Body Control Module 98 Caravan-problem?

intermittent

Bill Putney (To reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my address with the letter 'x')

400 grand?? What are you talking about?

Your entire argument is based on the idea that changing the mileage constitutes fraud because it affects the value of the vehicle.

You don't seem to understand that changing the mileage of a 250,000 mile car to 200,000 miles does not affect it's value because to Kelly Blue Book, the warranty companies, and everyone else, a vehicle is used up at 150K miles. (or 170K miles or whatever arbitrary mileage cutoff they determine)

In other words, beyond a certain mileage it makes no difference what the vehicle mileage is in terms of valuation of the vehicle. Thus, you cannot committ fraud if you were to change the mileage of a

280K mile vehicle to 200K miles because it won't affect the value.

In any case, if you want to talk about fraud let's talk about who the largest committers of vehicle resale fraud are. Vehicle dealers, that's who:

"...An estimated 500,000 cars were damaged by hurricanes last year. Unfortunately, many of these vehicles have been purchased by dishonest AUTO DEALERS, cleaned up and then sold, with their flood damage history illegally hidden, according to the Insurance Information Institute (I.I.I.)...."

Seems to me that unless Chrysler requires the BCM to be returned and they plug it in and obtain the mileage from it, (in which case there's no need for mileage figures to be written down on the paperwork that is sent with it) before programming the new one, and they program the new one ONLY to the mileage the pulled out of the old BCM, that this is like having the fox in charge of the henhouse.

I don't see that changing the mileage on a high mileage car to another high mileage figure is of any consequence or is fraudulent.

Ted

That's always your answer. In other words if you don't like abortion since it's currently the rule to allow it, you would not consider any discussion to change it and would tell people arguing to change it to shut up and go away.

Ted

Your assuming the operator of the software is a diagnostician and not a parts-changer.

I've watched this kind of thing happen in my business, computer networks, and there's so many parallels to the auto industry it's like the are the same industry. Every year the diagnostic software to find problems gets more and more advanced, has more and more features, and in the hands of a competent tech, can find problems faster and faster. However every year, the numbers of competent techs shrink. The techs get lazy and figure that the software is so smart that they don't have to learn how the systems work anymore since the software will do it for them. And the software gets so much more complex to use that it takes a lot longer to learn how to use all the features, and so the techs once again get lazy and just learn to use a couple of features of the software and don't really take advantage of it.

In any case I really don't understand why the $4K software is required. There's plenty of horsepower available in even the cheap embedded computers today that the automakers should be able to put all the diagnostic stuff right in the car computer, and an Ethernet jack under the dash, and you plug in your laptop, fire up a web browser, and access the car computer and you have all the same stuff as you get from the $4K scanner.

Ted

First of all I'm not arguing. And this is my last reply on this. I simply replied to the OP how the mileage has to be set into the BCM and stated that was a guideline that we had to follow, you are the one that twisted it into a "value of the vehicle" Once again, a little common sense is needed on your last post about the dealers buying and selling used vehicles.

Unscrupulous salvage operators and dealers often try to conceal the fact that the vehicles they are selling have been damaged by a natural disaster,

The word dealer...... Means just that:Dealer Noun

1. Someone who purchases and maintains an inventory of goods to be sold.

1. A firm engaged in trading.

I cant find anywhere where it says NEW CAR DEALER?

Have a nice Christmas

Glenn

I just had the BCM replaced in a 1996 Granbd Voyager, and when I went to pick it up, I noticed some different behavior and I was wondering if you could give me some advice.

When I open the door the "dinging" goes off like I have my lights on even though they are off.

When I start the car, turn the lights on then turn the car off--- I turn off the lights and the parking lights stay on for a number of minutes--- It used to be the head lights.

There are a couple of other things that are quirky, My question is could the part be

installed incorrectly? Programmed incorrectly?

I have more problems caused by the BCM going out

Thanks

Tom

I don't have the original thread but do see my last post stating that your lucky that's the only problem you got. Did you swap out a BCM with another vehicle or get this one thru Chrysler?

Glenn

well I didn't learn Parg in school , I have no idea what that means. If it is from another vehicle that was swapped you may have caused more problems then you had to begin with as I said before. And before you can continue to repair the problem you will need to install the correct BCM and may also have to replace any other module that has learned what the BCM requested.

Glenn

are there not laws that say that a vehicle's odometer actually has to be accurate rather than some made-up number?....not arguing, just asking as i don't live in usa.

My understanding is that the law recognizes that it is not always technically practical to correct an odometer or computer that stores the mileage (in fact you it makes it illegal to turn an odometer back) - so rather than force you to scrap the car or put you in jail, it allows you to sell it with the error as long as you disclose the error and the true mileage to a potential buyer. I think most states (in the U.S.) allow you to report the error on the title - in fact it may be required that you do so.