2001 T&C - automatic door stops working

Hello,

I have a 2001 Town & Country Limited and we've had repeated problems with
the automatic doors. Right now one of the doors starts to open when
triggered but stops as soo as it releases from the lock. It appears to be
related to cold weather as we don't have this problem (as much) in warmer
months. Does anyone know why we're having this problem and what a permanent
solution is? The dealer has not been able to perform any permanent fix.
I'd like to be able to perform the adjustments and part replacments myself
as this appears to be one of the weakest points with this car and I'm tired
of bringing it in for service.

Thanks,
Luke

 

One of 2 things wrong, The door latch has switches on them to tell the door
module if the door is opened or closed. If one of the switches is bad the
door will not know what to do when it pops open, so it just doesn't move in
any direction. A scan tool will be needed to see what the inputs and outputs
are doing to verify this. The other common problem is the harness that runs
inside the bottom door track may have a broken wire, (Normally the ground
wire. Black wire). You would have to disconnect both ends of the harness,
using an ohm meter check to see if there are any broken wires in the
harness.

Glenn Beasley
Chrysler Tech

 

Hi Glen,

I think I posed this same question, only to find out that my chrysler
dealer, no matter how many times I took it to them, could not scan and find
any problems.

But, it definitely has to do with the cold weather. And mine is a 2001 as
well, not that that means anything.

 

I believe the "child protection" is built into the motor,when the motor
detects resistance it stops as if something is in the door. in colder
weather the grease inside the motor causes too much resistance and stops
the motor. if I remember correctly there was some info from Chrysler
that said the auto doors may not operate at all in temps below 32F.

the OP's issue could be the latch as Glenn suggested. to add to Glenn's
suggestions I believe there are more than one technical service bulletin
for changing the weather strip at the back of the door to an updated
weather strip (I haven't seen this fix the issue) and on some a door
adjustment is needed because the door glass hits the rear window glass
when opening. I also have lubricated the door opening weatherstrips (on
the body) and stopped this issue on doors that don't get used much.(the
weatherstrips stick to the door)

 

There was a TSB that called for removing excess metal from the body, this
corrected a problem when the door was closing it would pop back open again.
The temp that will not allow the doors to work when cold is alot colder then
32 degrees, I think it was like 17 degrees or colder. The motors do not have
grease in them but the bearing will seize up and cause the doors to be very
stiff when opening them or closing them manually

 

first thing to do is get the codes form the door module then go from there but
i'm thinking the clutch is slipping once it starts to open

 

If the motor had a clutch problem the OP would not only complain about the
door not opening, he would be hearing the motor constantly spinning.

 

Thanks for all the replies. The slider unlatches but then stops. Once open
it will automatically close properly most of the time but sometimes it
doesn't fully complete the final latch/lock operation. Could this be
related? It seems to start giving us problems when the temp drops into 40s.
Maxpower's comment about the the bearings seizing up is interesting. I have
noticed the door is more difficult to open/close manually in colder weather
as well.

Does this theory make sense? The air temperature drop increases the bearing
lube viscosity which creates enough resistance trigger the safety mechanism
which stops the door from automatically opening? Could the same stiff
bearing condition also explain why the door fails to fully latch when closed
automatically?

It's interesting to note that this is only happenning with one of the
sliding doors.

Thanks for the continued interest in helping me sort this out.

Luke

 

My email address is real, in case you ever get a definitive answer. I think
we are in the same boat.

Just when you *didn't* want to get out of the car on that frigid day to
close the door, is exactly *the* day when you have to.

 

a lot of the time when there is a clutch issue the door is difficult to
open as well.

 

If you are mechanically inclined, disconnect the connector on both ends of
the track harness. (you don't need to remove the harness) and using an ohm
meter check continuity at all 3 (black) ground wires in the harness.
(checking for broken wire) you do not have a motor problem.... you cant
check the switches on the latch because you have no scan tool. The start is
going to be checking the harness.

Glenn

 

One of you guys are going to have to get on your knees and check the harness
and e mail each other for the findings

Glenn

 

it isnt the clutch problem that makes the door hard to open, its the
bearing seizing up. The next time you have a motor that is stiff, take it
aprat and see how it works. The clutch is nothing but a magnet engergized
and holding the clutch wheel. when no current is flowing to the magnet the
clutch freewheels. The bearing is stiff causing the door to be hard to
open

Glenn

 

Hi Glenn,

I read both your posts.

While cleaning recently I saw the chain that looped underneath, but that's
not the harness. So, Perhaps I better look closer for it. As for electrical
issues. I don't have an Ohm meter. I'd like one, but, I'm even sure what an
ohm is. I know what an "owe-me" is. That's when you do a favor for someone
and they owe you one back.

But, I am pretty sure these are dis-similar.

Look, I've lived like this for 2 years now. If it gets worse, I will get
more pissed off, sure.

 

The chain that looped underneath is the wire harness. The purpose of the
track (chain) is to keep the wires in a nice roll as the door opens and
closes. The harness is inside the chain.

Glenn

 

ya you are right i was thuinking of something else

 

Thanks Glen.

Maybe I will secure myself a digital multi-meter slash dwell meter to take
those readings you suggest.

Or, maybe, I'll just wrap it around a tree and collect the insurance.

Check out all those airbags, you know?

 

Dwell meter? You have some real old vehicles?

Bill Putney
(To reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my
address with the letter 'x')

 

the author more so than the auto.