01 caravan - wipers keep running

From : mike

Q: thanks maxpower but i dont see any fault codes. what is the bcm anyway thanks mike hello i have an 01 dodge caravan 3.3l and lately once and awhile driving the wipers come on all by themselves and now i seen them come on from the house while it was sitting in the driveway parked with no key! it is very cold out here and wondering if that might have something to do with it does anyone know what this could be its very weird. im afraid i will have a drained battery and worn down wipers in the morning. thanks mike the biggest problem was the mulifunction switch on this vehicle. you may want to take the car in and have the dealer check for any fault codes especially in the bcm .

Replies:

From : maxpower

on thu 03 mar 2005 214606 -0700 .bob bobcowan@access4less.nospam.net wrote avoid the v6. you only get 1mpg more than the v8 and you give up a lot of area under the power curve. sport vs slt is purely up to you. its just a trim and options package so its whatever looks good to you and has what you want. well i own a 2001 dakota with the 3.9 v6 and i honestly have to agree i am retired but need a truck ... did not need anything powerful do not carry heavy loads ets so i went for the v6 and a 5 speed trany what a mistake... ! the darn thing is just geared completely worng and there is no power.....period...! my dakota is a nice little old mans truck.... and i am just a sob...not nice at all.... bob griffiths 2001 dakota everyday transportation...underpowered !!!! 68 ss 396 chevelle ...adrenaline machine 64 corvette ragtop.. 4 sp solid lifters 365 hp . 72 corvette ragtop 4 sp zz4 powered 76 corvette coupe 4 sp bone stock l48 79 corvette coupe auto just slightly tweaked 95 corvette coupe 6 sp lt1 .

From : maxpower

on fri 04 mar 2005 031155 gmt jerry jlrice1655@earthlink.net wrote tom lawrence wrote just be considerate of the 3 or 4 people still left on dialup and indicate in the subject line that pictures are attached. i think there is still 5 of us left. but hell im just thankful they even have phone service out where im at...... jerry im only 30 miles south of wahington d.c. and i cant get dsl. beekeep 2 of 5 .

From : nosey

thanks maxpower but i dont see any fault codes. what is the bcm anyway thanks mike hello i have an 01 dodge caravan 3.3l and lately once and awhile driving the wipers come on all by themselves and now i seen them come on from the house while it was sitting in the driveway parked with no key! it is very cold out here and wondering if that might have something to do with it does anyone know what this could be its very weird. im afraid i will have a drained battery and worn down wipers in the morning. thanks mike the biggest problem was the mulifunction switch on this vehicle. you may want to take the car in and have the dealer check for any fault codes especially in the bcm im sorry bcm body control module iow yet another useless part that serves no real purpose other than to make the vehicle increasingly more complex and all the more difficult to service outside of the dealership. yup! we design em that way! ;^ mike yep and on purpose too. -- if at first you dont succeed youre not cut out for skydiving so what is done in this situation does the bcm require replacing mike the symptoms that you are describing makes that sound like a strong possibility. since your vehicle may still be under warranty i would have the dealer take a look at it. i would suspect that this is not an inexpensive part. and where is the bcm located i have no idea where it could be in your vehicle but there are others in here that may. picking up a fsm may be a good idea if you intend to do any work on that vehicle. just looking through it can give you an idea what jobs may be beyond your abilities before you start them and get yourself into trouble. -- if at first you dont succeed youre not cut out for skydiving the bcm is located on the left side by the emergency brake assembly it has to be ordered thru chrysler only and programmed before installed most likely your problem is going to be in the multifunction switch.. the bcm is a cost of around 300.00 part only .

From : mike

i guess the auto shows did them well. i have reserved my decision on the truck until the tranny gets fixed. i dtopped it off today at the dealership and they gave me a loaner until next week i had an appt on monday but just couldnt see driving it anymore with the tranny problems it was having. i guess the dealership didnt have time today to look at it though cause they didnt call me to let me know what the problem actually was. -michele ; .

From : denny

thanks maxpower but i dont see any fault codes. what is the bcm anyway thanks mike hello i have an 01 dodge caravan 3.3l and lately once and awhile driving the wipers come on all by themselves and now i seen them come on from the house while it was sitting in the driveway parked with no key! it is very cold out here and wondering if that might have something to do with it does anyone know what this could be its very weird. im afraid i will have a drained battery and worn down wipers in the morning. thanks mike the biggest problem was the mulifunction switch on this vehicle. you may want to take the car in and have the dealer check for any fault codes especially in the bcm im sorry bcm body control module iow yet another useless part that serves no real purpose other than to make the vehicle increasingly more complex and all the more difficult to service outside of the dealership. yup! we design em that way! ;^ mike yep and on purpose too. -- if at first you dont succeed youre not cut out for skydiving so what is done in this situation does the bcm require replacing mike .

From : tbone

thanks maxpower but i dont see any fault codes. what is the bcm anyway thanks mike hello i have an 01 dodge caravan 3.3l and lately once and awhile driving the wipers come on all by themselves and now i seen them come on from the house while it was sitting in the driveway parked with no key! it is very cold out here and wondering if that might have something to do with it does anyone know what this could be its very weird. im afraid i will have a drained battery and worn down wipers in the morning. thanks mike the biggest problem was the mulifunction switch on this vehicle. you may want to take the car in and have the dealer check for any fault codes especially in the bcm im sorry bcm body control module iow yet another useless part that serves no real purpose other than to make the vehicle increasingly more complex and all the more difficult to service outside of the dealership. -- if at first you dont succeed youre not cut out for skydiving acually the bcm does alot but i do agree with you on the service part i understand that but most of what it does is really unnecessary. the dome light windshield wipers climate control head lights and various other components seemed to work pretty well on their own prior to the introduction of the bcm. the main problem with it is that it tends to put all of the eggs in one basket and can cost big $$$ to the owner to fix even minor problems once out of warranty. -- if at first you dont succeed youre not cut out for skydiving .

From : maxpower

thanks maxpower but i dont see any fault codes. what is the bcm anyway thanks mike hello i have an 01 dodge caravan 3.3l and lately once and awhile driving the wipers come on all by themselves and now i seen them come on from the house while it was sitting in the driveway parked with no key! it is very cold out here and wondering if that might have something to do with it does anyone know what this could be its very weird. im afraid i will have a drained battery and worn down wipers in the morning. thanks mike the biggest problem was the mulifunction switch on this vehicle. you may want to take the car in and have the dealer check for any fault codes especially in the bcm im sorry bcm body control module iow yet another useless part that serves no real purpose other than to make the vehicle increasingly more complex and all the more difficult to service outside of the dealership. yup! we design em that way! ;^ mike yep and on purpose too. -- if at first you dont succeed youre not cut out for skydiving .

From : mike simmons

my take on the fire is not w/ cruise control but with the anti-lock brake system. one of my e-250s is recalled for this and the letter from ford advises not to park vehicle indoors until checked. the recall # is 04s22. go to ford web site and follow threads for recall and enter vin # to see if vehicle is affected. kevin i asked my dad why he isnt keeping his little pickup truck in the garage. he said that he heard that they were catching on fire while being parked. he asked the dealer about it and they said that ford would be sending out letters concerning the problem. this was a few months ago. now you have to understand that dad is 85 and can get a little confused so i am not sure what to believe. have any of you here heard about such spontanious fires happening beekeep ps has anyone heard from budd lately and if anyone has his email addy would you ping it to me at honeybs@radix.net. i would like to send him a note. .

From : maxpower

thanks maxpower but i dont see any fault codes. what is the bcm anyway thanks mike hello i have an 01 dodge caravan 3.3l and lately once and awhile driving the wipers come on all by themselves and now i seen them come on from the house while it was sitting in the driveway parked with no key! it is very cold out here and wondering if that might have something to do with it does anyone know what this could be its very weird. im afraid i will have a drained battery and worn down wipers in the morning. thanks mike the biggest problem was the mulifunction switch on this vehicle. you may want to take the car in and have the dealer check for any fault codes especially in the bcm im sorry bcm body control module iow yet another useless part that serves no real purpose other than to make the vehicle increasingly more complex and all the more difficult to service outside of the dealership. yup! we design em that way! ;^ mike -- if at first you dont succeed youre not cut out for skydiving mike you gave away our secret .

From : tbone

thanks maxpower but i dont see any fault codes. what is the bcm anyway thanks mike hello i have an 01 dodge caravan 3.3l and lately once and awhile driving the wipers come on all by themselves and now i seen them come on from the house while it was sitting in the driveway parked with no key! it is very cold out here and wondering if that might have something to do with it does anyone know what this could be its very weird. im afraid i will have a drained battery and worn down wipers in the morning. thanks mike the biggest problem was the mulifunction switch on this vehicle. you may want to take the car in and have the dealer check for any fault codes especially in the bcm im sorry bcm body control module iow yet another useless part that serves no real purpose other than to make the vehicle increasingly more complex and all the more difficult to service outside of the dealership. yup! we design em that way! ;^ mike -- if at first you dont succeed youre not cut out for skydiving .

From : maxpower

thanks maxpower but i dont see any fault codes. what is the bcm anyway thanks mike hello i have an 01 dodge caravan 3.3l and lately once and awhile driving the wipers come on all by themselves and now i seen them come on from the house while it was sitting in the driveway parked with no key! it is very cold out here and wondering if that might have something to do with it does anyone know what this could be its very weird. im afraid i will have a drained battery and worn down wipers in the morning. thanks mike the biggest problem was the mulifunction switch on this vehicle. you may want to take the car in and have the dealer check for any fault codes especially in the bcm im sorry bcm body control module iow yet another useless part that serves no real purpose other than to make the vehicle increasingly more complex and all the more difficult to service outside of the dealership. -- if at first you dont succeed youre not cut out for skydiving acually the bcm does alot but i do agree with you on the service part .

From : mike

thanks maxpower but i dont see any fault codes. what is the bcm anyway thanks mike hello i have an 01 dodge caravan 3.3l and lately once and awhile driving the wipers come on all by themselves and now i seen them come on from the house while it was sitting in the driveway parked with no key! it is very cold out here and wondering if that might have something to do with it does anyone know what this could be its very weird. im afraid i will have a drained battery and worn down wipers in the morning. thanks mike the biggest problem was the mulifunction switch on this vehicle. you may want to take the car in and have the dealer check for any fault codes especially in the bcm im sorry bcm body control module iow yet another useless part that serves no real purpose other than to make the vehicle increasingly more complex and all the more difficult to service outside of the dealership. -- if at first you dont succeed youre not cut out for skydiving .

From : maxpower

thanks maxpower but i dont see any fault codes. what is the bcm anyway thanks mike hello i have an 01 dodge caravan 3.3l and lately once and awhile driving the wipers come on all by themselves and now i seen them come on from the house while it was sitting in the driveway parked with no key! it is very cold out here and wondering if that might have something to do with it does anyone know what this could be its very weird. im afraid i will have a drained battery and worn down wipers in the morning. thanks mike the biggest problem was the mulifunction switch on this vehicle. you may want to take the car in and have the dealer check for any fault codes especially in the bcm im sorry bcm body control module .

From : tbone

i tried posting 2 pics of the fire and so far they havent shown up. not sure what my isp is doing. anyway ill try again after waiting a while longer to see if they show up. bob this is a non bin binary group. most servers will reject the posting of pictures to non binary groups. .

From : tbone

my apologies for re-entering this ng in such an agressive manner. the pot needs to be stirred once in a while. you did that perfectly. -- ken .

From : mike

im looking at purchasing a used 2002 dakota but have a question about the models. ive found a 4dr slt 4x4 with 70000kms for $24995.00 canadian. it has the 4.7l v8. i also found a sport 4dr with 67000kms for $22995.00 canadian. it has the 3.9l v6 wich would be better on gas i would think. which was the better model the slt or the sport .

From : tbone

tom lawrence wrote just be considerate of the 3 or 4 people still left on dialup and indicate in the subject line that pictures are attached. i think there is still 5 of us left. but hell im just thankful they even have phone service out where im at...... jerry .

From : maxpower

suddenly without warning bob g. exclaimed 3/4/2005 331 pm on thu 03 mar 2005 214606 -0700 .bob bobcowan@access4less.nospam.net wrote avoid the v6. you only get 1mpg more than the v8 and you give up a lot of area under the power curve. sport vs slt is purely up to you. its just a trim and options package so its whatever looks good to you and has what you want. well i own a 2001 dakota with the 3.9 v6 and i honestly have to agree i am retired but need a truck ... did not need anything powerful do not carry heavy loads ets so i went for the v6 and a 5 speed trany what a mistake... ! the darn thing is just geared completely worng and there is no power.....period...! my dakota is a nice little old mans truck.... and i am just a sob...not nice at all.... hehe. i looked at that same mpg decided on power over one lousy mpg and after reading this am really glad i did. that 4.7 v8 stick really gets up and goes if i ask it to. hubby complains of whiplash can i cue a tool man taylor huhuhu if im a gal incidentally i have the slt package. if i remember correctly on the 2001 it has a bit more stuff than the sport or at least more stuff that i wanted... .