1997 Plymouth Voyager Van and Erratic Door Locks and Rodents

About 3 weeks ago after returning from a 4 week trip, I discovered
rodents had gotten into the engine compartment and caused electrical
wiring damage to the van. One problem was that the door lock switches
would randomly activate whether or not the engine was on or not.

Most of the damage was covered by insurance, but the repair shop could
not find any evidence the rodents caused the above problem. Rather than
fix the problem entirely, I asked them to just turn off the mechanism in
the body module that controls the switches. They have done that.

However, I befuddled by the fact that this problem appeared at the same
time as the rodent difficulty. Are there some areas of the engine and
its electrical components that could have been disturbed by the rodents
other than the wires?

"W. eWatson" > wrote in message
...
> About 3 weeks ago after returning from a 4 week trip, I discovered rodents
> had gotten into the engine compartment and caused electrical wiring damage
> to the van. One problem was that the door lock switches would randomly
> activate whether or not the engine was on or not.
>
> Most of the damage was covered by insurance, but the repair shop could not
> find any evidence the rodents caused the above problem. Rather than fix
> the problem entirely, I asked them to just turn off the mechanism in the
> body module that controls the switches. They have done that.
>
> However, I befuddled by the fact that this problem appeared at the same
> time as the rodent difficulty. Are there some areas of the engine and its
> electrical components that could have been disturbed by the rodents other
> than the wires?

Not familiar with the circuit of the 97 but the 04 +/- use an ingenious
(some say diabolical) grounding system where the locks are 'hot' at all
times (when the switch is on) and activated by grounding one side or the
other of the return line.

Unfortunately the wiring is NOT well documented and what documentation there
is available is contradictory.

On 12/27/2010 7:25 PM, NotMe wrote:
> "W. > wrote in message
> ...
>> About 3 weeks ago after returning from a 4 week trip, I discovered rodents
>> had gotten into the engine compartment and caused electrical wiring damage
>> to the van. One problem was that the door lock switches would randomly
>> activate whether or not the engine was on or not.
>>
>> Most of the damage was covered by insurance, but the repair shop could not
>> find any evidence the rodents caused the above problem. Rather than fix
>> the problem entirely, I asked them to just turn off the mechanism in the
>> body module that controls the switches. They have done that.
>>
>> However, I befuddled by the fact that this problem appeared at the same
>> time as the rodent difficulty. Are there some areas of the engine and its
>> electrical components that could have been disturbed by the rodents other
>> than the wires?
>
> Not familiar with the circuit of the 97 but the 04 +/- use an ingenious
> (some say diabolical) grounding system where the locks are 'hot' at all
> times (when the switch is on) and activated by grounding one side or the
> other of the return line.
>
> Unfortunately the wiring is NOT well documented and what documentation there
> is available is contradictory.
>
>
Thanks. Interesting.