My neighbor, Bob, & I are keeping 5 vehicles going to get our kids thru college & save $ by doing it ourselves...we call it JoeBob's garage.
One of the vehicles is a 2000 Grand Caravan SE, 3.3L. The battery died last week but charged up OK being fairly new. The alternator was the next option since we have no charge voltage at the battery. It's a b.... to get out, but tested OK at Auto Zone.
We have since discovered that the voltage reg. is in the ECM! All it does is put a ground on the field winding to 'turn-on' the alternator. The wiring between the alt. and auto shut down [asd] relay is good. The relay is OK since everything else works; we also have continuity for the other wire[green] to pin 8 of the ECM.
We are now faced with $350 for a rebuilt ECM [auto zone], $210 for a 'pre-programmed' ECM [PCM?] from an internet rebuild co., or simply installing a separate voltage regulator.
We'd appreciate any suggestions or recommendations you may have.

Thanks, JoeBob

 

I would purchase one from online like rockauto.

 

For around $25 you can install an external voltage regulator. Do a search on it in this forum.

 

Thanks for the input. As fate would have it, we reassembled everything and it now charges great. In electronics, it's what we call "FM". Too many times this happens & and it's a shame because the same thing happens at the auto shop, but the mech. has to make $, so he replaces an expensive item unnecessarily and everyone is happy.
We'll keep an eye on it & go the voltage reg. route if it fails again.