Question1996 Chrysler Grand Voyager 3.3 Le (Petrol Automatic)
We bought the car a couple of years ago and almost straight away found out that the time delay on the headlights didn’t work as they did not turn off (whether they were turned on at the switch or not). The only way to turn them off was to turn them off at the switch while the engine was running, and then pull up the handbrake after turning off the engine. We weren’t concerned that the time delay didn’t work properly and made sure we turned the lights/engine off and put the handbrake on in the above ‘order’.
This worked fine (for about 2 years) until about a week ago when the headlights started turning on by themselves (when the engine was off). This left us having to jump-start the car or charge the battery before we could use it. Until yesterday, the headlights stayed off as long as the handbrake wasn’t on and the car was in ‘park’.
Today, however, the ‘handbrake and park’ trick stopped working and, when replacing the battery after recharging it, the interior lights immediately started flashing. The only way to stop this was to turn the interior lights to ‘0’ (i.e. not even have them come on when a door was opened).
The brake lights occasionally decide to stay on as well after turning off the engine, but this is remedied by touching the brake pedal. (We vaguely remember the windscreen wipers doing strange things during one journey about a year and half ago, but this hasn’t happened since).
We are starting to think that the Gremlins have moved in and are leaving the battery off the car.
Anticipating that any repairs are likely to be pricey (in our experience with this car!), we look forward to hearing any advice you may be able to give us!
Peter
AnswerHi Peter,
I am a little uncertain about the '96 model, having only the '93 and '98 shop manuals. The gremlin-like behavior leads me to believe that you probably have the more modern body computer set-up where in all these problemmatic systems are intergrated and controlled in a single unit under the dash. The control unit operates the relays for the headlamps located in the power distribution center under the hood.
If that is the case, then I would begin by examining the two 40-pin plugs on the body control unit to look for the possibility of corrosion around the pins and sockets due to the intrusion of water from the windshield located above the unit. Very strange things happen when water gets onto those interfaces. If your van is like the '98, then you will find the body control under the dash behind the fuse/relay "junction block"; the two are interfaced with one another as a single unit. To get to it start by disconnecting the battery. Remove the lower steering column cover and knee blocker reinforcement. On the back side of this assembly are the two 40-pin plugs, both "natural" in color (whatever that means). You can examine the sockets on those plugs without any further dismantling, I believe, but to see the pins you many have to remove the assembly.
Remove the bolts holding the junction block to dash panel mounting bracket. Remove junction block from bracket. Then you should be able to see the back side and inspect. Further is the possibility of separating the body controller from the junction block by removing the screws, and sliding the bc down from the jb along internal channels. You could buy some electronic cleaner in a spray can and give all the interfaces between plugs/sockets a light application to insure could conduction. That stuff cleans and then evaporates, unlike water.
Maybe even before doing this set of tasks you would be wise to look for the "ground block" which is a small module with a bunch of black or black with trace wires that come together at one point on the driver side kick panel (the area just in front of the driver door opening) where all the grounds in that general region of the vehicle come together to be attached firmly to the body panel that serves as the return path to the (-) clamp of the battery (that clamp too has a wire that also is grounded to the frame nearby the battery in the engine compartment). I would be inclined to check all of those places where ground wires attach to the body to make sure that the connecting points are clean and shiny and that the interfaces are connected securely to one another by bolts. Any flakey ground connections can also produce "gremlins".
That would be a good way to start to resolve these problems. Of course it could be the body controller is flakey, but I would not look at that until I was sure about the plugs being clean and the grounds all sound. Ideally you won't have to contemplate buying a new controller.
Let me know if your van is not set up this way and then we can look at the '93 manual for guidance, though it too had an early version of the body controller with three plugs with about 25 pins each.
I would be curious to learn what you discover.
Roland
PS: As to the interior lamps, there is a relay on the right end of a row of 4 relays located just above the 12 fuses at the lower edge of the junction block. You might inspect that relay and try exchanging it with another of the same part number to see if that might solve the problem.
