Grand Caravan electrical issue?

[milehigh]

Hi all-

I have a 2011 Dodge Grand Caravan with 41k miles. Yesterday, I started the van (warm, recently driven) and the following happened.

The van started fine. The electroluminescent dash gauges stayed dark, and the EVIC center showed the engine as "off". Meanwhile, the front wipers were running on full speed- playing with the stalk did nothing to change that.

The audio system worked just fine, so did the backup camera.

After about 30 seconds, the gauges came to life, the wipers stopped and all was well. No CEL's or warning lights. It runs and drives great (as usual).

Any ideas?

 

[NHGUY]

Body control module issue? Bad ground?

 

[hoosierrun]

First thing is to check the battery and the connections. Make sure the battery can hold a good charge. The electronics in these cars are very sensitive to anything but clean DC voltage from the battery. Your battery acts like a filter to any "dirty" power that can be put out by the alternator. So.. if the battery contacts were only slightly dirty, the body computer might have received a glitch, but the starter function normally.

Beyond something as simple as that, unfortunately it can become complicted and frustrating with intermittant conditions. A dealer or high level service shop can scan the various computers for any error codes, but don't be surprised if they don't find anything wrong and still charge $100 for the cost of hooking up and using their expensive scanner. Best of luck to you. I really love these vans because they drive so nice. Intermittant problems can happen on any vehicle.

 

[Blazered]

Try disconnecting the battery for 15 minutes, then reconnect. If the problem does not reoccur, you reset the computer and that may be all it needs.

 

[milehigh]

thanks. I will check the battery and connections this weekend to ensure all is working properly. The van was recently serviced (batt removed) so that might be the case...