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Caravan Electrical Ghost?

Never ceases to amaze me how one car in this house gets fixed, another goes down...

My mother's Caravan (I think it's a '96 or '97, at most a '98) has a new problem: seemingly at random while the car is on, every analog guage goes dead, every digital display on the dash wipes out and virtually every warning light comes on (oil, seatbelt, check engine, ABS, etc.). There's no change in the performance of the car though - no limp home mode, no rough running, you have have no spedo, tac, gas guage, etc.

It has been to the dealer twice. The first time they said there were all sorts of error codes on all 6 computers, and that tracking it down would be quite the task (aka expensive). They reset the codes, test-drove the car, and no problems. Got it back and no less than 24 hours later the same exact problem occurs. They've had it for 48 hours and said they'd reset the codes again and try test-driving it themselves - during a phone conversation with them earlier today, it was pretty clear they had not taken the vehicle out though. Still no sign of the ghost.

Needless to say this is something I'd prefer to track down myself rather than have them do it, but I'm a little stumped as to the source of the failure - it seems to me if there's a problem with one of the computers, the techs should have been able to spot that right away, or at the very least the performance of the car would have been affected. Same goes for a short or something I'd imagine.

Wondering if this could also be a problem from previous repairs; the ABS on the van has been serviced several times in the last year or so for problems, and the other month the gas tank sensor went bad and had to be replaced.

Anyone got some advice on where to begin looking?

Reply to
Dennis Busse
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There are several ground connections on the van that I would check first given that multiple systems appear to be affected simultaneously. I believe the service manual points these out in one schematic.

Matt

Reply to
Matthew S. Whiting

Reply to
mic canic

My first thought is the ignition switch. If everything that requires the ignition switch to be on goes off then perhaps that's the problem. My neighbor had to replace his Honda Civic's ignition switch and was told it was because of a key chain with loads and loads of keys putting stress on it.

Reply to
David Allen

I have a 1996 Town & Country. Last year, the radio could suddenly shut itself off for no reason. Then the ABS warning light would go off suddenly and rendomly. I sent it back to the dealer. They could not find any thing but reset the codes. The problem did not go away, but more bad things happen, the battery seemed disappered for a fraction of a second while the car was running. However, that gave me a hint that the problem might come from the battery. Finally, I decided to check the battery myself. That was it. The battery terminals were very dirty. I cleaned them up and hooked them back TIGHT. The problem was gone since. Hope this may help. Gary "David Allen" ¦b¶l¥ó news:WW5cb.1293$ snipped-for-privacy@twister.socal.rr.com ¤¤¼¶¼g...

Reply to
G Lam

Over the last few days, people wrote in ten foot tall digital flames:

[snip responses]

1) Gonna try to check the ground connections this weekend. I haven't had the car to check the manual or the connections yet, but that's the first place I want to look.

2) I wish I had a scantool :) Anything that can't be fixed with basic equipment is gonna have to be a shop deal.

3) Shouldn't be a problem with heavy keys killing the ignition switch through the weight, but I'll put that doesn as something to check.

4) Checked the battery terminals for crud and they're fine. It's also not likely the battery as it was replaced last year.

However, the progression of symptoms sounds similar - first the radio began to have issues, and now the whole dash is basically cutting out.

Regarding re-occurance of the problem, it's been out two days, including a trip to NY and so far no problems. We're pretty much at this point just trying to figure out if this problem is happening in response to a certain stimuli - ie, hitting a bump in the road, primarily highway or city driving, gas tank at certain level, etc.

Another thing - it's not the factory radio in there - my father installed a new audio package in the car. Personally I think it's something my father has screwed up or a wire wore or something, but I haven't told him that yet. (His handiwork isn't quite 100% perfect). Is it possible for a short or dropped wire there to affect the dash in such a manner (vs just blowing a fuse or shorting just the radio)?

Reply to
Dennis Busse

my dad's 90 Imperial has a digital panel, and it goes blank occasionally, and then comes back on. it's just the panel, the info center at the roof, and the radio and everything work fine. probably a wire short somewhere.

it shows every light, because it thinks it just got turned on.

took it to the dealership about a year ago, they couldn't find anything wrong. the outages used to run to 10 minutes or longer, now they usually stay under 10 seconds.

not gonna spend a lot of time or money figuring out what's wrong with it, since the passenger doors got crushed by some stupid woman in a new Cadilac. thought the stop sign only applies to cars costing under 25 grand, I guess? we'll get rid of the car in a few months. right now, it's used for a twice a week 120 mile commute. racking up around 11k miles every 6 months.

Reply to
Whatevah

Reply to
frerichs

The connections have all been taken care of; problem is still there. Interestingly enough, the car also started having problems starting in the last few days; the shop diagnosed a bad starter, but it seems a little too unusual that this problem's popped up just a week or two after the instrument cluster began acting up. Anyone got any ideas on that?

Original problem: Analog and digital guages cut out apparently at random; seatbelt, airbag, ABS, engine light all come on. At first it looked like this was happening every 6 days, but it missed the last cycle. Car continued to run normally until yesterday - no rough idle, no hestitation/stalling.

New development: Car did not want to start, also apparently random (wouldn't work first few times, would then work fine, run, stop, start fine again, run, stop, not work). Shop claims bad starter (replaced @ $200 cost).

- D

Reply to
Dennis Busse

idle,

Bad ignition switch???

Reply to
Steve Newman

Well, when the dash dies, my mother has tried jiggling the keys (assuming the ignition switch has a loose connection or something) but that has no effect, so unless the ignition switch went bad in another way. The real problem is the shop is basically telling us they can't track down the problem; all 6 computers are throwing all sorts of codes, and worse, this problem can't be replicated. There doesn't seem to be anything that specifically causes the dash to die - it just randomly happens, usually when the car is being driven, but it's all random during that.

If it is a bad switch, is there an easy way to check it?

Reply to
Dennis Busse

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