Hello all -
My friend bought a used 2016 Dodge Grand Caravan for his daughter and family a few months ago. It was high mileage for the year (c. 160K km/100K miles) but in good shape, and the price was good.
I think there are still a few months of the one-year powertrain warranty (offered by the selling dealer) remaining, but no remaining warranty on the peripherals.
I haven't done any diagnosis personally, but my friend says that his daughter has reported that the steering wheel controls (sound system, horn, cruise) no longer work. My first thought was that the clockspring had gone bad.
There was a YouTube video on replacing the clockspring on an older ('07?) GC, but nothing for the present generation of van.
My biggest concern is deploying the airbag inadvertently. With the older model, the poster said that disconnecting the negative battery terminal for a couple of minutes was required to give the capacitor time to discharge. The poster did warn, though, that this may not suffice for all vehicles; some would require that the airbag fuse be pulled.
Have any of you BITOGers replaced the clockspring in a 2016 (or close) Grand Caravan? If so, what precautions did you take to disable the airbag ignitor(s)?
Any other tips regarding doing this job?
Also, the part offered by Rock Auto is a Dorman. I know that Dorman has an iffy reputation on some parts ... any recommendations? I assume that a genuine Mopar part from the dealer would be pretty pricey. I plan to phone NAPA tomorrow to see what they've got.
Thanks in advance for your thoughts on this!
My friend bought a used 2016 Dodge Grand Caravan for his daughter and family a few months ago. It was high mileage for the year (c. 160K km/100K miles) but in good shape, and the price was good.
I think there are still a few months of the one-year powertrain warranty (offered by the selling dealer) remaining, but no remaining warranty on the peripherals.
I haven't done any diagnosis personally, but my friend says that his daughter has reported that the steering wheel controls (sound system, horn, cruise) no longer work. My first thought was that the clockspring had gone bad.
There was a YouTube video on replacing the clockspring on an older ('07?) GC, but nothing for the present generation of van.
My biggest concern is deploying the airbag inadvertently. With the older model, the poster said that disconnecting the negative battery terminal for a couple of minutes was required to give the capacitor time to discharge. The poster did warn, though, that this may not suffice for all vehicles; some would require that the airbag fuse be pulled.
Have any of you BITOGers replaced the clockspring in a 2016 (or close) Grand Caravan? If so, what precautions did you take to disable the airbag ignitor(s)?
Any other tips regarding doing this job?
Also, the part offered by Rock Auto is a Dorman. I know that Dorman has an iffy reputation on some parts ... any recommendations? I assume that a genuine Mopar part from the dealer would be pretty pricey. I plan to phone NAPA tomorrow to see what they've got.
Thanks in advance for your thoughts on this!