figured the computer was resetting or something. Lights flashing happened again months later while driving over 70. But not always. Now, when driving one night for over 30 minutes or so, the dashboard went crazy blinking, inside lights blinked, check engine lt came on and stayed on. I panicked completely fearing it would stall. Did not seem to lose power but the steering went for a while. After the car was off for about an hour, it started fine, steering fine, check engine lt still on. It does not happen when driving to/from work (less than 30 min drive) but it happened on Halloween after driving over 25 min, check engine lt came on again (i had it checked and turned off after codes said lost comm with bcm). Drove fine next day and engine lt went off by itself. My mechanic needs to hire a freelance guy who does electric diagnostics and charge $150 just to see where the electric problem is. If it was a short, why will it happen only when car running over 30 min? if it is a ground issue, again why act up after some time of driving? Should I bypass the diagnostics and go straight to buying a bcm to replace current one? Or, could it be something simple? I just want this car to last until I retire next year without too much extra fixing! Help!
Anyway, mine is a 2003 VUE, 2.2L, manual, and 4 cyl. This year, I replaced the starter, the catalytic, alternator and last, the transmission. I just can't afford to get anything else now and I really love the interior and exterior! When the alternator went, my dashboard lights went on and off, steering (which is electric) would fail while driving and would not accelerate. The alternator replacement seemed to fix this. Except, the first day I drove it, the lights flashed on and off, and did not happen again. I figured the computer was resetting or something. Lights flashing happened again months later while driving over 70. But not always. Now, when driving one night for over 30 minutes or so, the dashboard went crazy blinking, inside lights blinked, check engine lt came on and stayed on. I panicked completely fearing it would stall. Did not seem to lose power but the steering went for a while. After the car was off for about an hour, it started fine, steering fine, check engine lt still on. It does not happen when driving to/from work (less than 30 min drive) but it happened on Halloween after driving over 25 min, check engine lt came on again (i had it checked and turned off after codes said lost comm with bcm). Drove fine next day and engine lt went off by itself. My mechanic needs to hire a freelance guy who does electric diagnostics and charge $150 just to see where the electric problem is. If it was a short, why will it happen only when car running over 30 min? if it is a ground issue, again why act up after some time of driving? Should I bypass the diagnostics and go straight to buying a bcm to replace current one? Or, could it be something simple? I just want this car to last until I retire next year without too much extra fixing! Help!
0