Two fobs don't work, Caravan is dead
 

Fobs don't work, must unlock the door with the key. Door lock buttons on the door panel will lock and unlock the doors.
Fobs turn in the ignition, but car is dead. No red lights on the panel, no flashing red light, nothing.
Interior lights work, I tried jumping to no avail.
Called an auto key locksmith, he said if the fobs turn but no red light comes on, it has to be electrical.
Hopefully someone can help me.
Thanks, Mac

Get it towed to a Dodge dealership for repair. There is no other good option.

Pull the negative off the battery [re-set screem module & PCi bus] for more than 20 minutes, reconnect, then :

- does the car start ?
- do the fobs lock & unlock ?

That was the cure, sir. Did you really mean minutes? I disconnected the negative cable for 30 seconds or more and everything is back to normal. Thanks!

It will lock up again. Plan on a SKIM/WIN/WCM...whatever year yours is. It may be 2 days, a week, a month but it will happen again.

Not the best route but if you can't afford a dealer visit and the problem only happens once in a great while consider installing a battery on off switch. It mounts on the battery post connection. Yup, there's a list of down sides but it will get you rolling again.

Rebooting a faulted system is not a cure lol. All this does is hide the trouble.

A good dealer mechanic needs to witness the issue and troubleshoot while the problem is present. This is the purpose for towing. Rebooting is the last thing you should do if you really want it properly fixed. Sounds to me like WIN module is going bad. If you're the only one driving it, maybe you can live with the reboot bandaid for a while, if you want to deal with that pain over the long haul. However it will surface again; next time it might be raining and 2AM.

- does the car start ? YES
- do the fobs lock & unlock ? YES

Now marry the FOB to the SCREEM

- sit in the car with the key in the IGN
- IGN in the ON position
- engine NOT running
- using the FOB while its in the IGN, lock & unlock the car several times
- reset your his & hers auto radio & seat position preferences etc
- switch OFF the IGN, leave car and lock with the FOB
- leave for 16 minutes

Then TEST the unlock / drive / etc. Let me know if its permanent in a couple of months or so, some are not as evidenced by posts on Dodge & Chrysler etc forums, others like mine in my case are permanent - it's been two and a half years since I did mine my way and no problems whatsoever.

Yes a second or two can do it with the battery cable, even by pulling the IOD fuse for a second or two. However the BUS has a capacitor fed reserve which is why being a ' boots and braces ' sort of fellah I allow for the 16 minutes I mentioned the SCREEM checks for faults / lights left on etc. I've even tried the POS & NEG clamped together overnight to exhaust the capacitor and empty spurious phantom codes from the EEPROM but the method above is a quick 16 minutes and just works.

- pleased it worked for you
- that's what forums are for

as most mentioned, this will happen again. And it will get to a point where disconnecting battery would no longer work.


What year is your car?

It's a 2009, 94,000 miles. We expect to have it paid off in a couple of weeks, then will have a little extra money to get it fixed. In the meantime, I'll do what QQ prescribed and visit a service manager or two to see what kind of repair cost I'll be looking at.
I'll post updates.
Mac