Very strange. Both vans with dead battery.
Background: very hot, humid weather here in the East
Yesterday, my 99 Voyager 2.4 refused to start after sitting at a YMCA parking lot for about an hour. (My teenage daughter had the car.) I went out there and the headlights would not light, and when the ignition switch was turned, all we heard was a bunch of rapid clicking from what sounded like several relays. Speedometer needle oscillated wildly during this.
I was able to jump start it, and the battery was very old, so I figured a new battery would fix it. So I got a new battery, and that van runs fine.....for now.
TODAY, my wife was driving our 94 Caravan 2.5 stick shift, stopped at a convenience store in the afternoon, and when she tried to start it, it was dead...no headlights, no nothing. It has a long-life battery bought just last November. I took the newer van, with the brand new battery, and jump started her, but the first time I disconnected the jumper cable, the old van died. I jumped it again, let it run for about 10 minutes, disconnected it, and it stayed running, I reconnected it for a while, to hopefully charge it more, then disconnected it and we high-tailed both vans home (a few blocks away), because it was too late in the day to go to a repair shop. When we got home, my wife turned the engine off, and the old van would not restart.
We have had no check-engine or service-engine-soon lights flash on.
What's going on here? Both vans have bad alternators? Both vans have bad regulators? Both vans have bad connections or bad computers? Both vans have loose belts that I don't detect? Is the brand new battery in the newer van going to die out because it's not being charged? Is the relatively new battery in the older van really dead, or is it not getting charged by the (bad?) alternator. And what role does this hot, humid weather play in this?
I need advice. It's Friday night, and we really need at least one van on Monday!
HELP!