andyb2000

Hi @@Kennybaker (Quick note, start a new thread and you'll get more people replying/helping you out) Anyway, ABS and airbag lights coming on are usually the clock spring. It will also cause the horn not to work too, so when the lights are on, try the horn, I bet it won't work! The clock spring is a coil of wire that sits in the steering wheel and provides the electrical functions. Over time the wires degrade with all the motion and fail, which sounds like the issue with yours. I've had mine changed but was under warranty so don't know what's involved, warning on it though, as it's the steering wheel and behind the air bag take precautions when working in that area as you would under and airbag location.

Great, and hey we all get it mixed in our head at times, I know I do often enough! Since leaving longer got you starting easier, chances are one or more of the glow plugs aren't working. Test each one, you should get resistance to ground from the tip of each plug. I did a howto video a whole back on testing and replacing. They're cheap enough, but one of the 4 plugs are a pig to get at (left most, behind alternator). If you're lucky and have the right shape/angle sockets you can do it, otherwise it's Aux belt loose, alternator moved job. All DIY do-able though, just take your time so you don't snap them in their housing.

Hi there, Firstly, after a bit of investigation I did a while ago on my 2005 2.8CRD I found that the glow plug light on the dashboard did NOT relate to how long the glow plugs received their power! So i'd say you need to get in with your meter and test the same on yours. Take the cap off one plug, meter probe into one and to ground on the 12v setting, ignition on and see how long you get 12v for. From memory mine stayed on for around 10 seconds, so plenty time for glow plugs to do their job. (BTW glow plug timing comes from the ECU, there isn't a separate controller/delay timer). The relay is at the front of the engine compartment, attached to the front crossbeam and only a single one, but by the sounds of it that isn't your problem. More likely if you're having cold start problems it could be a host of other things if you search up you'll find mention of quite a few issues at cold start, relating to diesel return valve, fuel pump, etc.

Also, when it dies, does it splutter, chug a few times then die or is it a total drop without any signs of spluttering/dying? Difficult to know where to point you so far!

Hi, (I know this is a few weeks old, but thought I'd leave the info for future) Yes this problem has come up quite a few times. Why Chrysler decided to directly solder incandescent bulbs onto the circuit board I'll never know! I've done this repair on mine and a few others with LED replacements, they're tricky to do and the tracks can come off when you're soldering on the old Chrysler board but it's do-able. I made a good find on ebay a while back, model train enthusiasts use small LED strips to light up carriages, etc, and they are ideal for this application: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/QUALITY-9v-12v-DC-3528-LED-SUPAFLEX-LIGHTING-STRIP-MODEL-RAILWAY-N-OO-HO-O-GAUGE/151025926614?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&var=450232359825&_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649 So those might do what you want, just solder in place and as Penguin2007 says make sure you test and get polarity correct. There are no markings for + or - on the little board you remove from the car so I ended up doing it the hard way, get your multimeter and test it whilst connected to be sure.

Just to add what I experienced, this was on my previous GV (2004 model) and a garage diagnosed the same, oil cooler problem causing oil in coolant, coolant levels kept dropping. No other issues, car ran fine, etc. I had the oil cooler replaced, but I don't think the little garage I went to did a good job on it as not long after (couple of months) I got an oil warning light on a long journey and I think that's when I ended up with a cracked block. So, all I can advise is to get it double-checked by another garage I'd say before you go for it. Even get it into a dealership for a LOOK ONLY (no fixey at those prices!).

Yep, tonight (1st Aug) is good for me @@QinteQ see you then!

Not a problem! Will try for the 2nd if any good with you m8?

Sorry QinteQ, didn't realise all was ok to come round, next Wed ok instead?

Thanks for the update karmannski, you must have been committed to do it in the rain! So did the AUX Webasto heater get in the way for the passenger side on yours or did you manage to get at the nut/bolt at both sides to do it as that was the stopping part for me getting mine done when I had a brief look a few weeks ago?

You sir are correct! It has been raining mainly so haven't had a chance to! Hoping this weekend will be clear and I can have a climb under and see! When I do I'll post back and pop pics up!

No problem at all! And no desperate rush here either so just wait and let me know in a few weeks when all good and I'll call over. Like I say, it's no rush as it's just trac off that's illuminated so not a biggie! Thanks as always fella and hope all is ok.

Have to agree here, I'm not buying the experts opinions here. However my own experience may help (For an 04/05 though but same principles) My last GV had an issue, engine oil warning light on a long drive, limped it to destination and filled up with oil and didn't check properly (My bad, I was at work and had to do stuff/be places). 6-12 months later and I'm checking fluids and spot oil in the water bottle, think film on the top. To check it get a bit of kitchen roll and dip it in. If it's got the shiny oil covering then you've got oil in there. As it turns out I had a crack in the block, which was difficult to find/diagnose (Had head off, pressure testing before the garage it was at.. A Chrysler dealership actually spotted the crack in the block itself). So my thinking, check the water yourself, look for anything like the above, take photos if you want and post here we'll all have a look for you (You're in Durham too, dare say I could have a lookie over if you want another GV owners opinion since you're in this region). Sludge in coolant could be somebody in the past using a stop-leak radiator fixer which is notorious for causing sludge and also blocking/restricting water flow which as the other guys say sounds the biggest culprit. I'd say go for another flush, it's relatively easy to do yourself with a hose and popping various hoses in the engine bay off to flush it out to see if you're still getting sludge, it can be pretty stubborn to get rid of, especially as it gets caught in the heater matrix for cabin heater, etc. Good luck and drop me a msg if you do want another local pair of eyes on it!

Aye, not a problem @QinetQ Works better for me also to be honest! Any luck with your testing @@karmannski ?

Thanks guys, I might have been over thinking it then, as was just crawled under and putting 2+2 together and making 5! Will get it back on the stands and have a proper look if the rain ever stops and give it a go, thanks for the replies.

Good info here fellas, yeah @@QinteQ maybe I should have been more specific in what I said! haha. I just got my hands on a foxwell nt300 and just to report back that it does NOT do the job either, so one more to add to the pile of doesn't do the GV's (Or at least my 05 2.8CRD edition). Actually on that @@QinteQ can I pop over next Wednesday (5th) as I've replaced wheel rotation sensors which cleared by brake warning light but I've still got "TRAC OFF" still so could do with a code read if you'd be able to oblige. (PS: Sorry for this thread being hijacked and going off on one, I think it's useful to know on the readers though)

Good info, can you guys feed back on how good they are and what info it does and doesn't give back? (May be tricky to spot) For example, will it give you ABS info, air bag, automatic gearbox info, etc. I'm curious which scanners give you more diagnostic info to get a bit of a list of them.

Just a couple of photos that might help illustrate (It's pouring with rain here so not easy to get under to fully show the problem!) You can see the anti roll bar bush in the photos: The bolt is at the base, and unfortunately it looks like it's a standard nut and bolt (Rather than a captive nut or bolt so you need to get to both ends). At the rear of that bulkhead that the bolt goes through is the webasto aux heater so can't easily get to it to hold with a socket.

Hi, Unfortunately they sound slightly different or at least accessing them slightly differently. After removing the drop-links, you're left with the main sway bar, then to remove the main roll bar bushes you need to undo two bolt/nut combinations which are about a quarter way in on the sway bar. The driver side one is OK to get to, but the passenger side one is hidden by the aux heater, so my suspicion is I need to remove/move the aux heater to get access to the bolt head itself. Wished I'd taken photos the other day when I was going to do it, will try and grab a couple.

Hi folks, So I've just changed the Anti-Roll bar links as the front driver one had started knocking so thought I'd do the pair, at the same time I also got Anti Roll bar bushes as thought I'd replace those and see if it got rid of the creaking I get from the driver side. However getting under and one side is fine to get at (Driver side) as can see the nut and bolt clearly, the passenger side is a different story because of the webasto aux-heater getting in the way, so I can't get to the bolt side of it at all no matter what I tried. I'm going to try again in a few days so any suggestions, if I need to move the webasto how easy/difficult is it to move out of the way temporarily without disconnecting all the water and fuel lines to it which I'd like to avoid (because I'm lazy!) Thanks in advance folks.

Hi @@bignev Yes you are indeed correct, the headphones are infra-red fed from the bar along the top of the DVD 'housing' so the angles are a big tight if you're in the middle two seats you sometimes get audio break-up in certain positions. I've seen others have success with non-genuine infra-red headphones from other suppliers for different cars, etc, so that would suggest it's a common signal type, but I don't have any detail unfortunately.

Just for complete-ness I've done a write-up of the whole saga, and all the steps I did to diagnose, try out, etc, so it might be useful to others for the future. http://www.thebmwz3.co.uk/2017/06/chrysler-grand-voyager-flexplate.html It covers: Balance Shaft Assembly on base of engineAccessory belt removal/replacementOil Sump removedBalance Shaft Assembly removedInjector return leak testFlexplate removal (Separation of the gearbox and the engine)

Hi @@mikebh8 We're not doubting you fella, but trust me (electrician for many years!), I've owned two 04/05 plate GV's now and the last one it worked fine, tapping into the speaker wires as you have you could send audio straight to the speakers no problem (feeding the stock radio output to the Parrot relay unit which then feeds the speakers). It's not the connector/connection that's the issue, it's the Chrysler amplifier hidden in the back of the car that causes the issue. (And I've installed Parrot bluetooth units for the past 15 odd years into various cars and models using the same bypass cable technique) On the GV I now own you cannot simply replace the audio feed at the back of the radio and feed your own souce. Not sure which post/where I posted all my testing, but I split the cables, so radio was on and playing to whole car. Disconnected front left and front right wires and fed a different audio source to them (from a portable player with amp) and what happened was the two front left and right KEPT playing the Chrysler stereo output, but quieter and it ignored the input I fed from my separate amp. I did the same with each pair to feed audio to each speaker separately and it did the same thing which is what lead me to believe there are different setups and installs (my suspicion is the amplifier is deciding that it doesn't like the separate input and thus feeds its other input signal to the speakers), hence why I'm going to do some more digging to discover the differences between the subtle model differences and locate the amplifier and find how it's wired up. As soon as I get the time to investigate further I'll post up what I discover as it's commonly discussed here and on the US forums.

Hi Robbie, Sorry you've not had any luck, I suspected as much, I've tried 2-3 different ones and all failed. Haven't done the investigation/mod yet but it's imminent as I have my eye on an Android head unit that's pretty cheap (£100) to give it a go with. I'll have to modify the facia so I'm also going to buy a spare from ebay to modify/get it right! So bear with me, probably in the next fortnight I'll have done some digging.

Thanks for posting back Mike, that's interesting. I've had that fitting off many times but never figured what it was to be honest with you. You said the thermostat was blocked, do you mean stuck open? In which case that causes the engine to run cold not hot (water circulating at full pump speed so cooling down very quickly) so at worst that causes more inefficient diesel engine (and no cabin warmth) rather than anything more serious than that. If you've replaced the thermostat, all good, if not do a search and find the thermostat in-line mod (I did a youtube howto video on it) as an alternative to replacing the thermostat due to the awkward location it is.