Yeah, another FNG has surfaced with vehicle issues... my apologies in advance.

Anyhow, I was unfortunate enough to hit a deer with my '06 Grand Caravan SXT in early December. I literally caught him in mid-air so that he cleared my bumper but my grille, headlights and leading edge of the hood wound up cradling him for a short distance. The hit pushed my grille and radiator back, cracking the housing to my alternator, smashing the A/C condenser and putting a split in the neck of the radiator overflow bottle.

For about a month before the accident, it had an intermittent CEL for the charging system (P0562). With the cold weather, I would have to periodically jump start it. Otherwise, it ran fine.

I was surprised to be getting it back right before Christmas. With the 15 & 25mph speed limits between here and the shop, I did a lot of coasting coming back through town and didn't notice any irregularities. I figured the CEL was still on because of the charging code.

After Christmas, I was headed further out of town where the speed limits open up to 35 & 40 and noticed it wasn't shifting. So I swung by Autozone to learn that it was throwing three new codes in addition to the first. Those codes are as follows:

P0700 -- Transaxle system fault

P0750 -- Low reverse solenoid circuit

P0755 -- 2/4 solenoid circuit fault

Is it possible that this is a result of the accident? Or is it just dumb bad luck and a horrible coincidence on the timing of events?

Shop claimed there were no broken wires, yet I found the electronic corrosion prevention module that used to be mounted on the side of the driver's headlight disconnected with a broken harness behind the headlight along with a few fragments from the old headlight lens. So I'm skeptical...

Neither AutoZone nor Advance Auto are able to obtain a new TCM. AutoZone manager said that the computer could be on it's way out, leading to all four codes. I'm stumped.

Any thoughts and advice are greatly appreciated.


EDIT -- For what it's worth, it has approximately 118k on the odometer.

 

i think the pcm is located behind the bumper and i bet it got effected by the hit. but i check all the obvious. maybe if possible get a donor pcm that could match from a scrap yard.

 

Just to clarify, on 4th generation vans starting in 2004 the TCM was done away with and combined with the PCM as one box. The concept was called the Next Generation Computer or NGC but Chrysler still calls it the PCM. You should be ordering a PCM. It's mounted behind the driver's headlight and accessed from the wheel well. Pull the plastic well liner back and you should see it up forward.

 

Thanks for the input, guys. I haven't done anything more than to confirm the location of the module inside the driver's wheel well towards the front, behind the splash guard. Seeing that there's a 50/50 shot of it being related to the accident (and therefore insurance covering it), I opted to have another shop check it out instead of blowing the chance completely by sinking my teeth into it myself. Unfortunately, it meant waiting until tomorrow for an appointment. I'll keep you posted with their findings.

 

The local service center confirmed that the PCM wasn't communicating properly. Down side is that they can't replace it because they're not a dealership. So now I have to have it towed about 30 miles to the nearest one. But in speaking with both locations, they said it wasn't unusual for an impact to cause such PCM issues. My fingers are crossed...

 

Yup you're probably stuck with dealing with the dealership for an insurance claim, but PCMs can be had for as little as $150 off the internet, reprogrammed and ready to install.