2003 Venture Will Not Start

[8207456p]

Our 2003 Venture will not start. Wife brought the kids home from school, the next morning went to start the thing and nothing!!!

Several symptoms:

First turn of the key everything appears to be ok (fuel pump whine, instrument cluster lights), but when you turn the key to start the engine – nothing and the instrument cluster lights go out.

On subsequent turns of the key there are no instrument cluster lights, but the “Service Engine Soon” flashes and relay 14 (Fuel Pump) in the engine compartment fuse & relay box chatters.

Open the driver side door, interior lights come on, but very dim, and the instrument cluster needles chatter (bounce up and down a little), when the needles stop chattering the interior lights get brighter.

Turning the key towards you seems to reset everything and on subsequent turns of the key the above symptoms repeat.

The battery appears to be healthy as everything else (power doors, windows, radio, DVD etc) seems to work fine.

Anybody got any ideas??

[8207456p]

I'm not sure what of the things I have attempted this morning has helped, but my symptoms have changed slightly.

I reprogrammed both PK3 keys, checked the fuel pump connector under the van, checked both rear light cluster bulb connectors (we had several brake lights go recently), checked the fuel pump fuse in the engine compartment fuse & relay box, had a general look at all of the wiring harnesses that I can see/get to.

Now I no longer have to turn the key towards me to reset everything, the same thing now happens every time I turn the key when I try to start the van. The fuel pump whines, all the usual lights go through their self-test routine, but the message center tells me that the Traction Control System needs servicing. When I try to start the van there is a click like the engine wants to turn over and then nothing. However, I get an ABS light, a TCS light and a Service Traction Control message.

I’m off to see if the battery terminals need cleaning!!!

[8207456p]

The battery terminals were ok.

In the end I called out the AAA, the technician used his diagnostic unit and it came back with a dead battery.

$120 later the van starts every time!!!!!

If it starts to play-up again I will post an update.

[SmittyC]

Originally Posted by 8207456p

The battery terminals were ok.

In the end I called out the AAA, the technician used his diagnostic unit and it came back with a dead battery.

$120 later the van starts every time!!!!!

If it starts to play-up again I will post an update.

Wish I would have read your thread earlier. Similar stuff happened to my 2000 Venture Sunday and I used my battery load tester from Harbor Freight tools. It said that the battery was fine at 12v but when I did a load test it was dead. This is a nice tool to have for $20 it will test your battery, do a load test, test your charging system (alternator) and starter. The link is below, although I bought mine even cheaper in our local store. I bought the 100amp one and it seems to work great. Bought a new battery, the best for $75 Monday night and fired right up just fine. The tester says the charging system is charging just a hair over normal so I may end up stopping by Advance just to make sure with their test equipment the alternator didn't drain or overcharge the battery. http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=90636