Hey everyone im new to the forums. Ive been trying to figure out why the MIL light stays on at all times even when the key is out of the ignition.. I tried to see if it has been shorted out but could not find anything. I saw a wiring diagram from a repair manual I got from the auto parts store and the wire that goes to the light which is ground wire comes from the ECM... Just need a little help. Do I need a new ECM?

 

Wow, that's crazy. You take out the key and the Check Engine light stays on? That seems impossible.

It might help if we knew what kind of car your talking about (year, make, model)????

 

My bad. Its a 2001 Dodge caravan with a 3.8 litre..

 

What would happen if you unplug the PCM, and plug it back in after a few mins.

 

Dont know. I will try to unplug it tomorrow and see what happens..

 

More than likely the issue is going to be with the cluster. Once powered down, everything should shut off. Weather the PCM is telling it to turn on or not, once power is removed from the cluster, it should stop communicating on the bus and go to sleep. Probably some type of internal short.

 

will a 99 cluster work on a 2001 caravan??
just dont want to replace the cluster with a new one and find out that it was the ecm since the get go..
i can get a used 99 cluster. if it will work with it then i will get a new cluster for the 2001 caravan.. thanks

 

I don't think so, they look totally different.

 

I unpluged the ecm and the light was still on....

 

It's still most likely a cluster issue.