I just inherited a free 2002 Grand Caravan that has been sitting under some trees for the past 6 months. The exterior is very dirty and the interior is worse. Not only have mice made it their home, but I think chipmunks did too! Anyways, all that can be cleaned but there a many other problems I need to tackle. Here's a list of everything I need to take care of:

1. Supposedly the passenger side sliding door causes the battery to die.
2. Front and Rear blower motors do not turn on (probably mouse nest). Fuses are good.
3. Front headlights dim occasionally when driving.
4. A/C does not turn on when button is pushed.
5. Brake pedal is spongy.
6. Clunking noises from front when going over bumps or uneven road surfaces and when braking.
7. Oil leak from head gaskets.
8. Poor Fuel Economy.
9. Shifter is difficult to move.
10. Other electrical gremlins. My grandmother stated there is an on-board computer that may need to replace which may fix some of the electrical gremlins. Ever heard of this?

I inherited this vehicle due to a death in the family and hope I can reasonably fix it up since I have a couple of kids and family is getting bigger. Right now we drive our 99 Dodge Durango 5.9L which seats 7 but it gets 10-13 mpg so the Caravan might be a decent alternative. It does ride very nice.

Tomorrow I take it to the car wash and if/when I fix the above problems, I'll have the interior professionally detailed.

 

clunking noise could be bad struts/strut mounts (have the same noise in in-laws buick and we eliminated all but strut mount). Sounds like a short in the door area, that could cause the dimming lights, and many other electrical gremlins. a/c not coming on could just be charge is low (if fuse good) spongy pedal usually means needs bleeding might want to flush the old fluid out

 

Blower not working could be a reistor pack, cheap and easy fix. Since it's been sitting for 6 months, your battery may be drained or dying especially with the door draining the battery causing your headlights to dim. You probably should change your oil since it's been sitting for so long, that might help your fuel economy, but if its been sitting for six months, your gas has probably started to get stale. is the chk engine light on and is van rough when you drive it?

The electrical gremlins could get pretty pricy to fix depending on what it is. Might want to get that looked it before spending time and $$$ on anything else.

Check your trans fluid condition/level if the shifter is difficult to move.

 

I recommend getting the brakes taken care of before going to the car wash or anything else for that matter. Next, get the sliding door electrical problem fixed. This is a common issue on the early 4 gens, and it's been know to cause a host of other electrical issues as well (it's typically a bus wire). Once that's set, test the battery and alt to make sure they're good because these vans are well know to have problems when one or both of them are bad. After that you can check to see what problems still remain.

 

Ok the blowers work. I just have to push the power button on .

Battery is definitely shot and won't hold a charge for more than 5 minutes. If I jump it, the car will run just fine so the alternator is probably good. I just took it on a 20 mile road trip to test everything out and put fresh gas & drygas in the tank.

Can someone explain where the sliding door electrical problem usually occurs? Is it inside the door itself or commonly located somewhere else? By bus wire, do you mean a wife inside the caged 'thing' under the sliding door?

Today I discovered that the drivers side window has a problem that I thought was a switch but I think it's in the motor. The window will go down but it will only go up intermittently. It will go up about 5 inches and then stop. If I leave it alone for about 60 seconds and then press the switch again, it will go up another 5 inches. I have to do this until the windows gets to the top. Does this sound like an overheating window motor??

 

Ok maybe someone can help. I did a parasitic loss test today with my ammeter and I'm getting a 1.15amp drain with all fuses in place. The main culprits are the HZD LP 20A fuse, 12V OUT IGN OR BATT 20A fuse, and the POWER SLIDE DOOR 40A fuse. With all three removed the meter drops to 70ma (0.070 amps). This is still higher than the 25ma requirement but at least we're getting somewhere.

The biggest abuser is the HZD LP 20A fuse (circuit). When I remove that fuse, the amperage drops from 1.15 amps to 110ma which is a full amp. This circuit maintains all the blinkers. Since there are four blinkers the short could be anywhere but this is where you all can help.... Are there any common areas where this circuit has been known to short out? Can a bulb be the culprit?

What about that 12V OUT IGN OR BATT 20A fuse (circuit)??? If I move the fuse to the BATT side, there is no parasitic loss at all. What does this circuit control? Can this indicate a bad ignition switch?

 

Here are the three fuses mentioned above that account for the bulk of the parasitic loss...

 

Just removed both the head and tail lights and completely unplugged them so light bulbs arent the culprit. Also unplugged the hazard light switch and the climate control wires in the center console but again, no fix....

 

Ok I solved the problem. Both the instrument cluster and BCM are no good. With the instrument cluster removed, amperage drops to 200ma. Then, after I unplug the BCM, amperage drops down to 9ma which is perfect.

I'm confused why this didn't show up when I removed the BCM fuse. Anyway, I'll order the new parts asap.

 

Instrument clusters can be swapped between gc's. Buy one on ebay or junk yard for $50.


I believe BCM trouble is common for that year van. I hear they are quite expensive new.


Don't keep recharging a junk battery to test and repair. Batteries can't withstand full discharge. The internal resistance and undervoltage places tremendous strain on the wiring and could damage more computer and electronics systems.


Walmart batteries can't be beat. If you still have draining issues just keep disconnecting the battery terminal to save the battery.