Electrical gremlin?? '96 G. Caravan 3.8L

I earlier reported a fault code 41, the battery being undercharged and the
alternator apparantly not putting out any juice. As part of diagnosing the
problem, I pulled the battery and charged it up for a few hours.

When I hooked it back up, everything went nuts!! You could hear all the
relays switching on and off, the headlights switching on and off. The chime
ringing on and off. After a minute or so it stopped. I opened the driver's
side door and it all started again. I waited until it stopped and put the
key in and tried starting the engine and got nothing. No clicking, no
starter motor, no nothing. I opened the door to get out and it happened
again.

I pulled the codes and got 12 55 (41 disappeared probably since it only gets
set when the engine is running).

Anyone have any ideas??

 

Did you say you had an alarm system? Could be a faulty module or bad
connection. Most of the alarms I have seen installed were done rather
poorly, wires were just stripped and twisted together or with cheap
solderless connectors, leading to some strange problems. See if you can
disconnect it from your ignition system, not always possible without some
cutting and rewiring.

 

I finally solved this problem. The whacky behavior was indeed because of
the alarm system, which I had "deactivated" a while ago. Having the battery
disconnected "re-activated" it. For some strange reason the audible alarm
didn't go off, but all the other alarm actions did (flashing lights, etc.).
Once I figured that out, I just turned the alarm system off again.

The real problem looks to have been corrosion in the alternator connector.
I pulled the altenator and a bunch of little white bits fell out of the
connector. I tested the alternator at Kragen's and it tested good. I
cleaned up the connector best I could and put everything back together and
it seemed to work again. At least the voltage at the battery with the
engine on was up to 13.8 volts (before in was 12.3 volts).

Someone suggested to me that even 13.8 volts was a little low and that I
should have the battery load tested, which I'll try to do this weekend if I
have time.