Bob and his 98 Caravan

[Bob's 98]

I have only owned 4 Dodges in my life, and half of them have been Caravans.
Caravan #2 is how I found this Forum and since I have lurked here for a while trying to figure out my problems on my own (and have failed to a degree) I thought I might as well join…“My name is Bob, and I own a Third Generation Caravan”

1998 Irregular Caravan
3.0 Auto Trans
188,000+ miles
Second Owner.

My Story…
I acquired this vehicle in 2006 from my mother in law who was about to junk it in frustration. a local repair shop quoted her almost $1,700.00 to replace the “computer” by the fuse panel under the dash (the BCM is what I now know it as), new battery, alternator, tune up and labor. she was pleased to take my Christmas Cheer offer of $400.00 and be done with it and I thought I had a great I can fix it deal on an 8 year old 7 seater van with high mileage.
Now I am not so sure…

So, I removed the battery from my New Yorker added almost 2 quarts of oil and fired the beast up. No problems, except the rear wiper ran constantly and every time I tried to change settings on the HVAC panel relays clicked and buzzed under the dash. THEN the charge indicator (the red battery icon) came on. Uh Oh…

I drove it home with no heat to keep the electronic clicking from driving me nuts. I then started researching and figured out that the panel was probably the issue, not the relays themselves. Sure enough, I removed the panel and the clicking went away and no more constantly running rear wiper! The insides of the rotary control knobs were caked with green goop thanks to something sloshed into the panel from the handy cup holders right under the panel (who thought of THAT one?) No more Charge Icon, Either…next stop Advance Auto to check the charging system. No charging system issues putting out about 14.2 under load.

May 2007 Charge Icon returns and goes away again; tested again and told it is working fine even though it plainly showed a warning that says otherwise. Replaced the alternator and battery the charge icon goes away again. Shortly after that was the first time it stranded us; key in to start, turn key and completely dead nothing. No lights, no interior lights, warning chimes nothing at all. Had it towed home, pulled new battery and returned it to Sears for replacement; tested fine but replaced for free by them anyway. The next day I put it in and like magic it started right up like nothing was wrong.

Between then and now it has stranded us 5 times; the third time was a fuel pump but all the others were the “I have nothing electrical working” problem that seems to be a regular irregular issue with this van. Key in to start, turn key and completely dead.

I have made sure that battery posts, cable ends are clean and tight.
I have made sure positive cable going to PCM (?) box next to battery is clean and tight.
I pulled the Cluster last weekend to check the PCB and found the known bottom right and left pins to have cracked solder points (plus 7 others!) and had all the pins on the plug soldered again just to be sure.

I need too…
Remove, clean and tighten engine to body ground
Remove, clean and tighten starter connections
Find the negative battery cable grounding points and remove, clean and tighten.
Replace leaky valve cover gaskets so I can rule out bad connections at starter due to oil.

What have I missed? I have not started it since the PCB repair and want to get everything checked over before I power it back up. Then at least I know what I can rule out if i have issues still.

I have read about common grounds inside the vehicle (under the radio, steering column, drivers side kick panel?) not sure of how many or where to start looking. I also am unsure of main harness connection points.

Will a going bad Ignition Switch/ Key Lock Cylinder cause a no power anywhere problem? I can’t find anything to confirm this. I am no good with wiring diagrams it’s easier just to ask.

Any input will be appreciated; my Lisa loves “her” van and she lets me drive her Bonneville, keeps bugging me about when it will be safe to take the van to the store shopping again without having to call a tow truck to save her.

Thanks to All for the great info I have found here,
Bob (and Lisa)

[bw03]

I have no idea but I can't believe nobody can help. Here's a bump for you.

[XDGT03]

I think the lack of responses is due to Bob having done just about everything anyone of us might have suggested. The BCM is maybe the last thing to try. Plus, he had not started it since the re-solder so That would have been my most important suggestion. I would like to hear if he has had any problem since he posted.

BTW Bob, I'm sorry. I never saw this post to begin with. It moved down the list very fast I guess.

[Bob's 98]

at this point this is where i stand.

2 weekends ago i replaced the hvac pod and the pcb, fired it up for test ride.
miss at idle, miss under load and falling on it's face on moderate to heavy acceleration. decided to try the MIL test sequence again and it worked THIS time, last time it wouldn't work for some reason mabey the pcb solder fixed that issue.

12-32-55
EGR fault.

replaced the EGR, took it for a ride again. still same symptoms, no EGR code now, that's good i guess.

an old friend laughed at me and told me i was thinking too hard - had i tuned it up since i owned it?
no. LOL.

leaking valve cover gaskets need to be replaced, so i pulled the plenum and the first thing i noticed was that the main harness female plug where the injection harness plugs in has 4 wires that have the insulation pulled back on them - rear valve cover is the bad leaker and exposed wiring to oil is not good.

pulled all plugs (had to remove the alternator to get to #1) - 2,3,4,5 and 6 had brown tan insulator burns were worn to almost .60 now instead of .44 and #1 has almost NO center electrode left at all. all plugs brownish in color no sign of oil deposits on them at least.

replaced all 6 plugs, cap and rotor.
still need to replace valve cover gaskets, spark plug wires, pcv and put it back to gether. and of course fix the wire harness issue. also speng 79.00 on an obdII scanner.

how does the round, black seal on the back of the head come out? these came with my new valve cover set and the rear one seems to be my oil leak problem.

Thanks for the replys, since the '98 has been down for a while i just work on it when i can my goal is saturday to start up again.

Bob

[XDGT03]

Ha Ha Ha... When you hear the sound of approaching hooves think horses not zebras. lol

Yeah, I have been there too. Thinking too much. It's usually the simplest thing.

Keep us updated.

[Bob's 98]

update time.
last weekend was too rainy and cold to work on the van outside.
this week between tuesday the 15th and friday the 19th i finished the removal/replacement process and this was the conclusion...

1) removed and replaced valve cover gasket; rear.
2) did a quick repair on the main injection wiring harness for bare wires;
wires were not broken just had insulation pulled back on them so wires were exposed. cleaned them with contact cleaner and used shrink tubing to cover exposed wiring.
3) replaced belt tensioner - this was an extra surprise. didn't know it was faulty untill after almost 30 mins of fighting the belt routing. rotated it clockwise to put belt on and it wouldn't go back.
3.0 belt tensioner nut was reachable from the engine compartment since the alternator was already off. 15mm socket and long extension.
4) replaced the coil and TPS.
5) cleaned the throttle body, used almost 2 cans of cleaner it was so bad.
DO NOT FORGET TO CLEAN THE IAC AREA!

this was the worst i have ever seen on ANY fuel injected vehicle i have driven in the last 15 years. almost 1 can went to cleaning just this area lots of carbon built up in the passage. don't forget the port in the plenum for the EGR passage either mine looked like a volcano there was so much buildup there.

1:30 friday afternoon i started the caravan for the first time in weeks.
3 cranks and it ran like a charm i was pleased to say the least. best of all, i have driven it 3 times since friday the 18th and STILL NO CEL LIGHT!

smooth, lots of power now. i am pleased to say the least. to anyone who helped, thank you all. i will have to see if the PCB solder fixed my dead/no start issues but that will take time and miles.

Thanks Again,
Bob and Lisa

[XDGT03]

Great work. Thanks for the update. Each time someone solves problems we all get to benefit from the info.

Thanks again.

[64_Barracuda]

Bob,

Did you change the cam Seals in that? I see above you asked the question on changing them, I need to but haven't looked to hard. I have a 3.0 too. My CEL used to come on all the time when I bought it from "a good friend" turned out the plugs in the back were never changed!! After a tune up light never came on again (this is last year) light comes on now and again very intermitant. I usually leave it run when I get gas...... guess thats a no no. I bought a Autoxray scanner and I am gonna check the light but I was just curious on the seal.

I am an old car guy, but the 94 Caravan is my daily driver. I think its great!! Lots of room, pretty good power. I love it, except for the tightness of the engine compartment.... I did the serpentine and v-belt today and my arms look like a cat scratched the heck out of me.

Oh yeah one more thing. I had to change the left axle, which I did no big deal, the fluid that came out looked like I was panning for silver... maybe not that bad. This was 1.5 months ago... now the right side seems to be going, is this common? After thinking about it I think it is just wanted to see what everyone else thought. I actually bought both sides but after I did the left, I cheaped out and took the right side back, Now I am paying 2x for fluid change, should have just done it...

[Bob's 98]

negative, i didn't change cam seals.
it seems the oil was leaking from the rear valve cover, not the seal. it was so brittle it snapped into pieces when removing it from the cover. everything is clean now so i can keep an eye out for a leak there. i will change them later if i have too but for now they seem to be ok.

i still have not found a set way to change the rear seals - chrysler service guy on the phone told me they are like a reversed rubber coated freeze plug that presses in. i didn't think to ask him how to remove them i think he thought i was a little wacky for asking my question... i wasn't able to see much in the rear of the head when the front valve cover was off.

they are too deep of a seal, i think, to tap them with a drift to rotate them sideways like removing a freeze plug...i hope someone has an answer for us.

service engine light is back on, taunting me again this time with a PO420 code. it came on sunday afternoon and i took it to a dealer friend of mine who cleared it for me. he told me since i used throttle body cleaner in the plenum i might have gotten enough in the intake to foul the o2 sensors a bit and wait and see if it returns but it's back again.

this code indicates a converter failure, yes?
if it was the rear o2 malfunctioning, it would code specific for this wouldn't it?
i have never owned a obd scanner untill now it's an actron cp9125. it's a fairly basic level scanner, i know, but i the actron seems to be user friendly enough for a novice like me.

Thanks To All
Bob and Lisa

[StandOnCliff]

Sorry to inform you but the 3.0 cam seals should of been changed when the valve covers were off. The rear camshaft bearing cap needs removed to do it. To do the front seals on that would require taking the timing belt and the top gears off of both camshafts. It would now just be alot easier to put a good silicone seal around it from the outside,degrease it very well beforehand.