2003 Caravan horn blues

I've got an 03 caravan se. Here's my problem.

The horn will blow when the lock button on the keyfob is pressed. The horn will NOT blow when the horn button on the steering wheel is pressed.

I took the van to the dealership suspecting a faulty clockspring. They told me it wasn't the clockspring but that the Power Distribution Centre was corroded and needed to be replaced. ($525!) I took the vehicle to another mechanic who fixed the corroded portion and informed me that the body control module needed to be flashed to clear the fault so that the horn would work. Back to the dealer. Dealership tells me that this is not necessary... that there is still a problem with the PDC. ($525!)

Now... my question is: When the wires leave the clockspring where do they go? Do they go to the BCM and then BCM triggers the horn? Or do they go to the relay on the Power Distribution centre? Or somewhere else?? You can manually trigger the horn by jumping the relay. Its not rocket science either.... I just need to know the wiring circuit.

I can't find a manual or I'd diagnose the damn thing myself.

Any help will be greatly apprciated. And if anyone knows where I can purchase a manual for an 03 caravan that'd help too.

Thanks

the horn switch goes direcly to the front control module via the 20 gauge dark green/with violet tracer wire in the c7 connector cavity19 then the front controller grounds the relay doesn't go to bcm at all the bcm will send a signal to the fcm if the rke is used or if equipped with an alarm so bcm isn't on the switch circuit

Closest I could get was a schematic for a 99: http://www.autozone.com/servlet/UiBroker?ForwardPage=/az/cds/en_us/0900823d/80/1a/46/ba/0900823d801a46ba.jsp Click Fig 8

So according to those wiring diagrams it does go to the BCM... are the 03 and 96-99 the same with that circuit?

If so then it makes a whole lot of sense.
I should be able to check continuity from the horn button to the clockspring, clockspring to the BCM input and then check BCM output for power. If there's a signal in, but none out then it could be the BCM.

1thunder: Did they change the wiring in the 03's? Does it not go to the BCM like in the diagrams RIP supplied? What is the location of the Front Control module? I'm not sure where cavity 19 is. I know the BCM is in the drivers kick... It has 5 plugs in it, one 6 pin plug and four 34 pin plugs. Any more info?


Once I have testing locations then I should be set. I'll backtrack through the system until I find the dead link. Shouldn't be too difficult.

Thanks for the help so far.

I would say if 1thunder is going by factory manuals for that year then that's the way to go. Depends on his source. You might get a schematic from Alldata.com for a fee.

You might have to do this the old fashion time consuming way and trace the wiring manually to see which makes more sense. Make sure you disconnect the battery (you don't want to blow an airbag - ruins the day) and have aspirin handy.

Are you getting power at any of the contacts at the relay socket when you push the horn? Is the sockets ground OK? Just for goonies pull the IOD (PDC at top) fuse for a couple minutes then put it back in. The BCM is powered through that fuse. Don't know that it "flashes" the BCM but, sometimes pulling the fuse can "reset" the BCM.

yes i work at a chrysler dealer and yes the electronics is completely different for 03 actually from 01 to 06 is more common and 96 to2000 are similar with minor changes but totally different wiring from99 to 03 and the info i gave you is direct from chrysler and my own experience with these

1thunder - with that info you are now number one on my buddies list. Thanks

Is it still labeled the IOD fuse on an 03 and will it do anything for him?

sorry i didn't read the complete post before replying but the front controller is the module bolted to the front of the relay box or pdc beside the battery and if you remove the battery you can flip this pdc over as it is on hinges then you have to locate the wire i mentioned so remove the column covers and look for the gr/vt wire at the clockspring then look for the same colour under the pdc and check for continuaty and also check continuaty to ground when horn switch is pressed that is what it does then the front controller grounds the relay to actuate it make sure you have battery voltage at pin 30&86 at the relay just look under the relay to id these pins then pin 85 get grounded and current goes through to pin 87 to the horn

not sure what you mean there rip you mean for advice

Yup. It's tough to decipher who has credibility on a forum. Not that I didn't pay attention to your other threads but, yours just took a giant leap in my book. Sure wish more would reveal their experience. I put mine in the public info file for all to see.

How about the IOD fuse on an 03.

yes well i have 32 years with the same dealer and i specialize in electrical and driveability fuel delivery and all the electronics i have seen many issues but not all of them though always new challenges as the vehicles change

Any chance you could put that in your public profile? New challenges? 26 years in the Air Force working electronics sent a few my way. We're on the same page. Cheers!

Wow! That's exactly what I was looking for. It's too dark to go looking for wires right now though. I'll do some checks in the morning and get back to you. Thank you very much!

Jeremy

Well, finally got the problem fixed! 1Thunder you are the man!

It ended up being the PDC. I decided to take it apart myself to have a look. I found the "repaired" portion on the main board and almost had a fit! Part of a trace had been burned off so the mechanic soldered a wire from a small piece of the trace that was sticking up off the board to the pin where it originally went. Big blob of solder on the end of the protruding trace! 3 or 4 months down the road and that would have corroded off! :banghead:
Once I discovered that the trace had been burned off, not corroded off, I put two and two together. FCM went bad, then burned off the trace on the board. Simple solution: replace PDC and FCM. Swapped in a new one tonight and all is well. Horn blows like a $20 hooker!

Hope this helps anyone with the same problem.... not a cheap fix though.
Thanks again 1Thunder and RIP

There is a problem with the clockspring and is replaced under warrenty,2000 and up.My father had two that had clockspring problems that he bought and were replaced with no charge,under warrenty.