Dear Anyone Who Can Help,

I had the brilliant idea to replace my factory installed 1997 Dodge Grand
Caravan tape player with another factory installed 1997 Dodge Grand
Caravan tape player with cd player that I bought cheap on eBay. I had
never replaced a radio before, but figured it couldn't be too hard since
the "new" player was built to fit exactly into my car. I looked on the web
to see how to take the radio out of my car and learned where the screws
are. I successfully took off the plastic and all the securing screws. When
I took the radio out, I disconnected (in this order), the antenna, the
grounding wire, and the two wire plugs. I then attached the "new"
radio/tape/player (in this order): wire plugs, grounding wire, antenna.
When I turned on the power, nothing worked. I then I wondered if somehow I
had blown a fuse, so I checked the fuses, but everything was ok. I then
decided to put my original radio/tape player back in, thinking that maybe
the new radio/tape player/CD player either never worked to begin with or
that maybe it wasn't compatible with my car. I did it in the same order
that I did the other. Now my original one wasn’t working either! So I read
the web instructions that I had downloaded a bit more carefully and only
at this point did I realize that I should have disconnected the car battery
before removing the radio. I then disconnected the battery and tried the
whole process again, figuring it wouldn't really do any good, but also
thinking it could hurt at this point. Not surprisingly, it didn't help.
When I turn the car on and then turn on the radio (I have the original
back in), there is a quick powering click sound and then the radio goes
totally dead. I get this reaction only once. In order to get it again, I
have to turn the car off and then on again. Then I can get this reaction
once more. And so on and so on and so on...

When I looked on eBay again for another radio to install (hoping that the
radio was hurt in the process but not the car in general) I notice one
seller saying that he would send the VIN number with the radio so that the
local dodge dealer could get the security code when installing. Does that
have any relevance to my problem?

Fortunately, the air conditioning was not hurt in the process, but the
locking system was. Before I did this work, the electric door locks worked
whether the key was in the ignition or not. Now the electric door locks
work only when the key has teh battery engaged. I'm assuming that
happened because of the "work" I did, but I'm not sure.

So, here are my bottom line questions: Do you think that I blew the two
radios by going through the process I did as described? Or did I blow the
radios AND something in the car? Is my locking problem directly related to
what I did? If I blew something in the car, might it be as simple as a
fuse that I have not located? And If I blew the radios, do you suppose they are
beyond repair? Or might there be a fuse in the radios that I could replace
as well?

Thank you so much for putting up with my auto idiocy and the long list of
questions resulting from it.

Any advice would be MOST welcome!

 

I have a 94 Grand Caravan, and just replaced the radio a while back. Don't get insulted, but is it possible that you reversed the black and grey multi-pin plugs. I believe that they will physically interchange, but the electrical connections are way different. For instance, where the 12 volts "tries" to go in the radio, speaker connections, etc. If you did reverse them, all kinds of chaos probably would result!

Good luck
Roy

 

Hi..I just got a 1997 Cravan...same problem...radio wants to turn on then nothing...also no power door locks unless key is in run position...anyone know what causes this?

 

I'm not sure, but has anyone looked into whether the radio goes through the BCM? There might have been a problem created with this during the change. I've installed a cd-changer and radios in 2 different 97's without removing the battery ground and no problems, (But I may have just been lucky).

 

It's very wierd...when the car is shut off there is no power whatsoever...no interior dome lights, powerlocks, cigarette lighter...not even headlights. Nothing operates unless key is in run position. Radio is dead all the time.

 

It very well might be a failing ignition switch in that case.

 

I have a 99 caravan and had the same problem jerseyfred had, but I solved the problem by replacing the 10 amp fuse at the top of (the 10 amp fuse that looks out of place from the other 10 amp fuses)the fuse relay center in the engine bay. Hope this helps.

 

Pull the IOD fuse, in the front fuse case, for a few minutes. It may all work if you reboot the BCM.

 

What's IOD? I will also try bmc's suggetsion. Thanks

 

OK...opened underhood fusebox...pulled IOD fuse....left it out for a minute or two then reinserted

Sadly....no effect

SES light is on all the time...no code sent....just communication lost...also have flashing climate comtrol lights...tried to clear those...no luck either

Thanks anyway