Need help electrical troubleshooting

EDIT I seem to have fixed the problem by pulling the IOD fuse for a couple of minutes and putting it back in with the battery connected. Things are working at this time.

Found the trick here in the forum, thanks guys!



Let me put this as simple as I can. 1998 Chrysler T&C minivan, 3.3 flex fuel full instruments with overhead cluster.

Everything was running fine until the wife left the headlights on while in town. She went to start the vehicle, and it would click but not start. It finally started, and then she saw that the gauges had quit working, the power door locks have quit working, the overhead cluster only shows the temp, the rest of the readings no longer show, it has no interior lights, and no headlights.

The AC works, and when it is turned on the cooling fans come on.

She called from town and gave me all of this good news, and then told me that the service engine soon light had come on also, although not at the same time as all of the rest of this, but on down the road a ways.

I told her to go by autozone and see if they would hook a hand held trouble code reader to it and they did.

It said

Definition
ECM fault, No DDC message from TCM
Explanations
Failed ECM
Probable causes
1- Open CCD bus line
2- Failed TCM

I unhooked the battery cable and hooked it back up, and the service engine soon light soon has went back off with the motor running, but nothing else reset or fixed.

I took my multimeter and checked every single fuse in the fuse box and none of them have any voltage. The wire going to the fuse box is hot, but if you try to check the hot wire with the wire that goes out of the fuse box it shows no voltage.

The vehicle does have turn signals and stop lights. Electric windows work, as does the blower motor for the AC

The front window washer works. The buttons light up for the rear washer and wipers when pressed, but nothing happens. The lights in the mirrors in the front sun visors are not working.

When you turn the key on, the temp gauge and gas gauge give a quick little jump and then go dead again.

It has never done anything like this before in the year that we have owned it.

Any ideas?

Congrats. You fixed an ugly situation. It's not uncommon for the Body Control Module (BCM) to take a hike when it's power is interrupted. The BCM controls most of the electrical systems of the van including the instrument cluster and is a major user of the Chrysler Collision Detection bus or CCD data bus. If this bus opens anywhere, ugly things happen including erratic instruments and no start issues. When you pulled the IOD fuse you reset the BCM and in-turn the CCD bus correcting the problems. Amazing what removing a little piece of plastic will do for a van.

That is no kidding. After putting the IOD fuse back into the vehicle, I walked to the drivers door, and when I opened it and the inside lights came on, I felt like falling to my knees and thanking the automotive gods that it had worked.

I had been having all sorts of dreadful thoughts about having to buy expensive parts to get the van running correctly again.

Again, thanks guys you saved my rear again!