I have an 03 grand caravan, 3.8, 75k miles. Battery is 4 months old. Got in the van yesterday to start it and nothing, no clicking, just dead. Worked fine with no issues the day before. Took the battery in and it's fine, which makes sense as the headlights are bright and all the insides of the car are functioning.

So I think it might be the starter so with a light tester i test the switch cable going into the starter and there's no juice when the key is turned, (the always hot cable going to the starter of course had current). We open on the relay box and can easily hear the accessory relay click when the key is turned but not the starter relay, so we switch them as they are the same relay, and I get the same result, acessory is clicking, the starter relay does not click, so I don't think it's the actual relay going bad...

Next we tested the current in the different contacts of the starter relay connection, we jumped the relay with our own little circuit breaker and the starter came to life when we turned the key, as if the car would start but the engine just cranks doesn't actually turn over, so something else is not letting the car start possibly or maybe its because it's not the real relay doing the work.

So I'm stumped... I don't have some special key, no alarm system other than the stock dodge panic button on the keyless.

One last bit of info, we shifted through the different gears and it appeared that the starter still got power in all the gears... That's not supposed to happen right? So Could it be like a neutral safety switch? if so, where is that thing?

Thanks so much.

 

I found this link which might be the same problem, I'll give it a shot.

https://dodgeforum.com/forum/dodge-c...-no-start.html

 

in case this helps anybody else out, I figured out it was the PCM (computer) which is covered under the emissions warranty... It had 79,500 miles on it. phew. Looks like the PCM goes bad on these often.