for about a year every once in awhile, the dvd screen would go white. Turn the car off then back on, problem solved. fast foward to now. got a code p0032 code. then a day or two after, the car dies as if you shut the key off after the car got to normal operating temperture. Put the car in park, turn everything off she starts right up as nothing happens. The second time this happened I threw obd tester on and I got another code p0700. The tranny has NO problems. So I changed the upsteam oxegen sensor which looked fine, cleared both codes and no more than 15 min I got a p0038 code. the downstream sensor. I cleared the code a few times and then the car dies more often now and doesnt start right away. This happens when I,m at a stop then go, driving at high speeds, and now in the driveway not even driving. I get no codes anymore. Battery is not original but about 2 years old, I disconnected the battery for about 20 min. after I reconnected I turned the to on and I got the dashboard flickering all of the lights on the dash most notably the red dot, upper right corner. so I just said the heck with it turned the ignition and NO problems. fast foward 8 hours later, I took a 1 hour drive, lights on dvd on a/c full blast,(just as the conditions were when they happened) then the dvd player stopped for about 10 seconds came on with sound and white screen. I shut the car on then off screen restored. Any Ideas? all the fuses and relays seem to be good.
Thanks in advance

 

I've read several threads on this and other forums over the years involving symptoms similar to yours caused by damaged wiring and they seem to be getting more common. This could involve power, ground, or data bus wiring.

Simple stuff first. Have the battery load tested. Make sure the connections are clean and tight. The electronics on these vans are sensative to corrosion and unstable voltages. Next try to induce problems with a wiggle test on any wire harnesses routed on top and bottom of the engine and transmission especially where they run close to the exhaust or structure. Include the O2 sensor harness. Try the harnesses leading into the fuse box (IPM) and PCM. Induced nothing? Now it gets tedious.

On those same wire harnesses inspect them inch by inch looking for burned, melted, poked, chaffed areas. When you find it tear the insulation appart and inspect individual wires for any signs of damage. There is a wire harness routed under the battery tray that is infamous for battery acid damage. Still nothing? Disconnect the negative battery cable then inspect the connections on the IPM looking for corrosion or damage. Nothing? Remove the IPM and access the internal circuit board. If you see corrosion there replace the IPM. The IPM is a known corrosion magnet. Do you have power sliding doors? Inspect the wire harness in the channel at the bottom of the door. The data bus controls door commands. Data bus wiring shorting to ground or even just plagued by high resistance can effect anything connected to it including instrument displays and the engine management system. Oh and your entertainment system. Another trouble spot is the power connection from the battery to the IPM. Make sure it is clean and tight. Wouldn't hurt to reseat it. Just make sure the negative battery cable is disconnected and isolated.

 

Ok day 2. First just one thing. When you go into Autozone and you see people wearing red shirts and some wearing gray. Go to the grey. The people in the red shirts are like the old Star Trek episodes. You knew the guys in the red shirts were gonna die.... The red shirts at autozone are well... I wont be mean just read on.

So when this happened, I checked the battery, I got 12.63 volts. Lights worked perfect, no dimming of any sort. So I bring the battery into autozone to be checked. Red shirt puts it on his little machine and says its good. 83% battery good. So then I tell Red Shirt "Ok I know that, now put a load on it, Maybe I've got a bad cell." Thats when the "blank stare" came into play and he reverted to pionting back at machine and saying its "but the tester says its good." So he punches the buttons again and Ta Daaa. 73% bad battery. It turns out the battery was just shy of 4 years old. A buddy at work told me a similar story with 5 new batteries be replaced in a day. Just a Bad Batch and a tech who assumed it couldn't be untill his boss stepped in.I put the battery in and so far it cranked right up. Jiggled the key to see if I could duplicate the problem and I couldn't. So the next step being the pesimest that I am, I'll take it in to get the alternator check tomoorow just in case and will take the car to work tonight and keep my fingers crossed. Thank you for taking the time to respond. And One note for anyone else reading this. I am a helicopter mechanic with a preference in avionics. In my 12 years of experience I would never of dreamed that this problem would be as simple as a bad cell in the battery with all of the symtoms that I had.

 

26 years as an avionics tech on F-111, F117 in the Air Force. If I could I'd shake your hand. Could Loach160 be associated with an OH6 Cayuse chopper?

Happy to hear it may have been as simple as the battery. Hope that's the final word.

 

welcome to the wonderful world of automobiles.... I think the auto industry is getting far more advanced and delicate to electronics than any other machine...

 

ok the pessimist in me won. 5 min after I went to work it died. So tonight I pull the mommy mobile in the Man Cave and trace wires. Something interesting Happened though, I stuck my hand down in the pit of wires around the pcm and the car magically came to life. Only thing that baffles me I put the obdll reader and I got the code p0700 which is tranny probs.

Long live the OH-6 loach

 

Ok I started tonight and removed the Battery. Then I noticed that the Positive cable was partly fused into a drain line from the wiper assembly. maybe this caused the ASD relay to turn on and shut the car down? tomorrow I get the new cable and hope for the best.

 

I changed the pos and neg cable and I haven't had the car die in three days. I still get the front oxygen sensor code even though I changed it. But Im gonna blame that on the ethonol in the gas