'98 T&C Electrical issues

We bought a '98 Town & Country LXi about three years ago. We replaced the starter in October 2007. We seem to be having some sort of electrical issue now and need some advice. Here are the symptoms: 1) the clock has never kept the time overnight, it always resets to 12:00. 2) There is a buzzing sound from the vicinity of the fuse box under the steering wheel. 3) The buzzing stops if you either depress the brake pedal or close the door. 4) The buzzing starts if you try to unlock the doors, turn on the car, turn on the lights. 5) Keyless remote will not work. 6) Last week when we left dinner, the odometer and gear display were blinking intermittently and the radio kept cutting in and out. I stopped the van, turned it off and back on and it was fine. 7) We have always had the oil changed at a large discount store (think yellow smiley face where prices are always falling) where they are supposed to check all of the fluids and top them off. When I went to check the power steering fluid tonight (which I've never done before), the dipstick is broken off about 1/4" from the top (like most of it is missing). How do I know whether or not the rest of the dipstick isn't in the power steering line?

The mechanic that I was recommended is hunting in NY state til Thursday. Can anyone hazard a guess as to what might be causing the electrical issues? I pulled all of the 10, 15, and 20 amp fuses under the dashboard and only the heated mirror one was bad. I replaced it and it didn't change anyything. And please be kind, it's only a couple of weeks til Christmas and my wallet can't take too much of a hit.

Thanks all!!!!

Given that you have no problem starting the van (i.e. starter cranks well), I think it's probably safe to rule out the battery (common to a LOT of weird electrical behavior).

Just a wag, but the buzzing sound is probably relays clacking away as power is cycled on and off for some strange reason.

These vans are notorious for electrical gremlins. One of the most common is a bad solder joint on the instrument panel. Gross diagnosis consists of striking the instrument panel with a fist and seeing if the behavior has a sudden change. If yes, there's a good chance you'll need to remove the instrument panel and fix that solder joint -search the archives as there's even a step-by-step tutorial with pictures somewhere. The good news is it's a free repair if you can use a soldering iron.

If not the instrument panel, then another potential source I've occasionally heard of is a bad solder joint in the Body Control Module (BCM), but I'm really not knowledgeable about how much that controls as to whether it could be a contributor to all the wacky behavior you're noticing.

Well, I tried the 'fist banging the dashboard' test, and it didn't really produce any results. We jump started it last night, as the battery ran down from the night before. It ran fine for us to get it from our house to the garage (about 6 miles), but the rear defrost, rear wipers and rear a/c lights were all blinking on and off. Really strange! My wife had also noticed in the past week that the headlights seemed dimmer, but they seemed brighter after we jumped it last night. As soon as we got it to the garage and turned it off, it lost all power again and the clicking and buzzing started. It's in the hands of the mechanic now (who is a good friend of my father-in-law), so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that he's able to find out what it is and relatively quickly and cheap (lol). Thank you for your advice.

Ok, I desparately need someone's help on this. We jumped the battery on the van to get it to start and took it to a local mechanic. The van ran fine on the way there, but as soon as we turned it off, everything went dead on it - no lights, no radio, no nothing. Wouldn't restart either. The mechanic is VERY busy and worked our van is as he could over the past few days. He determined that it was the battery and replaced our 1.5 year old battery with a new one. The van started right up and it and the alternator both tested great. He told me that he got the lights to stop blinking and that it no longer buzzes, which is true. My wife just picked it up. What he failed to mention is that the lights not only don't blink anymore, they don't turn on at all. So I'm not very confident that whatever caused these issues in the first place have truly been 'fixed', as much as putting in a new battery was kind of a 'band aid', if you will. I'm looking for more suggestions here. With all of the experts that are on this board, I am confident that someone can help me out.

Thanks to those that have already replied!!

Is your van named Christine? When you say the lights don't come on I assume you're talking about the lights on the buttons on the heater/ventilation control panel. Do the modes work if you depress a switch?

If Christine rears her ugly head again I would suspect you have a loose or corroded ground somewhere under the dash. I've read there is a common ground group behind or near the drivers kick panel. Also ask your mechanic if he cleaned and tightened the battery to engine or chassy ground. There may be a seperate ground from the engine to the chassy. These vans are sensative to power problems, as you found out. If your problems return in a few days it may be a sign there is a parasitic drain on the battery meaning a particular component in a circuit is "on" all the time, draining the battery. Did the mechanic look at that possibility? Here's how to check:

Disconnect the positive battery cable and let the van sit for 20-30 minutes. Connect a dc ammeter in series between the disconnected battery cable and the positive battery post. Shouldn't see more than 30 milliampers or so (verify with dealer). If it's much more than that you have a drain. Start pulling fuses till the meter drops in range. Whichever fuse produces the drop is the circuit creating the drain. You'll have to disconnect components in that circuit until the reading drops again. Glovebox lights, underhood lights, window motors, door lock solenoids are likely culprits.

The normal procedure to clear flashing lights on the heater panel is to perform a system calibration. Is that what he did? It should not have killed the lights. If all the modes are working except for the lights I don't know that I would mess with it further but, here's the procedure: Turn on the blower. Simultaneously push the top and bottom wiper buttons on the left side of the ventilation control panel for 5 seconds. All the lights on the panel will light up. Then two lights on the left side will alternately flash for about two minutes and you'll hear the ventilation modes cycle. When just the top light on the left side slowly flashes push that button and you're done. All lights should be out and you should be back to normal. This is the ventilation control calibration test and it resets the ventilation system computer (module)