My wife went out to start our 2007 Grand Caravan SXT today and nothing happened. My wife was able to jump start it, but when she turned it off it would not start again. I checked it out and the battery is fully charged, registering 12.8 volts. When you turn the key to on, the speedometer and tach go all the way to the other side then slowly go back to zero. When I turned the key it clicked once, then when I tried it again it made no sound whatsoever. The odometer is on when you open the door without the key being in, although it doesn't give the right number. Any ideas?? thanks in advance!!

 

starter? The odometer should come on when you open the door. Have someone hold the key to start and see if you have power to the yellow / gray wire at the starter (solinoid wire, smaller one), if you do, the starter should be cranking.

 

I'll check that tomorrow - but I have some more info now: when I crank it there is a clicking sound that comes from the front of the engine compartment, sounds like it's coming from a little box that the negative cable is attached to down on the back of the engine. If you hold the key in the start position it clicks about once or twice per second, pretty loudly. When I tried it earlier it was clicking like that when the key was just in the on position, I've never seen that happen before, and whenever I would turn it on the check engine light would flash 10 times, with it clicking all the while, but there are no trouble codes stored. now it's not doing that, but it does click when you turn it to the start position, and will keep clicking as long as you hold the key on.

 

If as you say the car starts with a jump, it's a pretty good sign you have a battery problem. Clicking relays and erratic instruments are another. If the connectons are clean and tight I would have the battery load tested. A static 12.8 vdc doesn't tell the whole story.

 

Tomorrow I'll start off by taking the battery to autozone for testing and clean the terminals with a battery brush. then check to see if I can find any loose wires if the battery checks out OK. if that doesn't do it, I'll think about plan B.

 

by the way - what is that boxy object that the neg cable attaches to with a bolt?

 

I took the battery to autozone and it was bad, got a new battery and everything works good now. only problem is the service engine soon light on my 2002 Mustang GT came on while I was going to autozone.