[JamesCotton]

Yup, that's not a Chrysler diagram.

Before anything else, simply sit in the driver's seat with ignition off and observe the odometer readout heaters once all the doors are closed - does it go off after ~30 sec and wake up a second later?

Before digging into the cluster, I'd verify that BCM is operating correctly (not sending wake up signal)...
"VERIFY CONTINUITY OF WAKE UP CIRCUIT FROM BCM TO MIC. CIRCUIT SHALL BE LOW WHENEVER BCM IS AWAKE."
This will also allow you to test if there's an internal cluster timer or BCM is the only control.

The wire is pin 12 of the cluster connector and connector 4, pin 5 at BCM (VT/BR, 22ga).

More than likely BCM is sensing a 'wake up' event (door trigger or pci message) and powering on the cluster to get it 'ready'.
Sliders have the "chain of death" - the flexible wire harness that flexes every time the door is operated and thus are prone to failure.

I detached both sliding doors wiring harnesses ( they are manual and not powered ) waited until it was dark, and checked out the odometer. the odo lighted up as it should when the door was opened, and went off shortly after with no key in the ignition. after the odo went to sleep, I could not see the heaters on. on this vehicle they made the facia where the numbers are a dark , almost black see through plastic. they may in fact be on, but with the dark face I cannot see them. I still think you are onto something. will update when part arrives. im rolling the dice that it is not defective ( used cluster) as new ones are not available. (a new one would cost too much anyways) QUESTION - do you think it is safe to use a multi meter to test the BCM circut you mentioned. I dont want to ground out the BCM and then have a bigger problem. when you mention circuit shall be low, that term means the circut is a ground rather than a power, correct ?

 

[atoman]

You should have no problems with a multimeter, set it to measure DC voltage with one probe in the connector and the other on chasis ground. When BCM is 'awake' it should show 0, otherwise it should be 5 or 12 volts (whatever they use for pullup value)

 

[JamesCotton]

You should have no problems with a multimeter, set it to measure DC voltage with one probe in the connector and the other on chasis ground. When BCM is 'awake' it should show 0, otherwise it should be 5 or 12 volts (whatever they use for pullup value)

You have been a tremendous help ! the part is supposed to arrive this afternoon. I will try the part first, if that doesnt fix it, I will be doing the voltage test. I will update when I see what the new part does. THANK YOU !!

 

[rolo]

You have been a tremendous help ! the part is supposed to arrive this afternoon. I will try the part first, if that doesnt fix it, I will be doing the voltage test. I will update when I see what the new part does. THANK YOU !!

I have the same draw that you do. I have had the same issue with my 1996 Plymouth grand voyager. I have repaired the instrument cluster(3 times). That didn't' work( cluster is fine with resoldered connectors). There are 2 issues that remain. One is a bad BCM. Do not buy a BCM from FlagshipOne. I have reported them to the BBB already. They are a bad company. The other issue is a ground for the instrument cluster underneath the dashboard that is only accessible if you remove the entire dashboard. It's a big job and you have a high probability of cracking the plastic cover that covers the dashboard. I have cleaned all the other grounds on the engine and under the dashboard ( that I could reach) and checked all fuses and relays. For a quick fix, I just disconnect the negative battery terminal when not using the vehicle so the battery stays charged. Also, if you have to disassemble the dashboard, go to pullapart ( junkyard) and get the replacement parts you need. My instrument cluster still does not work but the vehicle operates well. I have even checked all grounds in the steering column as these vehicles have issues with the ignition switch as well that can affect the issue you are having.

 

[JamesCotton]

I have the same draw that you do. I have had the same issue with my 1996 Plymouth grand voyager. I have repaired the instrument cluster(3 times). That didn't' work( cluster is fine with resoldered connectors). There are 2 issues that remain. One is a bad BCM. Do not buy a BCM from FlagshipOne. I have reported them to the BBB already. They are a bad company. The other issue is a ground for the instrument cluster underneath the dashboard that is only accessible if you remove the entire dashboard. It's a big job and you have a high probability of cracking the plastic cover that covers the dashboard. I have cleaned all the other grounds on the engine and under the dashboard ( that I could reach) and checked all fuses and relays. For a quick fix, I just disconnect the negative battery terminal when not using the vehicle so the battery stays charged. Also, if you have to disassemble the dashboard, go to pullapart ( junkyard) and get the replacement parts you need. My instrument cluster still does not work but the vehicle operates well. I have even checked all grounds in the steering column as these vehicles have issues with the ignition switch as well that can affect the issue you are having.

Thank you for replying Rolo. Your van is one generation older than mine. On that generation, the instrument cluster was known to fail from bad solder joints. many you- tubes on this, but I am sure you know that. I am familiar with the two grounds you are talking about. If i recall they are G200 and G201. They are right where you say they are. Here is one thought for you - instead of disconnneting the battery, pull the IOD draw fuse from the fuse box under the hood. that will stop your drain. when you start your van, the instrument cluster will do a restart cycle where the needles will swing the whole way over, then be operational. u can run the van just fine with the fuse out, but on mine i lose the radio and interior lights. also no power locks when van is turned off. Those dog gone BCM are high dollar. I looked at flagship one this morning, thank you for that heads up. There is another company, All computer based in homestead florida which i read about and it got a good review. i think there website is allcomputerresources.com. have you considered sending one of your clusters to a shop that fixes them ? i read there are some locally where I live, and then there are some online that specialize in repair. that only applies for your cluster. there is one other company online that does the bcm units, i looked them up about 6 months ago and i think it was about 350 bucks for a programmed one. they looked legit. if i can find them again i will post. its frustrating that the electronics dont last - the engines are much more reliable. Lastly, the only Rolo i know was on the Sanford and Son TV show. he was one cool, smooth mother bleeper. Thank you Rolo !

 

[dtuuri]

FWIW, I have a 2007 T&C with a parasitic draw too. I seem to have solved the problem by turning the cluster light rheostat to "Off" before I leave the car. Haven't had the problem since I started doing that several months ago. Haven't troubleshot further to find out exactly why that works. One thing it does is prevent the odometer display from illuminating when the doors are opened.

 

[JamesCotton]

FWIW, I have a 2007 T&C with a parasitic draw too. I seem to have solved the problem by turning the cluster light rheostat to "Off" before I leave the car. Haven't had the problem since I started doing that several months ago. Haven't troubleshot further to find out exactly why that works. One thing it does is prevent the odometer display from illuminating when the doors are opened.

That is an excellent point. I will try that. that proves that its the odometer on your vechicle that is the problem. Thank you very much for that tip !

 

[rolo]

Thank you for replying Rolo. Your van is one generation older than mine. On that generation, the instrument cluster was known to fail from bad solder joints. many you- tubes on this, but I am sure you know that. I am familiar with the two grounds you are talking about. If i recall they are G200 and G201. They are right where you say they are. Here is one thought for you - instead of disconnneting the battery, pull the IOD draw fuse from the fuse box under the hood. that will stop your drain. when you start your van, the instrument cluster will do a restart cycle where the needles will swing the whole way over, then be operational. u can run the van just fine with the fuse out, but on mine i lose the radio and interior lights. also no power locks when van is turned off. Those dog gone BCM are high dollar. I looked at flagship one this morning, thank you for that heads up. There is another company, All computer based in homestead florida which i read about and it got a good review. i think there website is allcomputerresources.com. have you considered sending one of your clusters to a shop that fixes them ? i read there are some locally where I live, and then there are some online that specialize in repair. that only applies for your cluster. there is one other company online that does the bcm units, i looked them up about 6 months ago and i think it was about 350 bucks for a programmed one. they looked legit. if i can find them again i will post. its frustrating that the electronics dont last - the engines are much more reliable. Lastly, the only Rolo i know was on the Sanford and Son TV show. he was one cool, smooth mother bleeper. Thank you Rolo !

Thanks, James, you rock! The IOD fuse pulling is a good trick to use as well and that is the only one that pulls the draw on my van that you mentioned pulled the draw on your van in your previous post. And yes those are the grounds I was noting. This is my second instrument panel and I have tried 4 BCM's in my car from similar vehicles. The BCM's are very fragile and break easily. Also, I have had to make sure my engine hood was closed all the way down as well as the light switch that operates the light that illuminates the engine when one opens the hood can stay on if the hood is not closed completely. Yes, those engines are great since they have a non-interference engine and a solid transmission with quality metal parts in them. The electronics and HVAC systems can make even a Chrysler mechanic run through a shopping mall with a semiautomatic weapon. After this vehicle, I have been looking for a Honda odyssey from 2002 to 2012 and Toyota Sienna as the Honda's have near-zero problems if you change the trans fluid when you change the motor oil and the Toyotas are similar. btw. my 1999 Subaru forester has stayed outside for 20 years as has the Plymouth and has twice the miles as the Plymouth and can run circles around the Plymouth on reliability and performance. Also, Nissan is breaking ties from Renault so expect to see better vehicles from them in the near future. I love American made stuff when it performs, but they have to go back to treating the customers well with quality built machines if they want to compete in the future. Thanks for the BCM info as I may use it to get old blue (Plymouth)back to operating performance.

 

[rolo]

Be careful with allcomputerresources.com ---------- here is the BBB report on that company. All Computer Resources, Inc. | Better Business Bureau® Profile

 

[dtuuri]

That is an excellent point. I will try that. that proves that its the odometer on your vechicle that is the problem. Thank you very much for that tip !

Correction. Turning off the panel rheostat does NOT turn of the odometer when opening the doors. I misspoke. It prevents the interior lights from coming on, so you have to flip the switch back up before you can see in the dark to get in. Sorry, was thinking about the odometer discussion earlier. Either way, it stopped the draw.

 

[JamesCotton]

Correction. Turning off the panel rheostat does NOT turn of the odometer when opening the doors. I misspoke. It prevents the interior lights from coming on, so you have to flip the switch back up before you can see in the dark to get in. Sorry, was thinking about the odometer discussion earlier. Either way, it stopped the draw.

dtuuri, you are correct. the panel rheostat only turns off the interior lights. not the odo. so if that is solving your drain, one of your interior lights is causing your draw. you could pull out interior bulbs one by one to see which one is doing it ?

 

[JamesCotton]

UPDATE Jan 15 2020. the used instrument panel came in the mail today. it has all the same numbers on it as the original unit. I plugged it in and , drumroll please......didnt solve the problem. still have the exact same current draw and behavior as before. I checked the harness between the bcm and the inst cluster for shorts on the wake up circut. it checked out ok. when i checked the voltage at the instrument panel, pin 12 , wake up circut, the voltage stayed at zero and never budged, with the vehicle off and sitting for more than 30 seconds. Will have to think about what this all means. I would be most unhappy if i spent hundreds on a bcm with no relief.

 

[JamesCotton]

Be careful with allcomputerresources.com ---------- here is the BBB report on that company. All Computer Resources, Inc. | Better Business Bureau® Profile

Rolo, thanks for the heads up on the shop i mentioned. It seems that many of these shops located in Florida have bad reputations.

 

[JamesCotton]

You should have no problems with a multimeter, set it to measure DC voltage with one probe in the connector and the other on chasis ground. When BCM is 'awake' it should show 0, otherwise it should be 5 or 12 volts (whatever they use for pullup value)

i did the test and got 0 volts with the vehicle off for over a minute. I guess that means the BCM is awake.

 

[marvinstockman]

You've got to wait 5 to 10 minutes for the vehicle to go to sleep. Thirty seconds isn't long enough.

 

[atoman]

BCMs are wild animals in these vans, they are very sensitive to voltage flux...

James, you're changing a lot of variables all at once (unplugging doors, changing clusters, etc).
It's hard to account for multiple changes at once.

If you have 2 meters, you can open the driver's window and prop one up on the dash and another in the IOD fuse circuit and compare how the two are correlating - either they will exhibit similar behavior or they won't.

Yes, you need to observe it for at least 5 minutes. You also should pull the IOD fuse or battery and let the BCM reset before further testing (if BCM memory becomes corrupt due to insufficient voltage, it may not go to sleep at all).

 

[JamesCotton]

BCMs are wild animals in these vans, they are very sensitive to voltage flux...

James, you're changing a lot of variables all at once (unplugging doors, changing clusters, etc).
It's hard to account for multiple changes at once.

If you have 2 meters, you can open the driver's window and prop one up on the dash and another in the IOD fuse circuit and compare how the two are correlating - either they will exhibit similar behavior or they won't.

Yes, you need to observe it for at least 5 minutes. You also should pull the IOD fuse or battery and let the BCM reset before further testing (if BCM memory becomes corrupt due to insufficient voltage, it may not go to sleep at all).

I have tried a variety of things, one at a time. I have used a variety of meters. the symptoms have been consistent and have never changed. all the things i have tried have been in an effort to stop parasitic draw from cycling and causing a 76ma power drain. all along it has been when the vehicle shuts down, within a few seconds the interior lights go out, and the current draw is 76ma. it will remain this way for 30-45 seconds, then drop to 5ma , but only for a second. then cycle back to a 76ma draw. it remains this way past 20 minutes, and I believe it reamains that way until the vehicle is used again. by removing the instrument panel, i was able to stop the cycling and the draw would hold steady at 5ma or so. I will say one thing about the BCM units. Chyrsler created so many varieties of them, changing them from year to year, that new ones are not available for a vehicle this old. there are some places on line selling bcm's, but when you read customer reviews, it is like going to a casino. good luck if you get something that works. many bad stories of parts purchased that didnt work properly. the PCI bus runs throughout the vehicle and talks to different modules. perhaps the instrument cluster is just one link in the chain, and when i pull it, it breaks a circuit and stops the communication. simply replacing the bcm with a good one is seemingly impossible at this time. I have searched on the internet quite a bit and keep coming up with nothing for new bcm's. with that said, i am hesitant to do a lot of multimeter testing of the bcm, for if i short it out, my vehicle is done. it is alarming that a vehicle could be rendered useless by one piece of electronic equipment that is no longer available. my van only has 77k miles on it, despite its age. Perhaps some other module is waking and talking on the circuit. it is just too much money to swap out module after module ( cant get bcm anyways) and even if i was to take it to a dealer, who could figure it out where are they going to get a bcm ? the mopar parts sites online no longer carry them. There have been some great suggestions here, but without a replacement bcm, i think i am out of luck. Now i see why I have not been able to find many solutions to this issue !! I have a 91 ford and the electronics in it never have a problem. It would seem that electronics will kill off these minivans even though you can keep them up mechanically. dont know what else to say but thank you, and im at a loss from here.

 

[twovanfan]

There have been a dozen or more posts over the years on a parasitic power draw that kills the battery. I have yet to find one that has been solved. I have the same issue. I am drawing .75 miliamps when the car is off, and has rested. i traced the circuit, and found that on the IOD fuse, if i disconnected the instrument cluster, that removed the parasitic draw. I did the self test on the cluster and it says its fine. So it is either one of 3 things, a bad instrument cluster, which is available used for about 50 dollars, or the body control module, which costs about 400 dollars programmed from a shop on line, or a short circuit. if the instrument cluster is disconnected, the power draw drops from .75 to .04 miliamps. with everything connected and ready to drive, the meter will sit at .75 for about 30 seconds, then drop to .04 for about a second, then go right back to .75. this cycle never stops so long as the instrument panel is connected. once the instrument panel is disconnected, the draw drops to .04 and stays there. something keeps waking up the circuit. has anyone ever solved this without going to the dealer and paying a large amount for a car worth a small amount ? what is the correct parasitic draw for a 2001 caravan that does not kill the battery after sitting for a few days ? thanks for any suggestions.

 

[FabricGATOR]

FWIW, I had a Chrysler battery that appeared in good condition, registered 12.6 -12.8 volts under regular, static, conditions, the van is charging at 14.3 vdc-ish, everything seemed good. I did not suspect that I needed a battery when a few times, I had a clicking no crank situation after being on the job, opening doors, leaving doors open, etc.

Sometimes I would not have a problem and some other times it seemed that I had a fault that was sucking the battery down. A quick jump start and a short drive to a store and the starter would crank hard and fast after running inside, so it couldn't be a bad battery, it charged so well so fast and it released ample energy when called upon...
The other times i would experience a slow or no crank situation was after leaving the vehicle locked at the airport or in my driveway for about a week.

Finally, for no other reason than I found a good deal at Home Depot (of all places to buy an automobile battery)
I bought an Exide group SX34 was $89 last year maybe two years (now $119) Perhaps it was a group 34R

Since the battery change, I have not had any problem at all. I work in/out of the van all day long sometimes i forget and leave the interior rheostat 'active' I really don't pay attention anymore.

Just sayin

I know the OP said he put a new battery in, but perhaps you got a funny, defected, one.
Beware 'Analysis Paralysis'

 

[JamesCotton]

I have the same draw that you do. I have had the same issue with my 1996 Plymouth grand voyager. I have repaired the instrument cluster(3 times). That didn't' work( cluster is fine with resoldered connectors). There are 2 issues that remain. One is a bad BCM. Do not buy a BCM from FlagshipOne. I have reported them to the BBB already. They are a bad company. The other issue is a ground for the instrument cluster underneath the dashboard that is only accessible if you remove the entire dashboard. It's a big job and you have a high probability of cracking the plastic cover that covers the dashboard. I have cleaned all the other grounds on the engine and under the dashboard ( that I could reach) and checked all fuses and relays. For a quick fix, I just disconnect the negative battery terminal when not using the vehicle so the battery stays charged. Also, if you have to disassemble the dashboard, go to pullapart ( junkyard) and get the replacement parts you need. My instrument cluster still does not work but the vehicle operates well. I have even checked all grounds in the steering column as these vehicles have issues with the ignition switch as well that can affect the issue you are having.

Rolo, I want to mention something to you about G200 and G201, the grounds under the dash. On the instrument panel connector, on my 2001 there are two wires that are ground. instead of tearing the dash apart, i used an ohm meter, and put one lead to the chassis of the van near the steering column, and the other lead into the connector pin that is for the ground. when i did that the meter showed i had a solid connection (continuity). the connection did not waver and stayed solid as I held it. therefore, i see no reason to believe that G200 or G201 are bad. the ohmeter showed the grounds to be solid.