2000 Dodge Caravan Parking lamps randomly come on

LANSOW

MEMBER
2000 DODGE CARAVAN
6 CYL
FWD
AUTOMATIC
66,490 MILES

The parking lamps turn on randomly and stay on for long periods. We notice the issue mostly at night and in cold weather(we live in Canada). The lights sometimes stay on for long enough to completely drain the battery.

We always make certain the switches for our lights, including interior lights, are turned off completely. This hasn't helped.

We were initially told it could be our battery, so we purchased an Optima Red Top battery as a replacement. The lights have completely drained this battery twice in the past 6 months, and given the cost of the battery we're not excited about the prospect of replacing it again. (It's not a deep cycle battery)

3 Replies

KHLOW2008

MECHANIC
41,814 POSTS

Hi lansow,

No, I don't think the battery is at fault. The lights staying on is the cause of the battery draining and you need to get to the cause of it.

As your vehicle is equipped with DRL, the control unit could be faulty causing the lights to come on. The other likely fault would be a bad light switch that might be faulty and any vibrations would cause it to turn on the lights.

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Thursday, December 31st, 2009 AT 12:22 PM

LANSOW

MEMBER
2 POSTS

Thank you for your response. I forgot to mention that the van has a disabled remote starter unit that was already installed when we bought the van used. We did not receive a remote control for it, so we just turned the switch off.

Many of these units attempt to start the vehicle every 3 hours or so in cold weather. Is it possible that the unit isn't actually disabled and it's attempting to start but can't? (Not sure how to better articulate that question) I don't understand remote starters enough to say.

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Thursday, December 31st, 2009 AT 12:27 PM

KHLOW2008

MECHANIC
41,814 POSTS

Under such circumstances it is possible the remote starter is the cause. The control unit would turn the ignition switch on and when this happens, the lights would come on and drain the battery.

In order to disable the remote starter, you need to unplug the control unit to completely disable it.

Happy New Year.

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Thursday, December 31st, 2009 AT 12:37 PM