Ok a little back story. I have an 08 Town and Country. About a month ago, my husband went out to start the car in the morning and it wouldn't start. I went out later in the afternoon and it started right up and I never had a problem with it since. About the same time it wouldn't start, The 4 break lights on the dash went on ( BRAKE, ABS, ESP BAS, and the car with the skid marks). I never actually had a problem with the breaks though. Also at the same time, I started having a problem with the airbag light coming on every now and then. When it came on, all the gauges stopped working and the windshield wipes would go across the window one time. Then the gauges would go back to working normally and the airbag light would go off. This only happened occasionally and since I wasn't having any real problems with the car I put off. After about a weak the break lights on the dash went off too. Well 2 days ago all the break lights on the dash came back on again. Today I drove the car for about an hour with no problems. Shut it off at my brothers house and when I got back in the car to leave, almost all the lights on the dash came on when I started the car. The gas light (I know I had plenty gas), battery light, BRAKE, ABS, ESP ABS, airbag, and alternator. All of my gauges stopped working. I could not see what gear I was in, and the spot that gives me warning and tells the temp only had dash signs on it. My turn signal also wouldn't work. This continued all the way home and when I got home I tried leaving the car off for a few minutes and starting it and it was the same. The was also a little red light in the middle of the dash by the brake lights that was on and stayed on for about a minute after turning off the car. I have no idea what's wrong and am at a loss! Thanks in advance for any suggestions!

 

Have you done a key dance to see what fault codes come up? Hows your car battery? I had a similar thing and it was the alternator at fault. But you could do with the fault codes? Do you know what I mean when I say "Key dance"? Get in the car and put key in ignition and turn in on ( the last click b4 the engine starts! But dont start the engine) and off about 5 times! It will then come up with codes like' P1067 ect

 

Sounds like a case of glitched-up micros. This can be fixed by disconnecting the battery for a few minutes, (this will happen automatically with the next procedure). From your description, you could also have slightly corroded connections in the starter circuit.
Make sure the battery post connectors are bare-metal clean. Use a round file if necessary. See the lead posts on the battery are scraped bare-metal clean with an old knife or abrasive paper. A little vaseline/grease on the posts first before reconnecting.
Examine all the starter ciruit, ground-bolts, ground straps from engine to chassis etc. are good and free from corrosion. If necessary, undo and clean to bare metal with a file. Re-do with a little vaseline/grease.
Do all this properly and I think you will find your problems have disappeared.

Leedsman.

 

I actually didn't know I could do that with the key. I just tried it now and no codes came up. Just the same lights that were on before. I have not had any problems with the battery at all.

 

Thanks I will have my husband try this.

 

It takes a few goes sonetimes to get it to work! Not to fast! Not to slow! Turn on for 1 sec and off the same. Disconnect the battery to re set like my friend has said.

 

5th generation 2008-2014 vans have had a well documented problem with their Totally Integrated Power Modules (TIPM). That's the fancy term for the fuse box under the hood. Sad thing is it's much more than a fuse box making it a pricey little gem. It controls the electronics on the van via internal microprocessors mounted on multiple circuit boards that talk to each other and to components all over the van via the CAN data bus. It sounds like that's where your problem may lie. The usual culprits are corrosion, either internal or external to the TIPM, or voltage spikes that damage internal components.

First step for me would be to make sure the battery and connections are up to speed. Clean them till they squeak. Make sure they are tight. Next have the battery load tested. Erratic power fluctuations, power spikes and low power wreak havoc on the vans sensitive micro electronics. The TIPM, it's connections, the Cabin Control Node (CCN) in the instrument cluster, even shorted power sliding door wire harnesses are on your hit list. All pricey. That's another reason to start with the battery

 

Testing a car battery the easy way:--

With your essential digital voltmeter, hook it across the battery. It should read 12.8volt for a good battery, not less than 12.6. With engine-off, switch on the headlights and watch how the voltmeter reading drops over a couple of minutes or so. If the reading drops below 12volt after a very few mins. the battery is probably sulphated. Even more probable if the battery is old. This battery will not start the car in very cold weather.

Testing an alternator the easy way:--

Again with your essential digital voltmeter across the battery, get someone else to start the engine and watch the reading. It should dip during cranking, but if the engine starts normally, you won't be able to see the reading, it's all too quick.
Immediately after starting, the voltmeter should read well over 14volt. After a minute of two it should settle to 13.8volt. This shows the alternator is charging the battery in the normal way.

Testing an alternator for back leak:--

Very carefully slacken the main heavy current alternator connector without taking it off. This connector carries the battery 12volt rail and is NOT fused. So be careful not to short your spanner/wrench to any surrounding metalwork. In low light with ignition key out see if you can observe any slight sparks as you rattle the loose connector about. Even very slight sparks indicate a semi-shorted rectifier diode in the alternator. This will drain your battery all the time. A more sophisticated way is to make a small low current test lamp up such as an old tungsten-filament torch/flashlight lamp-bulb with test-leads and croc. clips. Use a lamp with as low a current rating as poss, less than 100m/A. 50 m/A bulbs can be had. Clip this in series with the alternator's heavy current lead by taking off the lead altogether. You can of course use a small lamp bulb without test leads if you are careful not to short anything to adjacent metalwork. If the lamp lights up at all, there is a semi-shorted rectifier diode. Again, be careful not to short the spanner/wrench to any surrounding metal work. If you have electronics experience, you will use a milliamp meter for this test.

The above tests cost nothing, and consume very little time. Proper testing and measurement saves wasting money on buying and fitting parts un-necessarily.

Leedsman.