Periodically the guages on my Caravan go dead. The ABS light comes on and stays on, and the automatic door locking system (the one that activates at about 15 mph) fails to engage as does the cruise control. After a few days the whole system comes back on as if nothing happened. The Check Engine Light comes on but during these but eventually turns off. The folks at the dealership say the codes are nonsense and are stumped. Any ideas?
I went to Autozone to get the codes read for this problem. The code is P1698, an ECM-fault - No CCD message from TCM. As soon as I figure out whan an ECM, CCD, and TCM are I’ll be in good shape.
There’s a minivan forum at allpar.com devoted to Daimler-Chrysler minivans. A post there will probably net you some vehicle-specific suggestions.
The clockspring in the steering column is a known issue behind some gauge and warning lights issues. Have you called a dealer and described the problem and asked if it seems likely to be all related to one component?
I would guess the trouble is due to a intermittent power connection to those areas you mentioned. Check for a common power line to those areas. The problem may be in a main connector and by just pulling the connector apart and reconnecting it the problem may disappear.
The ECM is the electronic control module. Dodge may call it a BCM or body contrl module. The TCM is the transmission control module and I think the CCD is the data buss that allows communication between the modules.
That combination of events could indicate that the engine computer is bad. Nonsense codes are sometimes due to a nonsense computer. No guarantee but a last resort possibility.
Good comment. I should have stated in my note that I had the clock spring replaced under warranty. Thanks.
As suggested by shanonia (above) I went to allpar.com to see if anyone else was having this problem. Turns out folks are and it appears to be resolved with the replacement of the Body Control Module as suggested. My sense of the discussion is this is that a bad batch of BCMs was installed during this time in Caravans and after 10 years and 150K miles (my Caravan) they’re simply failing. Looks like a trip to the dealer to get this replaced. Thanks for all the help.
I suspect that the problem is due to bad solder joints in the module. A new module from the dealer may be over 800 dollars. You may want to look at a rebuilt unit that comes programmed the same as your current one. Here is a link to one place that sells these things.
http://www.autocomputerexchange.com/proddetail.asp?prod=dgeCRVcm98-99