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If the engine rotates slowly/slower than before while cranking, check the other end(s) of each battery cables and see if either/both are loose and/or corroded. Corrosion will look like a white flaky "growth" on the bare wire, nut or stud.
Your Dodge Grand Caravan, like all vehicles manufactured after 1996, has an on-board diagnostic system. When one of your Grand Caravan's sensors indicates that a system is not operating properly, it will trigger the vehicle's "check engine" light. Sometimes the cause of the error can be as simple as tightening a loose gas cap. In order to verify that the cause of the problem has been fixed, the computer on your Grand Caravan will need to be reset. This process is simple and takes less than 10 minutes.
Pull the hood release lever under the dash to release the hood.
Locate the hood latch under the center of the hood and push the latch to the left. Lift the hood and open completely.
Locate the battery on the driver's side of the engine compartment above the front wheel.
Loosen the bolt on the negative battery cable using the adjustable wrench.
Remove the negative battery cable from the terminal post. If it does not come loose easily, you may need to twist the cable end side to side until the cable end is free of the post.
Reattach the negative battery cable end to the the negative post on the battery by pressing it firmly onto the post.
Tighten the bolt on the negative battery cable until you are unable to move the cable on the battery post.
If you turn the key and only hear a clicking sound and engine doesnt turn then it could be the starter motor sellinoid that needs replacing. First check battery for correct voltage. OR If the starter gets hot, and turns the engine slowly, the it (starter) brushes and armature could be finished and damaged. Starter then needs an overhall or replacement.
Nuts, bolts, and other connections are susceptible to coming loose due to severe vibration from the road and engine vibration. Check to make sure the positive & negative battery cables are tight. Next, follow the black negative cable to the chassis (or engine block) and ascertain that end is tight. Next, follow the red positive cable to the relay end, then to the starter motor to ascertain those connections are tight. As you're following the cables, check for corrosion.
When nuts/ bolt connections to electrical power are loose, less electrons can pass. Corroded cables have the same effect. Corrosion acts as a resistor, much like taking a garden hose, then bending and creating a choke point where less water can pass, decreasing water pressure on the outlet end of the hose. Loose electrical connections also simulate resistors. So you can imagine a circuit is like a garden hose. The electrons is water, and your headlights, tail lights, stereo radio, and other electrical accessories are the water valve. When you run your headlights, air conditioning, wiper blades, etc... you increase the power demand and the flow of electrons, much like you had increased the garden hose water pressure by opening the water valve wider.
If you have a connection such as you describe, frayed ends, greenish color, what happens is under small loads things seem fine. Until you try to pull a heavy load then you loose your connection. Yes that certainly can be your problem. You should replace either the cable end fitting or the whole cable. You may need the whole cable if there is not enough slack in the cable to trim off the end and attach a new one, and still reach the batt terminal.
A loose cable end can cause all those things to happen. You should clean the cable ends and the battery post and tighten them up and see if that works for you a loose battery connection can cause a lot of problems.
If the battery checks OK, then it could be corrosion (even after 3 years) either at the battery terminals or at the other end of those heavy cables.
Remove your negative battery terminal first - ALWAYS. Then the positive.
Clean them both with a wire brush or terminal cleaning brush.
If it still turns over too slowly, you will need to remove the negative battery terminal, then from under the vehicle, remove the other end of your positive cable from the starter terminal and clean both the terminal and the cable end; reattach.
With the negative still disconnected, locate the other end of this cable (may be on the engine block or bolted to the chassis sheet metal) and, there will be an additional cable that connects the chassis to the engine block or vice - versa.
Clean and reattach these.
Finally, reconnect the negative cable to the negative battery terminal.
When I go through this routine, I use either dielectric grease or a least petroleum jelly smeared liberally on each of the mating surfaces before reattaching.
If it still turns over slowly, the green eye is lying!
Once started, you can go to any of the larger chain auto parts stores and they will test your battery free.
Absolutely! It sounds like a faulty wire probably at the starter or battery cable. A loose connection will let a vehicle turn over, but not at full force. I would bet a wire to the starter being loose causes your problem and once you find it a good tightening will fix your issue
You should check your battery connections, and your alternator. All your instruments are electric, and work only when the alternator is charging and the battery is hooked up correctly. A loose connection can cause this problem immediately, while an alternator problem will cause the instruments to fail first, then once the battery runs down, the engine will stall. Also, don't forget to check BOTH ends of the battery cables.
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