My wifes 08 Grand Caravan has been acting up lately. Tonight the airbag light stayed on the whole time I was out, and randomly the gauges would go crazy, the wipers would sweep, the headlights would flash, and all of the dash lights would flash also. A couple of times the radio/media screen went off. The alert chime was going off the whole time also. When I was stopped and I tried to close the side door and the rear hatch with the key fob, they would start to close, but stop in the middle and reopen. Is this all related? Has anyone had a similar issue? Apparently there is a wire in the drivers door that can cause some of these issues, but my wife unplugged the harness and it still continued. I don't know where to look, especially with so much going on. Thanks for your help.
PB

 

Check your battery and battery connections. Weak batteries cause all kinds of weird electrical issues.

 

Battery is fine.

 

So the battery passed a load test with flying colors correct?

The TIPM, your fuse box, always enters the conversation anytime multiple electrical problems pop up on 5th generation vans. It's been the center of attention on recalls and class action lawsuits concerning stalling and lights issues. I've seen it mentioned as a fix for problems similar to yours. All you can do is inspect the bottom connections. If you're the adventurous type you can take it apart and inspect the circuit cards for damage or corrosion. Other than that you have to consider the instrument cluster. It does far more than control the gauges. It's the communications hub for the CAN data bus that"talks to" every electronic module on the van. Besides visual inspections or shake tests there's little a DIYer can do. To troubleshoot it specific test equipment is needed.

Thought I was done but forgot this. Another place to look is the wire harness in the power sliding doors. Actually it's in a cavity in the chassis next to the bottom of the door. That CAN data bus I mentioned runs through that harness to get to the door module in the door. If those wires chaff and short your cluster can go crazy, among other things.

 

My brief test of the battery showed 12.6 volts at rest. It dropped to 11 volts when cranking, and then once the alternator kicked in went up to 13.6. I disconnected the battery for a couple of hours, and so far everything has been fine for the past couple of days. We're starting the drive back home today, so hopefully everything works for the next few days. Thanks for the help. I'll have to look into what I can when we get home.

 

You have a BUS fault somewhere. 2008 model is plagued with issues like this.

 

Have you researched the tipm. Its the box with all the fuses. Ive been reading about it since i have the same problem. I havent changed it yet. If you find a different solution can you let me know please.