Questions and Answers
Caravan... No Start... No Power
Q. As the subject says I'm having starting trouble with my 1993 Dodge Caravan. It is the 3.0 V6 with 186,000km, 3spd. auto.,with A/C, P/S. The problem is VERY intermittent--it may only happen every couple of days(or more) OR a couple of times a day.
When starting the vehicle you occasionally get NOTHING. No starting sounds or power to anything period--obviously a short somewhere. When this first happened a couple of months ago I thought bad battery. Since it was less than a year old I took it back (in the vehicle) and had it checked out. It tested fine--analog tester. Still being a doubter, I went to a parts store for the same service. This time they removed the sealed cap and tested the specific gravity--ok. Secondly they applied their electronic stepped load tester which came back with a "good battery" display.
So I removed that battery (still doubting) and put it in my 1985 2.2 Aries and put the AC Delco (quite old) from it into the van. To date the car has never had a problem and the van still "acts up"(unfortunately its the wifes vehicle if you know what I mean).
Wednesday morning was a different no start. This time power was very low and the starter would just click rapidly. Had the Delco tested and it came back bad. Ok it was quite old. Bought a new 800 c.c.a battery put it in the van and drove it to have the alternator checked--putting out approx. 14V--OK. I'm positive this most recent no start is independent of the other No Power No Start problem.
Does this problem sound like a starter shorting out (if that is possible) or just some wacky short circuit God knows where. P.S admittedly the starter is also quite old. I took it out of my 1987 Voyager (with the same motor) because the starter in the 1993 was giving me trouble over a year ago--but NOT the No Power problem. That trouble seemed more typical of a bad starter--turn key, no start, hear solenoid click, try again and it would start. Now you may try several times without success--no start no power--before it decides to go.
Thank you for your time and any suggestions you may have.
MarkA. It sounds to me like there is a loose or bad connection somewhere. My first suggestion would be to check the battery connections and make sure they are clean and tight, but putting in a new battery should eliminate that possibility. At this point I would check all the connections and make sure they are clean and tight. Then I would check the fusible links and make sure they are good.
A fusible link is similar to a fuse in that they will burn out at a rated amperage. But sometimes they will break and you will not be able to bee through the insulation and see it. What you need to do is remove the link and try and stretch it. If there is a break in the wire, the insulation will stretch out and, if you pull hard enough, it will break. If there is no break in the wire, it will not stretch. You can check regular wires like this as well.
Go to the library and get a copy of the wiring diagram for this vehicle and you can trace the power routing for it. Since there is no power at all, it should be relatively easy to trace. Unless the condition is exhibiting itself at the time, everything will check out as okay, except for a broken link or wire. You may have to wait for the condition to become more frequent or a steady problem to definitely find the cause.
