This was real common on the '91-95 Caravans and had a real easy fix. I will never own anything newer than a '95 so I don't have one to look at, but if I remember correctly, the '96 to '99 had the same design so logic would say it could develop the same problem. Often you can make the problem act up by pushing out on the rear of the door from inside the van.
Open the sliding door, then look on the body at the rear of the door opening for a black plastic push button switch. If that's what you have, pry the switch out, tie the wiring harness into a loose knot to prevent it from falling inside the body, then unplug the switch.
The switch is auto-adjusting and has become over-adjusted. To reset it, you must support the ring, then tap on the plug end of the body. That will push the switch to stick out further. It will move about a half inch. To prevent this from happening again, I put some black Mopar RTV sealer around the ribs on the switch body, then reinstall it. The sealer will harden and reduce the switch's tendency to over-adjust.
Untie the knot, plug the switch in, and pop it back into the hole. It will feel loose until you close the door at which time it will latch into its properly adjusted position. Let the sealer set up for an hour.
Slamming the door now will not cause it to over-adjust.
In the rare event the problem persists, look at the two front door switches near the latch brackets at the rear of the door openings. These are also self-adjusting through use of a plastic "nail". You will only be able to see the curved head of the nail on the end of the plunger. There is a very small slot on the side of the plunger just under the nail head. Poke a small pick in there to pry the nail out. I used to stick three M5 metric lock washers on the nail to prevent it from going in too far. For a "professional" appearance, I painted them black with touchup paint. You might also try a 1/4" piece of rubber vacuum hose.
Caradiodoc
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Monday, January 25th, 2010 AT 10:08 AM
