My 1997 Dodge mini van will not start. When I do

the little green light is probably the engine immobiliser. My car has a red flashing light and when the key is placed in the ignition lock the light goes out.

This is all tied to the service engine soon light.

When the Check Engine light (or Service Engine Soon or small picture of an engine) is turned on, the systems computer control unit (called the PCM) has sensed a fault in the electronic controls of the engine and/or the emission system. When this happens you will seldom feel the car engine run any different. There are about 200 possible system faults (the gas cap is just one of them) that turn the Check Engine light on, to know what has developed a problem you must have the system tested, this is called an OBD2 fault code test, Kragen/Oriley and Autozone parts stores (USA only) do this testing for free.

check your vans computer for codes. grab a pencil and paper. insert ignition key.

do the following; off-on, off-on, off-on. codes will flash out on the check engine light in pairs of numbers, 5-5 being the end of the test. write those numbers down and report back so that we may have a better idea of your vans problem

Any chance you are out of gas?

The check engine light/service engine soon (yellow light) comes only when the computer control unit (called the PCM) senses a fault in the electronic controls of the engine and/or the emission system u will seldom feel the car engine run any different, there are about 200 possible faults that turn the light on, to know what has developed a problem you must have the system tested, this is called an OBD2 fault code test, Kragen and Autozone parts stores do this testing for free.

its because the car is due for a service soon,it gives you about 800 to 1000m warning of an impending bill .....
if you did lots of stop/start motoring the "service engine soon" light would come on sooner than lots of highway motoring.
just adding oil is not servicing the engine....and once done it needs reseting...

You need to get the engine serviced, plain as sight. it could also be a small problem too. Hope this helps!?

Please rate solution - Thanks.

Check for any stored codes, on 97 models you may have to turn on the key without starting the engine, do this 5 times in rapid order then stop with the key in the on position without starting the car.

The service engine soon light will blink

Count the number of blinks

This will be the begining of the code test and the actual code numbers and finally a code number stating the test is over.

Look up the codes in the haynes repair manual and it will lead you in the right direction for any parts that have thrown an error code.

Check your fuel pressure.
Possible fuel pump malfunctioning, check the fuel pump fuse and realey.
Check your ignition .

does it try to turn over if not it could be that the battery is dead if that not it then you mit have a blown fuse

It comes on when the key is turned on to show it works, then it goes out as soon as the engine is started, it has a fuse, that will be marked, if the fuse is ok then you may have either a bad connection at the cluster connector or a bad ECM