Automotive electrical problems are so much fun. The console lights on my '95 Dodge Caravan went out a few months ago. I paid something over $100 to get a new headlight switch because those lights feed through the dimmer part of that multi-switch unit. That seemed to fix the problem for a while, but they went out again. I then paid about $70 for the shop to locate and fix a "burned" wire...I think that's what they said. So this time when the lights went out again, I decided to pull the dash and play with the problem myself. Getting the dash off is no biggie....once you learn the tricks. However, I could find no problem with the wiring, and another headlight switch, from the junkyard, doesn't do anything. I found a wiring diagram at the library which seems to indicate a likely place to look is the body computer. All the affected lights are fed from there, and the connectivity between all the points I can find is good....but I can't find the body computer. The diagram says "right side of steering column", but I don't know if that means attached to the right side, or just on that side. There are two clamshell type covers on the column that I couldn't get off because I didn't have the necessary star-type driver, but the wiring going into the column doesn't look as if that's where the body computer is. I'll get the tool so I can take a look, and I'll probably also try the library again to see if the actual location is better described somewhere. Thought I'd see if anyone had any ideas.
I'm not really that educated about Caravans, but I would expect to see the body relay panel behind either the left or right kick panel.
You do have the ECM for the entire vehicle, but that's usually located on the passenger side, under the dash and behind the glovebox.
The headlights should function through a relay and that may be the real cuplrit. The relay would normally be located within that body relay panel (the body computer that you identified).
One other twist is that if you have DRL's (daytime running lights) there may be an additional relay or electrical interface from a day/night sensor usually located at the top of the dash somewhere. That's the gizmo that "knows" when to switch the headlights from DRL (reduced voltage) to full bright at night. If the sensor dies, it can also either have the full headlights on all the time or no lights at all.
Don't know if this helps but I had a 92 Grand Voyager that the wiring harness burned up in '99. Seems the electric fan motor burned up and shorted out the wires. Why Chrysler motors would design a vehicle so that an entire wiring harness could burn up baffles me.
Maybe they learned something, because when the fan motor burned up in my '96 Neon, that's all that was affected.
When it happened the air conditioner compressor stopped and all of my gauges went dead. Hopefully your Caravan is not in the early stages of such a catastrophe. [img]/forums/images/icons/blush.gif[/img]
Reply With Quote
