Having weird electrical problems with Dodge Caravan?

Answer 1

This answer relates to a 2000 Dodge Caravan but applies to all Caravans with the same body style. (also, please note that there's a clockspring recall that causes the airbag light to come on and horn not to work including other electrical glitches). If your Caravan has been experiencing wierd electrical problems like intermittently losing your wipers, power door locks, speedometer needle, radio power, weak battery ticking on start-up etc. (any of which may be happening independently or in combination with other symptoms), and you can sometimes remedy this by restarting your vehicle or resetting the computer (which is only a temporary fix) take these steps: 1. Test your car battery in the morning after leaving the car parked all night. Buy a cheap voltmeter at Lowes and set the knob to DC at the closest setting to 12 volts (for best accuracy). On mine (a Sperry model for $15.00) 20 is the closest setting. Test your battery with the car engine off by putting the black cable probe on the negative terminal and the red cable probe on the positive side. You should get a reading of 12.5-12.8. If your battery is reading less than 12 volts get it tested at Autozone or Advance Auto who will run a full diagnostic test (they test it for free and you don't have to take it out of your car either). If the age of your battery is unknown or over 5 years and suspect buy a new one. Recharging a shot battery doesn't hold a charge for long and will continue giving you problems. 2. Clean your battery cables and terminals. Disconnect both battery cables and clean out the terminals and battery clamps with a metal wire tooth brush or abrasive paper regardless how clean they may look. My positive cable side looked clean as new till I disconnected it and found it all plugged up with battery crud inside which was causing a poor electrical connection. Funny thing is the negative cable was clean when I pulled it for diagnostics so I assumed the other side was good too and almost didn't bother to check it. Don't trust outward appearance. 3. Test your alternator to see if its working or not: Turn on your car and put the voltmeter back on the battery. It should have a reading of 13-14+ volts which indicates that the alternator is charging the battery. If you see no change in voltage then pull the negative cable off while the car is running. If the engine turns off your alternator is shot and that's why your battery is getting drained. You can recharge your battery after replacing the alternator. The solution to all these electrical problems went away in my 2000 Caravan after buying a new battery and cleaning out the terminals. The reason you need to test your battery in the morning is because after letting the car sit all night you can better diagnose if the battery is bad, whereas if you drive around somewhere just before testing it the battery will hold a temporary higher volt charge because the alternator was just charging it. You'd think once the alternator kicked in you shouldn't have electrical glitches when driving but Caravans do for some reason. Maybe the BCM bugs out when the battery is too weak to store its settings and values. Who knows. But try this before going crazy changing out the ignition and BCM (computer) or looking for a shorted wire. Good luck.