Chrysler Repair: Starting, 1998 plymouth voyager, plymouth voyager

Question
1998 Plymouth voyager.  I have a brand new battery.  I am having problems starting my van.  At the mechanics shop, the technician told me to arm and disarm the vehicle with the key fob.  I did that and it worked.  The problem persisted.  Then they told us it is the alarm system that disables the van.  They told me the starter and alternator was good.  Can you help

Answer
Hi Wyvette,
It sounds like there is an electrical gremlin with the anti-theft system which is re-setting the alarm after you dis-armed it. There are two approaches. Chrysler considers this system part of the body electronics (as opposed to the engine electronics) and there is a body computer that mediates between the theft alarm module the sensors and door locks and the engine computer in this system. Chrysler publishes a manual for trouble shooting the system that uses a diagnostic tool that a dealer will have. If the dealer has the tool and the manual a technician should be able to locate the faulty component that is causing this snafu.
The other approach is to defeat the anti-theft system entirely by removing the theft module. I believe it is located behind the glove box (may require removing the glove box to get to it, several screws hold that in place) and if you see a small box with a "natural" color plug that has 21 wires associated with it, that is the anti-theft module. But there is a trick: you must always have the engine running at idle when you remove that plug, otherwise the engine controller will think you are a thief and shut down the starting system in a very difficult to overcome mode. So don't make that mistake.
About the only other thing you might want to check for is a short circuit due to rain water intrusion or dirt getting on the plug-ins at the body computer. I have other owners of Chrysler cars tell me that if water drips on the body computer top side (where its electrical plugs are located), then all sorts of strange things can happen. The body computer is possibly (I am not very expert in vans, rather cars) located in the passenger compartment on the panel just to the right of the passenger's right thigh/shin (called the kick-panel for that reason). If it were there, it would be mounted higher up on the panel where you wouldn't see it or kick it. It has two 25-pin plugs on it, and if you demount it from the panel you can bring it down where you can look at the plugs, remove them,* inpect the plugs and sockets for dirt/water, if you find some then clean as best possible and buy a spray can of contact cleaner from an electronics supply store. This spray will evaporate any water and clean up any corroded contacts. That may solve the problem and allow you to continue to use the anti-theft system. If it doesn't solve it, then it means either defeating the system or paying the dealer to try and find out which of the door locks or other sensors in the system is sending a false signal to the module that tells it to automatically arm the system.
Roland
*There is no trick needed for these two plugs, so don't worry about having the engine running when you inspect the plugs and sockets