QuestionWe have a 2005 Town and Country and the automatice door locks stop working today. The buttons in the car do not work and neither does the remote entry. Any ideas?
Thanks, Jeff
AnswerHi Jeff,
You have 'company' on this one. The simplest fix appears to be to pull the IOD fuse for a few minutes, then replace it and the problem should have cleared. The fuse is #14 which is the frontmost one on the outboard side of the powerbox in the engine compartment. Here is a copy of some of what others have reported:
Chrysler Repair - 2005 Chrysler Town & Country door lock/window problem.
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Follow-Ups to Answer from Expert Roland Finston
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Joe Wilson wrote at 2006-10-14 17:23:11
I have a 2005 Chrysler Town and Country. The power locks stopped working yesterday. All other electrical systems seem fine. I could not locate any blown fuses. When researching this problem, I also checked for Dodge Caravan reports. I found a mention of a potential BCM power locks failure detection if it thinks a lock is frozen or otherwise would overload the drive motor. I disconnected my battery for 20 minutes to reset the BCM. When I reconnected my battery the power locks worked just fine.
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Jon Christian wrote at 2006-11-02 19:24:46
I had the same issue on my 2005 Town and Country. I followed Joe Wilson's advice and it worked perfectly. Thank you for the info.
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Toni Haun wrote at 2006-11-04 23:54:35
Thanks for your help with my folks' 2005 Grand Caravan power locks and electronic keys. Neither option for locking/opening the doors would work, and the only entry/lock-up was manual and by standard key on the driver's side.
They may not have closed the tail gate completely on a long trip and the BCM must've gotten the idea they had a failure of one of the door locks. By the time they got to our place hours later, it was a complete puzzle.
I googled and came up with your comments. Voila! Everything works after disconnecting the battery and letting it sit.
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Chris DeAnda wrote at 2007-02-14 14:59:13
I tried the same thing on my 2005 Town and Country and it worked perfectly. Thanks for saving me a ton of money at the dealer!
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bob wrote at 2007-07-01 20:22:12
i tried this also and it worked perfectly
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Mark wrote at 2007-07-15 17:55:04
We also have a 2005 T&C with the same issue - the power locks do not work as described. You can temporarily fix this by disconnecting the positive side of the battery for ~5 minutes, however the length of time that the locks work will vary. We have ~44k miles on the van. It is an interesting problem that is very frustrating.
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Bill wrote at 2007-08-02 16:37:04
I had the same trouble and was able to fix it very simply. The electronics apparently had stored a bit in the wrong place. I simply removed the IOD fuse for about ten seconds and replaced it. This apparently reset whatever piece of electronics was confused.
The IOD fuse is in the fuse box under the hood by the left front fender and is the fuse furthest to the front and left. I think IOD is something like Ignition Off Drain (power for the stuff that needs power when the key is off).
That worked for me. Hope it is the same issue for you.
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Terry wrote at 2007-08-14 17:40:02
I recently purchased a 2005 T&C and the power door locks quit working. After reading various answers on several message boards I removed the 20A fuse marked IOD for 30 seconds. After replacing the fuse everything seemed to work okay. The key to know wether or not you've performed the reset is to note the time display on the radio, it should read 12:00. This saved me a day long trip to the dealer.
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Moses wrote at 2007-08-21 20:23:56
I have had the same problem on my 2005 T&C Touring. I disconnected the battery for 24 hours, and the problem went away. 2 days later the problem came back. I am bringing the van back to the dealership to have it checked out.
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Bryan wrote at 2007-08-30 02:14:07
I have an issue with the Power door locks on my 2005 Dodge Caravan.This vehicle had an aftermarket keyless entry that started acting up so I removed it from the vehicle and ever since the doors will not lock with the Power door button when the door or doors are open (I have to get in,shut the door and then lock the doors with the Power door button open the door manually push the door button down then shut the door) to lock the vehicle. The Power button will unlock the doors when the door is open it just wont lock them when it is open. I removed th IOD Fuse and reset the electronics, this fixed my problem for now. If problem returns I will update to let every one know. Thanks for saving me time and MONEY!
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Tim wrote at 2007-09-01 22:39:34
Thanks to all for the IOD information. This worked for us as well. 2005 t
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ramity wrote at 2007-09-08 15:32:31
excellent! worked flawlessly!
THankS!
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hockeydork wrote at 2007-09-13 02:24:16
I have a 2005 Grand Caravan and removing the IOD fuse for 30 seconds works great too! Thank you!
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Tckgator wrote at 2007-09-13 15:23:58
I also tried resetting the system by removing the IOD fuse and also disconnecting the battery. This does solve the problem but only for about a week. The dealer found a TRB on it, but wants an hour of labor to reflash the computer and won't guarantee that it will solve the problem. The service manager also said he had not heard of the problem. I told him to do a quick search on the internet it is all over the place.
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Roger wrote at 2007-09-16 00:57:13
Thanks for the info! Removing the IOD fuse in my 2005 Grand Caravan reset the locks immediately. I only waited a few seconds before putting it back in, but that was enough to do the trick.
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Bryan wrote at 2007-09-16 23:01:46
The info on the IOD fuse was great! It worked like a charm. Thanks for preventing me from an expensive trip to the mechanics.
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Jeanne Morales wrote at 2007-09-22 23:31:52
Thank you so much for sharing this solution.
I had to talk to 2 service managers and they did not have a clue and wanted me to bring the van in.
Fortunately I have a younger co-worker that suggested I go online to see about others with this problem.
I am sure this solution saved me money and lots of time.
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Sharon wrote at 2007-09-25 17:23:52
Awesome-I thought I would spend all day and money at the dealer to fix my problem. Instead, I read this forum, popped out the IOD fuse for about 10 seconds, popped it back in, and presto bingo, the locks work again. Thanks so much for sharing your experiences! I AM A HAPPY CAMPER!
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Shelly wrote at 2007-10-04 20:12:13
This is FYI to Roland and Donald. I had the same problem with 2005 Town and Country door locks. I "jiggled" the wires under dash on driver side and it corrected the problem.
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Romott wrote at 2007-10-05 18:54:00
I had the same problem with my 2005 T&C. I pulled the IOD fuse for 30 seconds and replaced it. FIXED! Takes longer to reset the clock!
Sounds like bad programming that should be corrected free of charge by Chrysler.
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Gary Brown wrote at 2007-10-07 20:43:08
Fixed! Thanks for the info...
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Jenna Bryan wrote at 2007-10-11 00:34:59
This worked for my 05 T&C too. Thank you SO much for sharing!
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Pat C. wrote at 2007-10-11 02:28:31
I had the same problem with my 2005 Grand Caravan. Removing the Pos on the battery or removing the IOD fuse(much easier) will work to reset your computer. This problem kept re-occurring which was frustrating but I found that the keyed driver door lock wasn't operating freely. It could have been preventing the power door lock from locking or unlocking which would cause the computer to lock the system out. A little WD40 and it hasn't happened since.
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Franklin wrote at 2007-10-13 21:15:45
I work at a dealership and this works! Our service manager was prepared to initiate a lemon law return on a 2005 T&C because it could not be repaired until I printed this page and made him read it. Needless to say problem solved!
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-rick wrote at 2007-10-19 12:28:32
The IOD fuse worked for me too. Just removed and replaced - no waiting. Door locks now work again - hope it lasts...
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Danny Kuiper, Jr. wrote at 2007-10-20 02:25:24
Just did this with my '05 Grand Caravan. Worked perfectly. Also listened carefully to the lock movement and it sounds like the driver side sliding doors lock is dragging. Going to see if the problem reoccurs then I'm working on that door next. Thanks for the help everyone.
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J wrote at 2007-10-28 15:30:40
Yep! IOD fuse worked. However check the condition of your doors key lock. Ours was deformed and a scratch was on the casing. Apparently some goof tried to break into our van.
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SarasotaFrank wrote at 2007-12-09 19:04:29
Took car (05 T&C) to dealer for 2 factory recall fixes. Never had a door lock problem prior. Two days later I had the door lock problem, Back to dealer who charged $75 and said his diagostics equipment reset the computer. Two days later problem again. Dealer said Master Control Module bad. He ordered, I waited two more days, took back and total bill close to $400. I called and wrote Chrysler customer service. They eventually agreed to reimburse me $250 (took 3 months to get the check). No problem for these past 4 months or so until today. I googled and found this forum and did the IOD fuse thing... Door locks work fine now. I wonder how long this will last. There is a electrical design bug somewhere... Bottom line, it is over 10 miles to dealership and the minimum is a half-day shot to hell. This forum saved my a 20 mile round-trip and at least a half-day of life. I am so grateful to all of you. Thanks
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Camera Kid wrote at 2007-12-18 03:22:05
My wife told me the doors would no longer lock in our 2005 Grand Caravan. I thought OH, OH, how much is that going to COST?
So I went to a repair shop to see if they knew of a quick fix. "Bring it by in the morning and leave it for a few hours", they said. "The last one we FIXED we had to take off the whole dash panel to find the problem", they said. Well when I got home I did a google search and found this site, followed the suggestions found here and disconnected the battery, removed the 20 amp IOD fuse and put every thing back. Then I used the remote and it locked the doors.
IT WORKS AGAIN! THANK YOU VERY MUCH! Won't be going by that shop tomorrow, or any other time in the future.
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dash wrote at 2008-01-16 16:12:01
My 2005 Grand Caravan power locks quit working, and after reading numerous articles on the internet, I pulled the IOD fuse for a few seconds, then replaced it, and the locks were back to normal. It looks like another fine engineering job by Chrysler. Thank God for the
internet!
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Bharath wrote at 2008-01-17 00:44:23
Thanks very very very much. I own a 2005 Chrysler t & C. Removed the 20 AMP IOD fuse for 30 seconds and the locks started working like magic.
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ABraveLady wrote at 2008-02-09 05:39:14
Same problem exactly. 2005 T&C power door locks stopped working but we pulled the IOD fuse for a minute, put it baqck and the locks are working again. Thanks so much for everyones input - you're all awesome!
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MKWOOD wrote at 2008-02-16 17:28:57
Seems like most of the notes here regard 2005 models so I figured I'd add that the same issue and fix worked for my 2007 Town & Country. Yet another reason why I like my last van better, but at least this fix was free. Thanks to all the responders who make this Internet resource work!
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Tom R wrote at 2008-02-16 19:30:53
Just removed the IOD fuse. Locks worked right away. I don't know how long it will last, but it works right now. Thanks for the help
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sunny815 wrote at 2008-04-10 04:52:03
My 2005 Town & Country has the same problem with the locks. Pulling the fuse and putting it back in works, but never for long. Glad to see these posts. I was about to take it to the dealer, but it looks like that would be a waste of time and money.
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namvet59 wrote at 2008-04-18 12:18:18
I have the same issue with my 2005 Dodge Caravan and my 2005 Chrysler Town & Country. I have to remove the fuse at least once a week though, it doesn't seem to last. Finally after about 6 months of removing the fuse on e of my door lock just completely quit working and now I haven't had to remove the fuse for about 3 weeks. Chrysler doesn't care about this problem, I called and they told me to take it to a dealer and oh it isn't free, you have to pay to get it fixed. Fortunately the Dodge Caravan was still under Warranty. Thanks for the info, I am glad I found this site.
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Scotty wrote at 2008-04-22 20:31:20
Very well said! Went in slip the IOD fuse and I got my power locks back. The dealer said they had to rewire my door or had a loose wire. Dealers in my opinion have MECHANICS that don't always know there work. Saved me $250.00 or more. Thank You
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Bluecat25 wrote at 2008-05-12 14:56:44
Same locks problem with my Town and Country. I noticed the button on the electric door wasn't working this morning, and then found out none of the electronic locks would work, including the key fob and door lock. Googled first, thank goodness, and tried the 30 second fuse removal. It didn't work, even though it did reset the time on the radio. Tried it again, and left the fuse out for about 5 minutes. Worked like a charm. Thanks!
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Susan Coulange wrote at 2008-05-17 18:22:20
My 2005 Town and Country had the same problem: power door locks that quit working. As I was searching for which replacement part I needed, I happened upon this blog. We immediately disconnect the battery and IOP fuse and low, and behold: It worked! We forgot IT's first response to all computer problems: Reboot! Thanks to everyone for saving us time and money. Susan
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Buckster wrote at 2008-05-27 02:45:36
I have had the same problem with the front passenger power window stop operating, only later to fix itself. Recently all the door locks stopped operating as described above. I disconnected the battery and reconnected it. Everything worked fine for a while. Don't buy all new harnesses and guess. I believe there is a computer issue here as after the battery was reconnected, everything worked. The more I read, this is definately a Chrysler issue that is a larger problem then just us.
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D wrote at 2008-06-07 02:46:39
Great solution, you made me look great. Wife had me work on her friends 2005 Chrysler minvan. This solution worked great, pull IOD fuse, took longer to put it back. I did find out later the friend who is very short has a strap hanging from the back door that she uses to pull the door down, then throws the other end inside which I can tell gets caught in the latch. Thanks D
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steve wrote at 2008-08-02 17:58:40
If it is just the locks not locking/unlocking from the fob or door switches, there is a TSB to flash the body control software. Until you get that applied, try pulling the IOM fuse (front most, drivers side of fuse block under hood), inspect fuse, count to 10, reinstall. That resets the software. The doors are different circuits from the locks so that's a seperate issue.
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bondrdm wrote at 2008-08-11 03:04:52
It's been 3 months with the problem and I'm getting tired of pulling the fuse every two days. Dealer has no idea.
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Jay from FL wrote at 2008-08-29 04:02:02
Thanks for this tip! We bought a 2005 T&C yesterday and it stopped working last night! I spent half a day at the dealership today. They fixed it and it worked exactly twice. Just tried the IOD trick and it worked right away!
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Rik wrote at 2008-09-14 18:59:24
I just have to chime and and say thank you so much for this. It's posts like this one that remind me how cool the internet is! I was pretty worried that I'd have to spend an arm and a leg for some guy to take 15 minutes tinkering about under the hood... and then I found this. It worked like a charm. I unhooked the battery for about 10 minutes (checked the tire pressure while I was waiting), hooked it back up and all was well. Thanks again!
~Rik
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Stuart wrote at 2008-09-14 19:13:32
Thanks for the tip. I pulled the IOD fuse for a few seconds and replaced it and it works perfectly.
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bob wrote at 2008-09-22 14:41:43
Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!
IOD fuse was pulled, counted to 10, put it back and the door locks worked!
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Tim in Japan wrote at 2008-09-29 04:09:09
I recently brought my DGCV back to Japan (military) and I just experienced this same problem. The locks worked yesterday, but its raining now and this seems to be a common factor. Its still raining, so I really don't want to open the hood and reset this fuse. I am very excited to see if this will work. If it does, everyone on numerous Blogs have saved me a lot of money. The Japanese Crysler Dealer would probably sick it to me. This is such a disappointment with Dodge.
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Ray wrote at 2008-12-20 21:45:49
If your power door locks are having a problem locking with the Key Fob or the door lock switch inside the vehicle the problem is most likely the fuse. The front left hand fuse, 20Amp, called the IDO fuse, which is marked on the inside of the fuse door, under the hood, sometime becomes corroded and is not making good contact, simply pull this fuse and re-install it, that should solve you problem. If the fuse if broken replace it.
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ddujin wrote at 2009-01-06 21:16:57
Simple open fuse box, and take out one in left bottom place (my is yellow), wipe it and return back. That is all
Thanks
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jrprich wrote at 2009-01-27 00:50:22
Well I just pulled the IOD fuse for 30 sec......and I am amazed that the locks seem to work now !!!!
Took me awhile to find the IOD fuse as I thought it would be a 20 amp......but only 10 amp on the 99 and hidden way up in a corner.
Hope this works, I will visit the dealer tomorrow and try again to get a FOB programmed.
THANKS TO ALL
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Christine wrote at 2009-02-05 03:51:33
Have 2005 T&C. We've been pulling the IOD about every 2 months for the last 8 months. Now it doesn't last for more than 2 days. Took to dealer and they have no idea. Going to try jiggling the wires under the dash and putting WD40 in the key lock as mentioned in other responses here to see if that works. I will let you know.
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Laurrie wrote at 2009-02-27 18:37:53
Thanks! Same power lock problem with my 2005 Town and Country I pulled out the IOD for about 20 seconds like mentioned above and it worked like a charm! Hopefully it'll last! Thanks everyone!
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Rich wrote at 2009-03-10 03:13:09
Removing and replacing IOD fuse Worked like a charm. I just spent 2 hours at a shop (TG for free) and they didn't find the problem. Finding this site was a blessing. BTW, I have a 2005 T&C. It looks like this year is a bad one for Door locks!
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Moparlee wrote at 2009-03-24 22:45:21
Well, on my van I don't have the power sliding doors. But my locks and key less entry wouldn't work. I was told to reset the battery for a few minutes and it worked on my wife's van.
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bpos wrote at 2009-07-05 23:16:27
My 2005 T&C has the same problem of power door lock/unlock not working. It has only 44,000 miles. I took it to the dealer and he said he reprogrammed the BCM. After that it worked for a few hours and then the same problem. He charged me about $55 for this. I went to him again and he said he will have to replace the BCM which will cost about $700 (BCM + labor). I am going to try the IOD fuse disconnect and battery disconnect method and hope it will work. Thank You every body if this works.
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jcthomasville wrote at 2009-08-02 03:36:05
THANKS Chrysler T&C Owners. You just saved me $500 the dealer wanted for a new BCM.Pulled the IOD fuse for 10 minutes and reinstalled and THE DOOR LOCKS WORK AGAIN!!!! Ran and got the wife, it's her car, and she is happy again. Going to see the dealer Monday for a heart to heart talk!!!
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SBH wrote at 2009-08-10 00:26:03
You people rock!!! My 05 Town and Country's door locks (by key or by button on the door) stopped working.... I took out the IOD fuse, counted to ten, reinstalled and they work again. Van has been awesome other than this one issue.
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Jason 'vanRijn' Kasper wrote at 2009-08-31 00:50:45
Yeah, I'm having this problem too. 2005 Chrysler, Town & Country. I've been doing the "take the IOD fuse out for 5 minutes until the radio gets reset to 12:00, put it back in again" thing for a couple of weeks now and it only seems to fix it for a day. With all of the people who were saying that this fixed things for them, I was really hopeful that it would for me too. I'm just wondering how many people who tried this and had it work eventually had it stop "working" and what they did to actually fix it? Do I really have to take my T&C into the dealer? Is there something simple (like spray WD-40 somewhere or something) to fix the underlying problem? What I'm worried about most is taking the car into the dealer, having them do something to reset whatever it is that keeps disabling my power locks, and then have the problem come right back again. Grrr, this is really annoying!
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anna wrote at 2009-09-07 19:18:43
thank God for the internet and this site... i umplugged the fuse it now it works...Yah! hopefully it will last but i rather unplug the fuse everyday than pay $500... thanks again
