Hey all,</P>


On my Dodge Dynasty, I started to have some electrical gremlins pop out. The intermittent wipers do not work, but the regular part does, the washer will spray, but the wipers will not wipe unless on either high or low, I have no chime at all- this includes for seat belt, low fuel, lights on, door open with key in ignition, low fuel light doesnt work, but the bulb is good, and the power door locks will unlock but will not lock.</P>


Could the body computer be bad?</P>


Any other ideas on what could be wrong?</P>

 

The wipers and door lock problems sound like bad switches. Your chime/buzzer is just a box that plugs into a fuse block like the flasher, that should be what is wrong with that.

Body computer?

 

Yeah, </P>


I checked all the switches, and they are all ok. The wierd thing is that they all stopped working at the same time. I'm not too sure, but I doubt all those would stop working at the same time. Not that I'm saying that it couldn't happen. I checked in the fuse and relay blocks and there was no chime/ buzzer among them. </P>


Finally, I checked my wiring diagrams, and all those items go to the body computer. I myself don't know what that is, as I'm new to Mopars. It looked like it controlls all those things.</P>

 

Wow, I can't say I've ever known of such a thing. The closest thing to that I can think of is an air bag computer.

 

The older "K" cars have a few options... the PCM and BCM (Powertrain Control Module and Body Control Module), some have just the BCM and some have just the PCM.

The BCM could cause all those problems... but check the wiring for corroded or pinched wires first. A remanufactured BCM can run ya $150-$275... new... I'll have to get back to ya...

~Amanda <edited><editID>Dodgegirl19</editID><editDate>38007.9877199074</editDate></edited>

 

I forgot about it being refered to as a BCM, I'm just use to PCM.

 

Hey all,</P>


</P>


Just thought I'd give an update on the car problem... I checked all my connections, and wires for any problems and couldnt find any. After fighting with it, and knowing the cost of a new BCM for my car I tried a used one from a junk yard. Sure enough, that was the problem. 16 bux later and about 20 minutes installation time, and everything works again.</P>


Thanx for eveyone's help on this problem.<IMG src=smileys/smiley4.gif border="0"></P>

 

Glad to hear it. Good call Dodgegirl <img border="0" src=smileys/smiley20.gif border="0"> , I've never had anything with a BCM. A BCM has to be about the most worthless thing, why would you need a computer to control all that. It's just like a transmission computer, automatic transmissions never needed them before, so why waste the time and money on putting something in a car that isn't needed. <img border="0" src=smileys/smiley5.gif border="0"> <edited><editID>71ROADRUNNER</editID><editDate>38011.2948263889</editDate></edited>

 

I have a 96 Dodge Grand Caravan and have had multiple electrical problems as well: wipers come on by themselves, headlights & interior light flashing, relays chattering, after turning off the engine, stereo intermittently loses power, takes multiple tries to start the car (no cranking noise).
After years of this, I decided to try to locate the cause. I first replaced probably a perfectly good stereo thinking the stereo was bad; I checked the voltage input and it was good (at that time). After R/R w/ a new stereo, it worked for several months, then began to show the same intermittent power loss. Turns out the problem was in the Power Distribution Control (PDC), also know as the fuse panel located in the engine compartment next to the battery. As I was measuring voltages there, I noticed slight pressure applied to
one of the 10A fuses (IOD fuse used to provide some power to things like stereo memory) caused the same headlight flashing and relay chattering electrical problem. However, it also caused my stereo to work again. I have not yet determined why this happens, but I suspect there is a printed circuit board (PWB) under where the relays and fuses plug into and that it has either a cold solder joint or a cracked trace that under vibration and/or heat it either opens up or causes a high resistance path. I say high resistance path because I measured voltage (4.5 Vdc at the memory signal to the stereo) at a terminal in the junction block located under the steering column. Applying pressure to the IOD fuse corrected the voltage level back to 12 V.
I alos had a recurring problem with the ignition starting up. Not sure waht is causing that, but it appears to get better when I press down on the area where the IOD fuse is.
I believe I have isolated the problem to the PDC since I can get it to work every time by doing this, but I have not yet replaced or repaired it. I would like to open up the PDC and look to see what's inside, but not sure if it's possible to do so. Or maybe R/R the PDC and hope this is not a PDC manufacturing issue that is causing all the electrical problems.
I have only this one car and don't want to start something I'm sure I may not be able to finish in a day.
I've already had the PCM replaced a year ago when my van completely died on the fwy in the middle of rush hour.

Just last week my rear A/C went out. Looks like the rear blower motor needs replacement. Everything else checked out. I took it out then put it back in and it worked; could have been a loose connector or dirty contacts, however, as the blower motor was running, I could see inside the fan (where the internal resistor connects to the connector) a
glowing (i.e., getting too hot) at the terminals. I don't know if this is normal, but being an electrical engineer, it didn't look to be safe. I also noticed on the outside of the blower connector what looked to be a small area of brown discoloration due to possibly too much heat at one of the contacts.

If anyone knows if the PDC can be opened up, or if the "glowing" in the A/C rear blower motor is normal, I'd appreciate it.
Hopefully, my experience here will help in finding these weird electrical problems.

 

I found you can buy only the resistor block for the blower heater ($20.00) instead of the outrageous price of $200 - $300 for a blower motor!