I inherited my folks Caravan when they got a new one and it's having some issues. I was wondering if anyone could possibly give me ideas about what could be wrong with it.

At first the headlights were messed up: left would come on on start up, then the right one ( left turned off) when I turned my lights on, then if I put my highs on the left came on again ( right would go off). My boyfriend's father, who is a heavy duty mechanic, merely rigged them to work instead of finding the problem saying he couldn't figure it out. Now it gets fun:

1) the horn goes off intermittently
2) the lights flash sometimes only once sometimes continuously especially if the horn decides to continue to bleat ( when they both go off like that, it sounds like I hit the panic button, I pull over, disconnect the battery for a few minutes and that sets it right. sometimes for the day, sometimes for a couple minutes before things starting acting up again)
3) the wipers for the front window go off occasionally
4) the washer fluid for the back window runs down ( incidentally, the back wiper doesn't work)
5) my heater would go on and off, even if turned off. Now it's completely dead ( think that's either a fuse or the blower though)
6) my radio is suddenly dead ( fuse problem too? cd player on it hasn't worked for a while)

With the exception of the heater and radio, my boyfriend thinks the problem is the FCM and has thought it that since it was just the lights misbehaving, which I'm leaning towards as well. His father thinks it isn't that.

It's getting looked at again by said father but I was wondering if anyone has any ideas? Is it the FCM or another thing or two?

Thanks in advance. Much appreciated.

Mattie - owner of the Haunted Jalopy

 

The light issue is spread terminals between the FCM and the PDC. The female terminals in the PDC spread so as to not make contact. Sometimes you can repair them by moving the contact piece of the terminal back with a pick, other times you have to replace the PDC.

Radio could be just the radio itself

Heater running by itself I've only heard of when the vehicle has auto temp.

Rear wiper is probably the wiper motor itself and the fluid does just run down the window.

Front wiper issue is probably the multifunction switch.

Horn issue I'm not aware of, could be a clock spring shorting out.......hard to say, not a common issue.

Blower motors and resistor failure is quite common for the blower not working at all.

 

You can add the heater and radio to the FCM list. It controls the ground to the front and rear blower relay coils and the radio speaker relay coil. Both the PDC (fuse box) and the FCM have been problem areas for Chrysler minivan owners mainly due to corrosion and poorly designed contacts as Tizzy1 stated. I've seen some nasty pictures showing badly corroded connections on the bottom of the PDC. There are internal circuit boards that corrode to the point all that can be done is change the PDC. Not cheap. Well worth a look. Disconnect the battery first.

FYI - The Integrated Power Module (IPM) is your fuse box. It's made up of the Power Distribution Center (PDC) and the Front Control Module (FCM). The combination is called the IPM.

One more thing. Make sure your battery and connections is up to the task. I've read more than a few threads where someone is having all kinds of electrical problem only to find a weak battery or even just tighten a battery connection even though it wasn't loose.These electrical systems are sensative to erratic voltages.

Some different symptoms though similar, these may be something to consider:
http://forum.chryslerminivan.net/sho...cal-Components
http://forum.chryslerminivan.net/sho...ctrical-Issues

 

I didn't have the same problem you're having. But my 01 GC had alot of electrical problems, including:
turnsignals not working
dead dash
etc...

I did alot of reading on the web, and found people struggling on these kinds of problems... solution was a mixed and sounded very expensive, but the connections on the bottom of the fuse box (under the hood on the drivers side) seemed to solve many of the complaints. Some reported having to replace the fuse box.

I checked into mine... remove the battery, and the box will flip over into the battery tray area. I cleaned all the connections and I saw some immediate improvement, but still not solid working... so I knew I had issues there. I cleaned all the connections very well, but still not good enough. I finally ordered a new fuse box (no one in the junkyards had a good one - tells you something right there). I got it mail order, about $275 (about $100 off local dealer pricing). Very easy to switch out, and it immediately fixed all the problems.

So I'd say start by cleaning all those connections under there and see if any change happens, if it does you might just be better of getting a new fuse box.