Caravan BCM - door locks and rear wipers.

[teepster]

Here's some more news on the trials and tribulations of the caravan BCM. About 3 months ago my 1998 caravan started self locking the door locks every 35 seconds while it just sat in the garage. I found a 98 in the junk yard with similar equipment except it had remote entry which I don't have. Anyway I gave it a try and the power lock problem went away and all else ran perfectly until I noticed recently the back wiper and washer did not work. So I thought before tearing the back hatch apart I should try the original BCM with the power lock problem and see if the junk yard BCM was the problem. Low and behold the back wipers work again with the original BCM. I don't understand why a windshield wiper needs to go thru a computer but they do. But here's some more strangeness. The door locks arn't clicking away anymore and everything is working fine again.
Now I read all the great tips here about pulling the iod and removing the negative battery terminal for 10 minutes to reset the computer and nothing helped. I even had the bcm in and out several different times so I don't believe it could have been a loose connection. Somehow it fixed itself sitting on the shelf for 3 months. Or maybe here's another possibility. Leave the battery cable disconnected overnight. When I tried those things I was only disconnected 10-15 minutes. Maybe overnight is worth a try. For what it's worth I now know the door locks and rear wipers are controlled thru the BCM, the the odometer reading is stored there and that blasted thing is still no fun to take in and out.

[vipergg]

Originally Posted by teepster

Here's some more news on the trials and tribulations of the caravan BCM. About 3 months ago my 1998 caravan started self locking the door locks every 35 seconds while it just sat in the garage. I found a 98 in the junk yard with similar equipment except it had remote entry which I don't have. Anyway I gave it a try and the power lock problem went away and all else ran perfectly until I noticed recently the back wiper and washer did not work. So I thought before tearing the back hatch apart I should try the original BCM with the power lock problem and see if the junk yard BCM was the problem. Low and behold the back wipers work again with the original BCM. I don't understand why a windshield wiper needs to go thru a computer but they do. But here's some more strangeness. The door locks arn't clicking away anymore and everything is working fine again.
Now I read all the great tips here about pulling the iod and removing the negative battery terminal for 10 minutes to reset the computer and nothing helped. I even had the bcm in and out several different times so I don't believe it could have been a loose connection. Somehow it fixed itself sitting on the shelf for 3 months. Or maybe here's another possibility. Leave the battery cable disconnected overnight. When I tried those things I was only disconnected 10-15 minutes. Maybe overnight is worth a try. For what it's worth I now know the door locks and rear wipers are controlled thru the BCM, the the odometer reading is stored there and that blasted thing is still no fun to take in and out.

I'm with you there , everything interior and even exterior lamps are run thru the stupid bcm . Controls interiors lights, guages , exterior lights and guages , exterior wipers and washer motors etc ... Guess it was to simple to have power run thru a circuit thr a switch and out to the wipers . It is very possible letting sit over night would fix some things , capacitors not completely draing off in 15 minutes ?? Don't know just speculating but the bcm certainly causes a wide array of problems . If something works correctly one day and then justs stops for no apparent reason always suspect the bcm .

[teepster]

Well my self locking doors came back after 4 days of working fine. I reinstalled my junk yard BCM and I'm back to good power locks but no rear window wiper/washer. At least I now know the cause of the wiper problem.

[fixmuflym]

I had the same problem with my door locks except it happend while i was driving down the road. The fix was a bad lock motor on the left passenger door. allong with a poor conection through the door. I would try to disconect one lock at a time and see if the problem goes away. if it does then you know wich one is bad.