QuestionQUESTION: Hi Roland.
I check the doors but they were well close, two days later the locks began to work like before, I turn the switch on and they don’t look the door. I don’t do anything it fixes alone. Can you tell me what can I do to disarm the alarm when it fails, because, the last time the alarm fail and do not disarm I was in a parking area in a store and I have to tow away with a crane, next day it was working ok as I told you in the beginning of the first question, I am afraid every time I park in any place, I am not sure if it is going to disarm or I have to tow it away. As I told you it was failing once a year.It is a follow up question of the http://www.allexperts.com/user.cgi?m=6&catID=807&expID=63082&qID=4887033 Thank you. Sergio
ANSWER: Hi Sergio,
One idea for disarming the system is to try to unlock the tailgate with a key. It appears to work just like the driver door and the passenger door in that respect. Try it the next time the system is 'armed' to see if that will disarm it. The light on the dash should go off, just like when you disarm it with a key in the driver or passenger door lock. If that works reliably then you have a fallback to try in the future. If it doesn't, then try lock/unlock of the tailgate with the key.
The only other way is to buy a specific size electrical resistor at a radio shop and attach it to one of the wires on the body control module which is behind the fusebox, under the dash. Then when you can't disarm it you would touch the other end of that resisor to a nearby bright metal surface (electrical ground point) to do the disarm. However, I have to look-up the size of the resistor (ohms) and also which wire and plug to attach it to, so first see if the tailgate lock will do the job. If not, let me know and I will get the details for you.
Roland
PS:Please 'rate' my answer and consider a nomination of me to be 'expert of the month'. Thanks
---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------
QUESTION: Dear Roland:
The last day it fails to disarm the alarm, I try to disarm using both doors, and the tailgate, but it didn’t work, I try to disarm with the remote control too, don’t work, I disconnected the positive terminal of the battery wait few minutes and reconnected but it still not disarming, I repeat combination of the steps I describe you; so I will appreciate very much if you find and explain me the way you suggest with a resistor attach on the body control, step by step. I went with a Chrysler agency and they told me it can’t be done. They scan the minivan, it do not give any lecture of any thing wrong, so they try to sell me a new computer, they said the computer is the problem because the alarm do not register any wrong doing in the computer. I don’t believe them. Hi from Mexico, have nice holidays.
AnswerHi Sergio,
One other power disconnection approach, instead of disconnecting the battery, would be to disconnect the fuse #28 at the very back of the box under the hood for about 30 minutes, then put it back in, and then try to disarm by all the other approaches that you tried using the key and remote.
The key locks use two resistors to send the body control the message that you have unlocked the door or locked the door. The unlock message is done with a resistor of 655 ohms, and the lock message is done with 4020 ohms. I imagine that you don't need exactly those sizes, but within 10% would work. The front door driver side wire is on pin 45 and the passenger door is on pin 55 of one of the 2 plugs of the body control (the plug that has pins 41-80) and the wire colors are white/light green and white/dark green, respectively for the driver and the passenger side. So what you would do is trim away some insulation on one of those wires, and then prepare each resistor with an alligator clip and wire soldered to one end of the resistor. Then attach both of the resistors' clips to a 'ground' (which would be any shiny metal structural piece near the body module or even to the wire on pin 10 or 14 of the other plug which are 'ground wires' after similarly stripping away some insulation from them). Then to simulate locking the door touch the other end of the 4020 ohm resistor to the wire of pin 45 and remove, then to simulate the unlock by touching the 655 ohm resistor to that same wire and remove. That is an exact replication of what the door locks do (the neutral key position is in fact disconnected from the wire). If that doesn't disarm, then try the passenger door wire the same way.
The hatch door is on pin 44 so you could even try the procedure on that wire. If it doesn't work, you might try only using the 655 ohm resistor by itself to see if that disarms the body controller, on the theory that is exactly what would happen if you came back to the van and went to unlock it (skipping the lock message, in other words).
These are all based upon the '98 manual, which I hope is identical to that of your '97. Let me know whether this works.
Roland
PS: I would appreciate your rating of my answer and offering me another nomination to be 'expert of the month'.
