QuestionQUESTION: Hello Roland,
I have a '97 Chrysler Town and Country 3.8L which will start only to quit running after about 2 seconds or so. Up until now the problem has been intermittent.
The problem began about 6 to 9 months ago. I would drive the van for a period of time as usual and park it for anywhere between a few minutes to a few days. Upon attempting to restart the van it would run for a couple of seconds and then die. Immediate subsequent attempts to start the van would result in the same behavior. I would then wait 15 - 30 minutes and attempt to start the van again. Invariably it would start and continue to run without issue. The problem would disappear for 2 months or so, reappear briefly, and go away again. Because it was an intermittent problem and quickly went away on it's own I decided to live with it.
Recently the problem began increasing in frequency occurring every
month or more and now the van won't run for more than 2 seconds no matter how long I wait before attempting to start it again.
Thinking it was a problem with the fuel delivery system yesterday I replaced both the fuel pump and fuel filter. To my disappointment it didn't solve the problem. I went online and was fortunate to come across the method for grabbing the trouble codes using the on-off-on-off-on ignition sequence and counting the flashes from the "Check Engine" light. The code I receive is 1-2-6-6-5-5 which is a "Code 66—No CCD messages recieved from the Body Control Module (BCM) or the Transmission Control Module (TCM)." as taken from a third-party manual.
This is the point at which I'm hoping you can provide some guidance. How can I determine whether or not it is indeed a problem with the BCM or the TCM? Online research has uncovered a number of forum postings suggesting that the culprit might actually be a bad solder joint on a circuit board somewhere behind the dash. Others suggest an issue with a heater control module component.
I do notice that for the 2 seconds that the engine runs that neither the tachometer or fuel gauge come to life. It might also be worth mentioning that a couple of weeks before the van completely died that the dash "back-light" would flicker and could only produce about half the amount of light no matter the position of the dimmer switch.
I appreciate any knowledge you can provide.
ANSWER: Hi Nate,
The repeated cut off after a couple or so seconds is more typically related to the anti-theft system which when not cancelled will behave in this manner exactly. Do you have the anti-theft system? That system involves the digital communication system, specifically the body and the powertrain control modules. But the lack of tachometer and fuel gauge do suggest that the digital data bus is not communicating to the instrument cluster.
The CCD bus is the name of the entire system and includes the bcm, tcm, pcm, cluster, compass/mini-trip, air bag module.
The four measurements that are suggested in the '96 manual for the 66 code, which should also apply to your '97, is to see if the 2 digital data carrying wires between the bcm/tcm and the pcm are connected. The pcm is located on the left inner fender next to the battery, while the bcm is under the dash, on the rear side of the fuse box. Each of those has two 40-pin plugs. The bcm plugs are on the bottom edge and thus accessible, and the pin numbers are etched in the plug. So you will have stretch an ohmmeter between one plug on each of the units to check for continuity:
measure between pin 3 of the bcm plug and pin 59 at the pcm
measure between pin 34 of the bcm and pin 60 of the pcm
The resistance should be less than 5 ohms on these two connections. If the problem is in the tcm to pcm connection wires then you measure between:
pin 59 of the pcm and 43 of the tcm (which has a 60-pin plug and is located on the right side inner fender just behind the washer bottle),
and pin 60 of the pcm and pin 4 of the tcm.
If all those connections prove satisfactory, then it is suggested that one of the modules is faulty, but not which one!
I should also say that there are other fault codes about the CCD bus that may reveal a more specific issue with the bus, but those codes can only be obtained with a plug-in code reader. The igniton key readout is only partial. If you could get the vehicle to a nationwide autoparts store such as Autozone you could get a free readout, or for about $40 from an independent garage. I would not get into buying modules without that further readout for codes with a plug-in reader. It is too expensive 'throw parts' at this sort of a problem.
Roland
PS Please 'rate' my answer and consider a nomination of me to be 'volunteer of the month'. Thank you
PPS You would also want to check the 20 amp fuses in the box under the hood (2nd and 3rd from the front on the outside edge row) and fuses 1,2,3,and 4 in the box under the dash to be sure they are not making poor contact in their clips or have a subtle crack in their wires.
Please let me know how this works out for you.
---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------
QUESTION: Thanks Roland. I should have an opportunity to perform more troubleshooting before week's end. I'll follow up with anything I find.
AnswerHi Nate,
Thanks for the update. About the cluster back-lighting, that too is controlled by the digital bus signal between the bcm and the cluster, so it is all consistent that either bcm is not getting power from one of the 4 fuses under the dash in the bottom row on the left side, or the bus is 'open' of otherwise compromised, or the bcm is compromised. Now the challenge is to determine which and why. Also, check fuse 10 under the hood at the very front of the box on the inboard side along with the other 2 on the outboard side I listed earlier. All the fuses are involved in powering the bcm system.
Roland
PS Please 'rate' my earlier answer or this one if you would be so kind.
