Chrysler Repair: Disconnect auto start, inner fender, chrysler town


Question
I have a Chrysler Town & Country Van that has a auto start system on it. It starts at all times at night in the cold weather. I would like to know how to disconnect it so it will not start automatically. I have checked and there is no switch under the hood to turn off the auto function. Carol

Answer
Hi Carol,
I do not know what year this feature came into existence, and I don't even know if it is factory-installed or an after-market device. You are the second person who has asked about this, only the fellow bought the car second hand so was unaware that he had it. Again, for lack of details I can't tell you how to disconnect it. I might possibly be able to tell you a fuse in the power distribution box under the hood that you could remove as needed when you think the weather is going to call it into play. Tell me the year of the van if that would be of interest to you.
Roland
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Dear Roland, I forgot to tell you that the Chrysler T&C was a 1994 ant auto start system is a after market unit. Howerver I bought the car used and I did not any remotes or instructions on it. Carol

Hi Carol,
OK, so we know nothing about this system. I assume it starts and runs the engine when it gets too cold, then shuts it off. It would seem to me that you could do a couple of things to prevent the starting:
Go to the power distribution box under the hood on the driver's side inner fender. Open the box. In the rear corner next to the fender is a small square box called a relay which in this case controls the starter motor. If you pull that box out of its socket then the starter motor will not respond to the autostart. Also, if you look at the rear of the box you will see 8 fuses, 2 rows of 4 on the opposite side from the relay. The rearmost fuse on the on the row of fuses closest to the relay is labelled 'eng'. If you remove that fuse it will shut down any power to the key devices required to run the engine. I would pull both the relay and the 'eng' fuse. That way nothing will be given power by the auto start system.
See how that works out for you.
Roland