1998 Plymouth Voyager Engine cuts out - Alarm?

Has anyone ever gotten any codes out of the PCM? Sounds like it could bea problem with the BCM (body Control Module) setting the alarm. Has the dealer done a full diagnostic on it?

They told me they have done a full diagnostic. The last time it was at the dealership they had it for an etire week and they told me they also went through every single connection. One of the mechanics told me the vehicle did not have an alarm though? which I find strange as the "alarm set" indicator light is present and illuminates when this problem occurs.

Would a problem with the BCM be intermittent? Is that a releatively easy fix?

Could that also be the cause of the gauges zeroing out periodically?

I stopped at autozone this morning to have the check engine light analyzed (but this I believe is due to the gauses problem and not the intermittent alarm/stopping thing and the code was

P1698

does that help?

A friend of my father's suggested it sounds like the ignition switch is worn, but that doesn't make any logical sense to me

P1698 Code - PCM Fault No CCD Message From TCM so this will not have something to do with the alarm.

I have replaced alot of switches in Dodges, test to see if it is giving 12 volts out of it. If it is then you might want to find a shop that specializes in electrical problems

So just curious what ever happened with your van? I'm experiencing the same two issues with my 1998 Plymouth voyager, and could use some guidance.....

Hi,

Jamie, that post was from 2008 and the person never replied back. Is your problem exactly the same as what the original post indicates? Also, have you ever had the computer scanned for diagnostic codes or anything different than what was mentioned in the original post?

Let me know.

Joe

Hi everyone. Allow me to add a few comments of value that might get you looking in a different direction. This is based on the symptoms listed in the original post.

The place I would start looking is for broken solder connections on the connector on the back of the instrument cluster. This is a real common problem. I only repaired one van for this and that was a number of years ago, so I'm doing this from memory. The huge clue was that pounding on the dash pad would change the symptoms. As I recall, the engine would not even crank, but if it did, it wouldn't start and run at times. The anti-theft light did something abnormal too, but it wasn't actually in theft mode. When it is, the engine will start and run for two seconds, then stall for lack of fuel. I don't remember hearing that it would stall intermittently while driving, but the symptoms will vary from one van to another depending on which terminals are broken loose.

There are two rows of connector terminals. The one I repaired was in one of the corners. Looking at this connector view, they show two corner terminals are ground circuits. Those will affect multiple circuits or systems.

For the failure to crank after three tries, that is designed into the software and there's nothing to fix for that. Just wait a minute or two. This was frustrating at the dealership, but the engineers' thought was the engine should be running by that time and they lock out the starter system to prevent trying to crank the engine while it's already running. My reply was they found a solution where there was no problem.

My suspicion is the ignition switch is not a good suspect unless testing proves otherwise. It actually has three or four separate switches built into it. The part for cranking the engine sees very little use, and when it is turned to "crank", it passes very little current to run a relay. By far most failures will involve the part that turns the accessory circuits on and off. That includes power windows, the heater fan, and radio. This problem was much more common on slightly older models that used a different switch design, and my suspicion is it affected mostly people who were in the habit of turning the ignition switch on and off while the heater fan was set to a higher speed. That forced that very high current to be switched on and off by the ignition switch, and that led to excessive arcing across the contacts in that part of the switch. That led to heat buildup that eventually migrated out to the connector terminals, to the point the plastic connector body would melt around those two terminals. Remember, that failure only affected those accessory circuits. The engine would still crank just fine and run normally. When you run into any high-current switch or relay with overheated terminals like that, the only acceptable repair is to replace that switch, the two terminals, and about four inches of wire for those two terminals at the same time. If only the switch or only the terminals are replaced, the problem will occur again very soon. I can describe that repair in more detail if that becomes necessary.

I never ran into this ignition switch problem on the redesigned '96 and newer Caravans. Most of the high-current circuits are switched off and on by multiple computer modules now instead of simple, inexpensive switches, so that takes the stress away from those ignition switch contacts.